COUNCI L *Sir Kenneth Clark, C.H ., K .C.B., D.Litt ., LL .D . (Chairman) *Wyn Griffith, O .B.E ., D.Litt. (Vice-Chairman) T. E . Bean, C.B.E . *Benn W. Levy, M.B.E . Ernest Boden !Professor Anthony Lewis *Sir William Coldstream, C .B.E . *Sir John McEwen, Bart ., LL .D . *Joseph Compton, C .B.E . The Viscount Mackintosh of Halifax, D .L., Mrs . Hugh Dalton LL .D. Sir Emrys Evans, LL.D. Miss C . V . Wedgwood, C .B.E . *Professor Gwyn Jones Hugh Willatt Robert Kemp *Member of Executive Committee SCOTTISH COMMITTE E Sir John McEwen of Marchmont, Bart ., LL .D. (Chairman) D. K . Baxandall, C .B.E . Mrs . Eric Linklater Ernest Boden The Hon. Mrs . Michael Lyle Charles Carter, F .M .A., F.S.A. James McNaught Colin Chandler William MacTaggart, P.R.S.A., Hon. R .A. Charles Graves Hugh Marshal l J. A . Henderson John M. Playfair Robert Kemp Miss Violet C. Youn g WELSH COMMITTE E Professor Gwyn Jones (Chairman ) The Marquess of Anglesey Thomas Parry, D.Litt . S. Kenneth Davies, C .B.E . Lady Amy Parry-Williams T. Glyn Davies Robert E . Presswood Sir Emrys Evans, LL .D . Miss Frances Rees, O .B.E . Alex J . Gordon, Dip .Arch ., A .R.I.B.A. Ceri Richard s David Dilwyn John, T.D., D.Sc., F .M .A. Alun Llylwelyn Williams Dr. Daniel Jones D. E . Parry Williams, D.Mus . STAF F HEADQUARTER S 4 St . James's Square, London, S . WA (Whitehall 9737 ) Secretary-General : Sir William Emrys Williams, C .B.E. Deputy Secretary and Finance Officer : M . J. McRober t Art Director : Music Director : Drama Director : Gabriel White John Denison, M .B.E . J. L. Hodgkinson, O .B.E . Assistant Secretary : Eric W . White Accountant : D. P . Lund, F .C.A. SCOTLAN D Director : Dr. George Firth, O .B.E ., I I Rothesay Terrace, Edinburgh, 3 (Caledonian 2769) Deputy Director : Donald Mather WALE S Director : Miss Myra Owen, O .B.E ., 29 Park Place, Cardiff, South Wales (Cardiff 23488) Deputy Director : David Peters ka-cc-(vvE Co Pal T H E A R T S C O U N C I L OF G R E A T B R I T A I N ARTS COUNCI L OF GREAT BRITAIN REFERENCE ONLY !FR O NOTr RERAOV E OM THE LIBRARY FOURTEEN ANNUAL REPOR T X958-195 9 q. ST . JAMES'S SQUARE, LONDON, S .W ., DESIGNED BY MISS G. DRUMMOND McKERRO W AND PRINTED IN ENGLAND AT THE BAYNARD PRESS CONTENTS Page 1. THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL . 5 2. NOTES OF THE YEA R . 1 1 3. ART 23 4. DRAMA . 26 5. MUSIC 6. OPERA AND BALLET T POETRY 8. SCOTLAND 53 9. WALES . 65 10. NOTES ON THE ACCOUNTS . 74 APPENDICES : Appendix A The Arts Council of Great Britain : Audited Accounts 76 Appendix B The Council's Committee in Scotland : Audited Accounts 90 Appendix C The Council's Committee in Wales : Audited Accounts 96 Appendix D Arts Council Exhibitions held in Great Britain . 102 Appendix E Subsidies from Local Authorities and Local Educatio n Authorities 104 Appendix F Some selected instances of private and industrial patronage of the arts . 114 THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVA L During the past decade the case for spending public funds upon th e fine arts has been abundantly discussed and increasingly accepted, an d it is fair to say that the question nowadays is usually not 'Why T but `Ho w much T This new keynote of opinion has been increasingly sounded in Parliamentary debates and in Press comments ; it has been no less signi- ficantly expressed by Local Authorities, so many of whom were formerly slow to use the opportunities afforded them by the Local Government Ac t of 1948. One example may be offered of their increasing disposition t o accept public patronage of the arts as inevitable and justified . A little over eighteen months ago the Arts Council sought to persuade Loca l Authorities in the South-West to join forces in supporting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. For reasons of social history and,local geography the South-West is lesswell disposed than, say, industrial areas to proposal s of this kind, and to begin with only a handful of local councils too k kindly to the idea. Yet by the summer of 1959 no fewer than 53 of them had combined (in the Western Authorities Orchestral Association) to provide over £6,000 towards the maintenance of the orchestra, a figure which, added to the Arts Council's £20,000 and £12,500 from th e Bournemouth Corporation, should just keep it out of the red. There can be no doubt that some of the 100 Local Authorities which hav e not yet come in will do so in the near future. Lancashire and Cheshire Local Authorities have for some years accepted a local responsibilit y for the Halle and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and some 80 Scottis h towns and villages have similarly provided about £40,000 a year for the Scottish National Orchestra. But that a region of England hitherto unfamiliar with the doctrine of collective patronage should now follo w this example is a notable portent. The case for public patronage is well on the way to general acceptance . What remains to be determined, at all levels, is the scale on which it i s to be provided, and this exercise will continue to require patience an d good faith from all involved in it . For the year 1958-59 the Chancellor of the Exchequer fixed the Arts Council's grant at £1,100,000. Of this sum the Council spent £64,252 on direct provision, mainly of art exhibitions, but including some expenditure on music, drama and poetry, and £120,17 1 on administration and advisory services . Of the remaining £915,577, £906,348 was distributed among some 166 beneficiaries-orchestras, theatres, opera and ballet companies, and groups of music clubs and art s clubs. The Arts Council's grant for 1959/60 is £118,000 larger than it wa s for 1958/59, and virtually the whole of this increase will be required t o make ends meet at the Royal Opera House . Both Covent Garden and Sadler's Wells are out of danger, certainly for the time being . Their subsidies from the Arts Council are more realistic than they have ever been, their takings are highly satisfactory, and the L .C.C. has accepted a share of financial responsibility at Sadler's Wells . But no sooner can the Arts Council breathe again about the condition of opera and ballet than it is faced with the prospect of crises elsewhere . The immediate area of liability is that of the provincial repertory theatres, 27 of which in Englan d and Scotland are receiving from the Arts Council a total subsidy of £87,005. In the West End of London, one of the playgrounds of the world, th e theatre continues to attract substantial audiences . But since the Spring of this year takings have fallen in most of the provincial theatres, and on the average they are now not more than half-full . If this decline in attendances were affecting only, or mainly, the weaker playhouses it might be attri- buted to falling artistic standards ; but the hardest hit include half a dozen theatres of exemplary quality . The people who are staying away from them in increasing numbers are the 'steadies' : the ones who could formerly be counted upon to visit every new production . The hard core of support is diminishing. Why? There is no single reason. The causes of the grave and undoubted decline in the provincial theatre as a whole include the lon g spell of fine weather in Spring and early Summer, and the increasin g dinginess of so many valiant Reps too poor to afford a lick of paint or the renewal of seats ruptured by several generations of use . The immense expansion of Hire Purchase is also said to be a factor ; since restrictions on `consumer borrowing' were lifted it has been rising at the rate o f £400,000,000 a year. Now that the minimum equipment of an averag e family includes so many expensive gadgets and amenities, the size of th e monthly payments on them all calls for peripheral economies in th e family budget-and these, it is said, include (for some people) the custo- mary weekly visit to the Rep. The impact of television was not so immediately felt in the theatres a s in the cinema, for the theatre-going public outside London is a very small segment of the population anyhow, but television is certainly reducin g that fraction still further now, not least because TV itself is providing s o much excellence in drama . This instantaneous medium can present the stars to millions at a time, in their own homes, several nights a week, at a very moderate cost to the family budget ; and from now on most people are going to derive their enjoyment and knowledge of drama from tele- vision. The mass communication of drama ceases to be a responsibility o r ambition of a living theatre . Must all this mean that, outside London , we are bound to accept the dissolution of the professional theatre within the next few years ? The living theatre has a decisive function ; it can continue to be a dynamo of drama even if the diffusion of drama now belongs increasingly to television. But what kind of living theatre could provide this vita l dynamic? Certainly not a harassed and impoverished assortment of loca l theatres mouldering away for lack of audience and lack of amenity .