Support for the Arts in England and Wales Lord RedclifFe-Maud Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation 1976 SUPPORT FOR THE ARTS IN ENGLAND AND WALES SUPPORT FOR THE ARTS IN ENGLAND AND WALES AREPORTTOTHECALOUSTE GULBENKIAN FOUNDATION BY Lord Redcliffe-Maud Master of University College, Oxford Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation UK and Commonwealth Branch London 1976 © Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation 1976 98 Portland Place, London WIN 4.ET Designed and produced by Ruari McLean Associates Ltd, Dollar, Scotland FKI4 ypr Printed in Great Britain by Oyez Press Limited ISBN o 903319 06 3 second impression September 1976 third impression April 1979 fourth impression October 1982 Contents I INTRODUCTION Why an Enquiry now? page 9 Procedure 12 Some definitions 13 Why patronise the arts? 14 Arrangement of report 15 II CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. GENERAL Post-war progress 17 No grounds for complacency 18 More money needed 19 Planning must not wait 19 Local democracy the clue to progress 20 National leadership needed 20 Regional arts associations 20 Public opinion 21 Business opinion 21 Purpose of arts support 21 Methods of arts support 22 Education and training 23 Broadcasting 24 Arm's length principle 24 Devolution 25 Local government 25 Private patronage 25 'Only connect' 27 B. PARTICULAR Ministers and Departments 30 Arts Councils for Scotland and Wales 31 Arts Council of Great Britain 32 Museums and galleries 34 British Film Institute 35 Crafts and design 36 Regional Arts Associations 37 Local authorities 41 Wales 46 Support for artists 49 Support for various forms of art 55 Provision for the handicapped 59 Other recommendations 59 C. SUMMARY OF MAIN CONCLUSIONS 6l ffl PRESENT FRAMEWORK OF ARTS SUPPORT 'Box Office' 66 The Government 68 The Arts Council of Great Britain 71 The British Council 74 The British Film Institute 76 The Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries 80 The Crafts Advisory Committee 83 The Welsh Arts Council 85 Regional Arts Associations and Area Arts Associations 88 Local Education Authorities 100 Local Authorities 102 Broadcasting 107 Grant-giving trusts, charities and foundations 109 Commercial sponsorship and patronage 112 IV RESULTS FOR THE VARIOUS ARTS Drama 115 Music 122 Opera 131 Dance 137 Fine art 141 Museums and galleries 150 Literature 154 Community arts 157 Film and video 161 Crafts 165 Local arts councils and associations 168 Housing the arts 169 Training arts administrators 174 Research 177 APPENDICES 1. Arts Council of Great Britain: Grants-in-aid 179 2. Regional Arts Associations 180 3. Notes on a visit to Sweden 182 4. Those consulted in course of Enquiry 191 Map end paper Preface This enquiry was initiated by the Foundation at the request of the Standing Conference of Regional Arts Associations and the Arts Council of Great Britain. We were most happy that so distinguished a person as Lord Redcliffe-Maud accepted the Foundation's invitation to undertake the enquiry. It would have been impossible to find another person so well qualified for the job. His long and eminent career in public service and his unrivalled knowledge of local government add special authority to this report which reflects too his enjoyment of, and enthusiasm for, the arts. Therefore, on behalf of the Foundation, I thank Lord Redcliffe- Maud and Anthony Wraight for their tireless work informed by wide-ranging journeys which have allowed them to see what is actually happening to the arts and artists today throughout England and Wales. The result is a comprehensive, stimulating work. Though the Foundation has responded to the initiative of the Arts Council and the RAAs, the enquiry has been quite independent and financed entirely by the Foundation: the report, though formally addressed by Lord Redcliffe-Maud to the Foundation, is in fact intended as a public document and is published by us in the hope that it will provoke further discussion and deliberation on the issues it raises. For its own part, the Foundation is considering urgently its own policies and priorities in the light of Lord Redcliffe-Maud's recom- mendations, so that our help to the arts can better complement that given by other bodies. I am sure that this report will prove a milestone in the history of arts patronage in England and Wales and not the least important of the reports associated with the name of Lord RedclifFe-Maud. CHARLES WHISHAW Member of the Board of Administration Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation May 1976 8 I Introduction Why an Enquiry now? 'Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully!'* The present state of the nation should have much the same effect. We have no intention of hanging ourselves, or of letting anyone else hang us. But inflation, unemployment and our debts to foreigners compel us to take stock and concentrate the mind on what we need to do. Can we make better use of our resources and, in particular, of the money we hand over in rates and taxes for public spending? Where are the growth points that we must cherish even in hard times like these? In 1940 our national prospects could hardly have been worse. There was everything to be said for cutting out the frills and concentrating on national survival every resource we had. Yet that was the year when for the first time our government deliberately put taxpayer's money into a fund, created by the Pilgrim Trust 'for the encouragement of music and the arts'. A council known as CEMA was created. By 1945 its work had proved so valuable that nothing could be allowed to snuff it out. A permanent body with a royal charter, the Arts Council of Great Britain, took its place and this year will spend ,£37-15111 of taxpayers' money on our behalf. Is this a frill that must be cut, or is it indispensable? How should it be related to other forms of cultural patronage? Another national body, to support the art of film, had been created under the Companies Act before the war, as a limited company without guarantee named the British Film Institute. This year some two and a half million pounds of taxpayers' money went to support it. Too much, or not enough? And in the 'seventies a third national body came into being, the Crafts Advisory Committee, to assist official efforts in support of artist-craftsmen. Meanwhile the British Broadcasting Corporation, as an inseparable * Dr Samuel Johnson, Letter to Boswell, 19 September 1777. SUPPORT FOR THE ARTS part of its general work and on a scale comparable to that of the Arts Council's patronage, spends 15% of its revenue from licence fees on arts and artists of all kinds. The independent television and radio companies have a commitment of a similar kind, under the terms of licence from the Independent Broadcasting Authority; but they can act only within the limitation of a single channel and, as they depend financially on revenue from advertisers, their top priority is bound to be the attraction of mass audiences. The Annan Committee on the Future of Broadcasting will no doubt cover in its report this crucial subject of arts patronage through broadcasting, but in the meanwhile no review of help for the arts can ignore the part broadcasting at present plays at national and regional level. Local authorities have long been responsible for local libraries, museums and galleries and, since the turn of the century, for education. A few big cities have also been pioneers in the support of their own theatre or orchestra and other towns have used for patronage of music, drama and various forms of entertainment the limited financial powers given them all by Parliament in 1948. On i April 1974 all these existing local councils outside Greater London (1,500 in England and Wales) ceased to exist and were replaced by new ones at two levels, county and district, numbering only 422 in all (a total, with those of Greater London, of 454). Each new type of council has its own powers and duties, those in six metropolitan areas having significantly different ones from those in the rest of England and Wales, while in Greater London those created by act of Parliament ten years earlier for the most part are unchanged. But, as a. result, all councils now have larger powers to support the arts and crafts than the old councils had: powers are no longer confined to urban areas or limited financially; in every part of the country both county and district possess concurrent powers of patronage; none has a duty to support the arts or crafts, save as a part of the general education duty imposed on councils responsible for educa- tion. Re-organisation therefore for the first time sets local government free to bring both arts and crafts into the mainstream of its activity - and at the same time leaves it free to do no more than the very little it has done before. Further, it gives this freedom to two elected bodies, county and district, in each place, with no legal prescription about how they should divide work for the arts between them. Here, then, is one good reason for using the present economic stand-still to review each local scene and seek agreement between county and districts every- where about the best division of labour among local governors. 10 INTRODUCTION Another reason is the fact that almost every part of England and Wales now falls within the scope of what is called a Regional Arts Association (RAA). These bodies are not in any sense creatures of Parliament, as local authorities are. They have no taxing power, direct or indirect.