It wasn’t just Isle of Wight councillors that hundreds of musicians gathered in Newport on Saturday afternoon had a message for, they also reached out to Education minister, Michael Gove.
The pop-up performance of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy brought together over 250 musicians of all ages, to send a clear message to those in power,
“Save our top quality Music service”
BBC Coverage
The BBC filmed the demonstration (see video below), gathering vox pop from supporters of the service, as well as comment from the Isle of Wight councillor responsible for Children’s Service, Cllr Richard Priest, and Louis Henry, a key member of the Music Service.
The item was broadcast on the regional news on Sunday evening.
Lack of funds
Cllr Priest presented the same message that his former Conservative cabinet member, Cllr Dawn Cousins, had made back in 2012, effectively saying ‘we don’t have the money to fund the loss-making service’.
He reminded listeners the council face a £28m budget gap over the next three years due to cuts in funding from the Government.
“High performing service”
Louis Henry, from the Music Centre Friends Association, told the BBC,
“I don’t see why they shouldn’t ask us to do our fair share, but to simply cut all funding to the Music Service – that’s what they’re proposing doing – that’s way more than they should do.
“This is actually a high performing service, the rest of education is struggling a bit, the music service is top quality in national terms.”
Executive decision
The council Executive, the nine Independent councillors who make all the major policy decisions, will meet on Tuesday 6th May to decide the fate of future of the Music Hub.
Members of the public are welcome to attend and ask questions at the beginning of the meeting which starts at 6pm.
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