CLIENTS of Northern Arts in South Lakeland are this week being consulted over Arts Council proposals to move Cumbria over to a North West regional office.

The recommendation is being made by the Arts Council which this week published its revised proposals to restructure arts funding by merging the current ten regional arts boards and the Arts Council of England into a single agency.

Northern Arts says it is proud of its achievements in Cumbria and is to commission a joint study with Cumbria County Council and North West Arts to look at how best to serve the arts in the county.

In the meantime it is encouraging open consultation and wants to hear the views of artists, arts organisations, local authorities and regional parties before the Board of Northern Arts meets on July 27 to consider the revised Arts Council proposals.

Northern Arts' press and publicity officer Jo Beddows said: "Because of the size of this organisation we have been able to deliver substantial services to Cumbria and North West Arts will not be able to do that." She pointed to Keswick's Theatre by the Lake as a "shining example" of a project built on time and on budget, which was still managing to maintain high audience figures.

The director of Kendal's Brewery Arts Centre, Anne Pierson, said the issue that concerned most arts practitioners she had spoken to was whether their grants were going to be affected by the proposal to move Cumbria over to the North West.

She said that she was not prepared to make a statement until she had got more information.