COUNCI L *Sir Kenneth Clark, K .C.B . ; D .Litt., LL .D ., F.B .A . (Chairman) *Wyn Griffith, O.B .E ., D .Litt . (Vice-Chairman) Ernest Boden Robert Kem p *Professor Sir William Coldstream, C.B .E. *Benn W. Levy, M .B .E. *Josepph Compton, C .B .E. *Professor Anthony Lewi s Lt .-Col . Vere E. Cotton, C.B.E ., T .D., J .P. *Sir George T . McGlashan, C .B .E., J .P . Mrs . Hugh Dalton John Newsom, C .B .E . The Lady Fermoy, O.B .E . Lady Ogilivie *Professor Gwyn Jones Sir Wynn Wheldon, K.B .E ., D .S .O ., LL .D . *Member of Executive Committee SCOTTISH COMMITTEE Sir George T. McGlashan, C.B .E., J.P. (Chairman) D. K . Baxandall J. A . Henderson William MacTaggart, R .S.A . Ernest Boden Robert Kemp Hugh Marshal l Colin Chandler The Hon . Mrs. Michael Lyle John M. Playfair Ian Finlay Sir John McEwen, Bart, D .L., Miss Violet C . Young E. S . Harrison J.P. WELSH COMMITTEE Professor Gwyn Jones (Chairman) The Marquess of Anglesey J. Henry Jones, Ph.D . Ceri Richard s S . Kenneth Davies, C.B .E . Thomas Parry, D .Litt . Dr . William Thomas, C.B . Aneirin Talfan Davies Robert E. Presswood Sir Wynn Wheldon, K .B .E., Professor I . L . Foste r Mrs . D . R . Prosse r D .S .O ., LL .D David Dilwyn John, T.D . , Miss Frances Rees, O .B .E . D . E . Parry Williams, D .Mus . D .Sc ., F.M .A . Emlyn Williams STAFF HEADQUARTERS 4 St. James's Square, London, S.W.1 Whiteha11973 7 Secretary-General : Sir William Emrys Williams, C.B .E . Deputy-Secretary and Finance Officer: M . J. McRober t Art Director : Music Director Drama Director : Philip James, C .B .E . John Denison, M .B .E . J. L. Hodgkinson, O .B .E . Assistant Secretary: Eric W . Whit e Accountant D . P. Lund, F .C .A . SCOTLAND Director : Dr. George Firth, O .B .E ., 11 Rothesay Terrace, Edinburgh, 3 (Edinburgh 34635/6 ) Deputy Director: Donald Mather WALES Director: Miss Myra Owen, O.B .E., 29 Park Place, Cardiff, South Wales (Cardiff 23488) Deputy Director : David Peters P~ 2cc-c J~ GQ P ~y 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 BRITAI N REFERENCE ONLY DO NOT REMOVE FROM THE LIBRARY TWELFT H ANNUAL REPOR T I956-I957 q. 'ST . JAMES'S SQUARE, LONDON, S .W .i DESIGNED BY MISS G . DRUMMOND McKERROW AND PRINTED IN ENGLAND AT THE BAYNARD PRESS CONTENTS Page 1 . ART IN THE RED 5 2. NOTES OF THE YEAR 10 3. DRAMA 33 4. ART 38 5. MUSIC 44 6. OPERA AND BALLET 52 7. POETRY 56 8 . SCOTLAND 58 9. WALES 64 APPENDICES : Appendix A The Arts Council of Great Britain : Audited Accounts 74 Appendix B The Council's Committee in Scotland : Audited Accounts 88 Appendix C The Council's Committee in Wales : Audited Accounts 94 Appendix D Arts Council Exhibitions held in Great Britain 100 Appendix E Subsidies from Local Authorities and Local Educatio n Authorities 102 1 ART' IN THE RED At the beginning of its eleventh year the Arts Council was assisting about 125 bodies engaged in providing the public of Great Britain wit h opera, ballet, music and drama on a professional basis. By the end of that year all these bodies were still alive ; but several of them had nearly come to grief, some had been compelled to curtail their activities, and all but two or three had been harassed by economic difficulties. Yet this same period was one of much artistic accomplishment, and abundant suppor t at the box office. At Covent Garden, for instance, there were performance s of The Ring which were acclaimed on good authority as the best to be see n and heard in Europe. Sadler's Wells gave its ardent and devoted audience some memorable new productions, including an enchanting Figaro. The Carl Rosa employed a modest budget on very successful tours of the Provinces and broke all attendance records during its fortnight in London. Heartening results of similar quality were achieved by the London and Provincial Orchestras, The Welsh National Opera Company, the Old Vic and many of the Repertory Theatres and Arts Festivals . The two com- panies of the Royal Ballet delighted multitudes at home and abroad, an d the gallant Ballet Rambert continued its demonstrations of style on a sho e string. There was no lack of quality, experiment and initiative among mos t of these providing bodies and no evidence that their public is being diminished by the onset of television. Yet most of them continue to be in a chronic condition of economic insecurity . Some of their difficulties are, evidently, due to the familiar spiral of mounting costs . A Credit Squeeze is no respecter of moral purpose, an d the manager of a non-profit repertory theatre is on no better a footing than a bookmaker when he seeks more accommodation from his bank . But the economic malady of the arts is not primarily due to the phenomenon o f inflation, although inflation is aggravating the trouble. It is caused by an almost universal lack of working capital among the companies which produce opera and music and plays on a non-profit basis . All the companies which the Arts Council assists are of this kind. They distribute no dividends, and when they secure a trading surplus, as some of them occasionally do, they plough it back into further production . But their exemption from the obligation to declare dividends is a benefit offset, more often than not, by their lack of capital assets and their consequent vulnerability to any of the hazards which beset their trading operations-such as a bad winter, a pre - mature summer, an epidemic, a transport strike, a miscalculated produc- tion. When the Royal Opera House embarked upon its prodigious task , ten years ago, of creating a national theatre of opera and ballet it was no t furnished with a penny-piece of working capital, and there was no provisio n in its budget, then as now, to cover or mitigate the accidents which ca n befall such delicate mechanisms . The alternative to capital is subsidy. Nations which adopt the principle of public patronage for the fine arts usually prefer annual subsidy to capital provision-although Canada has boldly taken the opposite view i n financing the new Canada Council, a body analogous to the Arts Council , which is described in some detail on page 14. The Doctrine of the Subsidy has much to commend it. It ensures that all money allocated is subject t o annual control by Parliament ; it is, theoretically, based upon a calculation of actual need ; and by its short-term nature it restrains its beneficiaries from developing grandiose ambitions . Its disadvantages are equally ap- parent : it inhibits long-term planning, allows no margin for accidents, dis - courages any accumulation of reserves for rainy days . But the most irk- some aspect of this doctrine of the subsidy is that it appears to pre-suppos e a horse-trading mentality among those who participate in its application . The governing bodies of the orchestras and theatres furnish the Art s Council year by year with precise estimates of their needs ; the Arts Council in turn scrutinises these figures with the closest attention, and finally sub- mits to the Treasury a consolidated estimate of the subsidy required t o maintain the present level of the fine arts in this country . Yet despite thes e careful calculations the money to cover the ascertained needs of the arts i s never forthcoming ; and the extent to which the Arts Council is unable , year after year, to offer its associated bodies the subsidies they need i s regularly reflected in the balance sheets and the anxieties of those bodies . In the last twelve months two of the symphony orchestras have narrowl y escaped dissolution ; the two national opera houses are burdened with heavy overdrafts, which represent the difference between their annual grants from the Arts Council and their actual needs ; the Carl Rosa is com- pelled to curtail its popular tours and to conduct its operations in hand-to - mouth fashion. The Royal Ballet and the Old Vic are constrained to under - take prolonged dollar-drives in America in order to make ends meet at 6 home. Several provincial repertory theatres, not least those engaged in ad - venturous programmes of new drama, are liable to be forced back into th e servitude and squalor of weekly rep . because they lack the couple o f thousand a year which would make it possible to put quality befor e quantity. If this economic insecurity were due to a widespread public in - difference to the fine arts it would be idle to persist in the attempt to main- tain the present level of provision. But the audience for the arts in thi s country today is a very large and appreciative one. It is being augmented, moreover, by many devices, such as supporters clubs for theatres and orchestras, special concerts for industrial workers, school visits, coac h parties of villagers combining their shopping with a visit to the repertory. Whether admission charges are being raised enough to keep pace wit h rising costs is a matter for argument ; yet where they are being increased consumer-resistance is not fulfilling the woeful predictions of the mor e timorous theatre and concert promoters . This aspect of administering the arts needs constant watching.