It was good to read that Swaledale "can breathe easily again" (In praise of…, 4 April) with the reprieve of the Hudson House community facility in Reeth, but just as the national park restores its commitment to this rural community, Arts Council England has dealt the area a devastating blow. Dales-based, small-scale touring company North Country Theatre have performed regularly in Reeth Memorial Hall to packed houses for more than a decade. Turning up with a set, lighting and actors, we transform this local venue into a theatre for the night. We are one of several companies with a special knowledge and understanding of rural touring whose Arts Council funding will be withdrawn completely from 2012. With similar cuts to Swaledale's unique Georgian theatre in Richmond, and Helmsley arts centre in Ryedale, the cultural life of the Yorkshire Dales and the rural north will be impoverished.
Nobby Dimon
Artistic director, North Country Theatre
• Three important quality poetry presses are cut by the Arts Council, Flambard, Enitharmon, and Arc. Salt, another major press, has been struck off. The Poetry Book Society is also losing funding. Famous poetry venues such as the Troubadour and Colpitts Poetry are missing out. Is this a vulgarian conspiracy by the coalition to thwart the promotion of poetry throughout England? Or an Arts Council policy decision to withdraw grants from anything to do with poetry? No – it is the result of minor bureaucrats sitting in regional offices ticking boxes. What we need is an overall strategy for poetry, otherwise we will see little lights going out all over England.
Jackie Litherland
Durham City