O

CLARE Henry talks about bias in her article, Dim view of city lights (September 9). She too is biased - against Deyan Sudjic and the positive contribution he is making to the city through the Festival of Design and Glasgow 1999.

It doesn't help her case when Clare Henry adds injustice to injury by claiming - quite erroneously - that he has been censured by the 1999 board.

Councillor Des McNulty,

Chair, 1999 Festival Board,

City Chambers, Glasgow.

Sponsors' choice

FURTHER to Clare Henry's summing-up of visual arts at the Edinburgh Festival, I should like to clarify the situation regarding sponsors' associations with the Edinburgh International Festival (September 2).

The sponsors, including those listed by Clare Henry, choose specific events for their support according to their individual objectives. In the 1996 Festival BT and IBM sponsored orchestral concerts; Marks & Spencer the world premiere of James MacMillan's opera Ines de Castro, and TSB the Mark Morris Dance group.

Additional supporters, the Festival's Proscenium Club members and donors contribute in the full knowledge that we present the range of performing arts: music, opera, theatre and dance.

In common with most professional arts organisations today, many of Edinburgh's galleries employ fund-raisers and some sponsors encompass both the Edinburgh International Festival and exhibitions in their portfolios.

Nichola Pritchett-Brown,

Sponsorship Director,

Edinburgh International Festival,

21 Market Street, Edinburgh