Date: 01 July 2010 BROCKLEBANK MEETS MINISTER ON BYRE FUNDING Ted Brocklebank MSP, the Scottish Conservative Shadow Culture Minister, met with Fiona Hyslop, the Culture Minister, this morning to discuss the Scottish Arts Council decision to withdraw flexible funding, worth around £160,000 a year from the Byre Theatre, St.Andrews.
Mr. Brocklebank, a former member of the Byre Board, was joined by Iain Smith MSP, the Lib Dem Culture spokesman, to bring the minister up to date on the threat facing the St.Andrews-based theatre.
‘The minister gave us a very sympathetic hearing’ said Ted Brocklebank. ‘She is conscious that the Byre fulfills a vital dual role, not only as a distinguished venue in the Scottish theatre circuit but also as a successful and innovative community theatre with important outreach responsibilities. She undertook to raise the theatre’s future with the incoming Chief Executive of Creative Scotland, Andrew Dixon.
‘She cannot of course interfere with the appeals procedure which the Byre board must undergo but she reaffirmed her view that small regional theatres like the Byre had an important role to play and she undertook to remind the newly-formed Creative Scotland of the body’s responsibilities in this regard.
Ted Brocklebank has already written to Andrew Dixon requesting a meeting depending on the outcome of the Byre’s appeal. | 
