LETTERS – Should festival get funding?

Your article “Criticism over town spending” (February 14) lists several projects and events in Holbeach which have benefited from some of the £250,000 funding via South Holland District Council in recent years.
One is quoted to be Holbeach Music and Beer Festival, receiving £5,000.
Establishing and building up this annual festival has been a remarkable achievement by organiser Sean Taylor. It is without doubt a popular event each year for thousands of people. And long may it continue.
However, let’s be clear – Mr Taylor runs the event as a business. Unlike, say, Spalding Festival which is run by charitable organisations with all profits being made available within the community.
Festivals of this kind have a significant financial outlay so Mr Taylor understandably seeks to attract sponsorship from private firms and organisations. But is it right that Holbeach Music and Beer Festival should also receive funding from the public purse when it is clearly a profitable business?
What was the rationale for the £5,000 funding? It’s not as if it’s a town centre event like Holbeach Medieval Festival, which reportedly received £6,000 and has evidence to prove its footfall keeps people in the town centre spending their money.

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