Sue Doughty calls for a reality check on Yvonne Arnaud funding.

12.00.00pm GMT Wed 9th Jan 2008

Sue Doughty and colleagues from Guildford Liberal Democrats will be attending a demonstration against the proposed cuts to theatre funding taking place ahead of the Arts Council's meeting at the Young Vic on Wednesday.

Sue said "There has been no recognition of the vital work which regional theatres such as the Yvonne Arnaud do in promoting a wide variety of performances. It's time that the Arts Council got its act together on theatre funding. This theatre has done everything it can to meet the increasingly illogical demands of ACE whilst still managing to keep it's doors open. The Yvonne Arnaud does so much to promote new and challenging work in this area and its loss would create a huge gap in the South East."

Cllr Chris Ward (Onslow) last week set up a Facebook campaign group entitled "Save the Yvonne Arnaud", aimed at pressurising the Arts Council for England to reverse their decision and reject the recommendation on 24th January. It has been met with overwhelming support from Guildfordians and students at the Guildford School of Acting Conservatoire, with 1,237 members at time of writing, the number continues to grow as local people express their distaste at these cuts.

Cllr Ward said, "Since launching this group on Facebook we have been inundated with messages of support for the theatre from people of all backgrounds who have quite clearly benefited from the services offered by Jamie Barber and his excellent team. The removal of funding from the ACE is nothing other than a kick in the teeth to all those schools that benefit from the outreach work done by the Yvonne Arnaud, as well as the GSA who use the theatre to showcase the best of international

performance talent."