Sir – As a local musician I was interested to read Susie Crow’s letter (October 1) and realise that dance artists share the same lack of support as Oxford’s musicians.

The concentration of the city on image before content is exemplified in the excess of publicity that is used to support any visiting artist (usually funded through the Arts Council which seems to have no interest or aesthetic involvement in where its money goes, as long as it does not go to anyone local).

This tends to obscure the large number of outstanding events put on by local people despite the city’s lack of facilities and support. This situation is exacerbated by the ridiculous number of venues and facilities available to University students — individual colleges such as St John’s have purpose-built venues dedicated solely to the use of the privileged few, whereas local people do not even have an arts centre.

Isn’t it about time that a city which pretends to have a modicum of cultural interest recognises that local talent and creativity needs to be nurtured and developed rather than ignored?

A good start would be the creation of facilities for local people which would include a permanent arts centre for all the arts — much as the Old Fire Station was before its disastrous privatisation.

We don’t just want a part-time arts centre with a separate purpose, or an enhanced youth theatre, but a permanent dedicated centre for all the arts for everyone. A next step would be for Oxford University to really commit to opening up its performance and rehearsal facilities to the local community.

Through the resultant increase in high-quality creative work, all who live and study in Oxford would benefit.

Malcolm Atkins, Oxford