SALFORD CITY COUNCIL
Yes, Salford City Council which sank £165,000 into the Manc International Festival last year, splashed out another £110,000 this summer to sponsor the `Young Apollo' ballet by Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta at The Lowry.
In return, Salford people didn't get any reduced price tickets or a free pop concert like last year. Nope. The only benefits to Salford were "an agreed number of tickets…at The Lowry and Sadlers Wells for Salford City Council's hospitality purposes".
We also got a `community engagement programme' costing over £9000, which actually only `engaged' nine lucky kids from a local ballet school. Salford Star worked out that, for the £1000+ cost per kid it would have been cheaper sending them all to Cuba to see the Cuban National Ballet.
Meanwhile, the kids didn't even get free tickets to see the Carlos show, nor a dance class from the master – just a free pizza, a gawp at the dress rehearsal and a Q&A session.
Still, we hope that the Salford Council hospitality tickets went to the right rich people and that the Manc Int Festival benefitted from Salford council tax payers' enforced generosity…
Ladies and Gentlemen. There can be only one winner of the `FEED THE MANCS' Award…Yes it's…
SALFORD C-I-I-I-ITY COUNCI-I-I-IL
Applause…
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