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Salisbury Festival, which was subject to an investigation by the Charities Commission for providing financial support for its non-charitable trading subsidiary, has been praised for the efforts it made to obtain funding to meet the losses incurred when the subsidiary made considerable losses.
The situation arose in 1997 when a pop concert known as Neon Picnic, was cancelled following the withdrawal of performing artists. The losses incurred were met with a loan from charity funds, but the steps taken by trustees to mitigate the losses meant that there was only a minimal loss to the charity through its support of its subsidiary, and the Commission was satisfied that the trustees had acted honestly and reasonably in all circumstances of the case.

One of the main issues considered in the Inquiry was whether the support of the trading company was a proper application of charity funds. The trustees of the Festival argued that that the staging of Neon Picnic, which they described as an audience development initiative, fell within the charity?s educational objects; but the Commission ruled that, despite the arguments presented to it, the staging of a pop concert, even if part of a wider programme of events, ?cannot be said to advance the education of the public in the arts?.