Arts Council of Great Britain
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The Arts Council of Great Britain was a Quango dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Britain. It is also one of the main distributors for the National Lottery.
History
In 1940, during the Second World War, a Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), was appointed to help promote and maintain British culture. Chaired by Lord De La Warr, President of the Board of Education, the Council was government-funded and after the war was renamed the Arts Council of Great Britain.
A Royal Charter was granted in 1946, followed by another in 1967. The latter provided for functions in Scotland and Wales to be conducted by two almost autonomous committees known as the Scottish and Welsh Arts Councils – the basis for today’s Arts Council of Scotland and Arts Council of Wales.
The Council's first Chairman was John Maynard Keynes who used his influence in Government to secure a high level of funding despite Britain's poor finances following the war. The majority of this funding was directed to organisations with which Keynes had close ties such as the Royal Opera House. After Keyne's death Government funding was reduced but the Arts Council received wide recognition for its contribution to the Festival of Britain thanks to the new Chairman Kenneth Clark. Artworks commissioned by the Council for the Festival were retained to form the basis of the Arts Council Collection.
Under the Harold Wilson Government of 1964-70 the Arts Council enjoyed a Golden Age thanks to the close relationship between Chairman Arnold Goodman and the Arts Minister Jennie Lee. This period saw the Council establish a network of arts organisations across the country as regular client organisations and a programme of touring exhibitions and performances. To support the Council’s responsibilities in relation to the visual arts, it opened the Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank in 1968 as a home for its major exhibitions and the base for the Arts Council Collection. Since 1987, the gallery has been independently managed by the South Bank Centre. In 2002 the Collection was moved to a base in Yorkshire.
During the 1970s and 1980s the Arts Council came under attack for being elitist and politically biased, in particular from the prominent Conservative Party minister Norman Tebbit. The Government grant to the Council was capped effecting a real terms reduction in funding though it was argued that any shortfall would be made up by increased sponsorship from the private sector. William Rees-Mogg replaced Goodman as Chairman and proposed slimming down the Council's responsibilities. This lead to a series of clashes with prominent figures from the Arts such as Peter Hall who resigned from the Council in protest. In 1987 the restructure inspired by Rees-Mogg cut by half the number of organisations receiving Arts Council funding.
The Arts Council of Great Britain was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England, Arts Council of Scotland and Arts Council of Wales. At the same time the National Lottery was established and the Arts Council of England became one of the distribution bodies. This increased responsibility saw the Arts Council of England grow back in size to the point where it was larger than before the 1987 restructure.
In 2001 Chairman Gerry Robinson announced a further restructure in which the Arts Council of England would be merged with the existing Regional Arts Boards to form a single organisation: Arts Council England.
Management and Structure
Arts Council England has a national council of 14 members including the Chairman. The national council meets 5-6 times a year and is made up of representatives of the arts community with 9 of the members also representing the regional councils and one seat reserved for a representative of the Black and Asian community. The 9 regional councils also have boards of 14 members made up of representatives of their regional arts community and local government. The 9 regional councils are:
- East
- East Midlands
- London
- North East
- North West
- South East
- South West
- West Midlands
- Yorkshire
The appointment of the Arts Council England Chief Executive is made by Department of Culture, Media and Sport a position held by Peter Hewitt since 1998. Each regional council has an Executive Director and each artform has a specialist advisor.