Brighton and Hove City Council has entrusted the management of the Dome Concert Hall, the Corn Exchange and the Pavilion Theatre to the Brighton Festival Society.

The new chief executive of the Brighton Festival is Nick Dodds, who was previously in charge of the Edinburgh Festival, a good training ground.

Last year's Brighton Festival attracted 300,000 visitors and, with the additional responsibility of running the Dome, Mr Dodds' job will be no picnic.

The refurbished Dome will be opened on Sunday with a concert by the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra. This will be followed by an exciting and wide-ranging programme.

There has been criticism that the council spends too much money on the arts at the expense of public services and community organisations.

Both are needed but how do we pay for them? Fact is, the festival's council funding has been cut by some 50 per cent since 1992.

Nick Dodds believes it is his job to entertain, to challenge our perceptions and to make us look at life differently.

We are being given the chance to listen to some marvellous music, to see Stomp, Dame Kiri Kanawa and Bette Bourne bring Quentin Crisp back to life.

Three years ago, there was a real prospect that the Dome might close. The building was crumbling and the roof leaking. Estimates to put the Dome in order and make an international class concert hall were in excess of £20 million but the city had no money.

It is to our festival organisers and council's credit that they struck a deal with the Arts Council of England for National Lottery funding. Three years later we have a splendid new venue. We can be proud of the result.

The Dome will need subsidy to provide a programme worthy of the city. The council is to provide the same funding as it did before refurbishment. It's a tidy sum but it is calculated that the so-called cultural sector brings income, employment and some 15,000 jobs to our city.

Nick Dodds told me he is obliged to run the Dome to budget and it would help if we all beat a path to the concert hall.

I fancy seing jazz singer Miriam Makeba,who has sung with world famous artists, including Harry Belafonte and David Bowie.

She will perform there on March 8, her only UK date on an all-too-short European tour.