R-v-c w fQ C" The Arts Council of Great Britain Thirty-first annual report and accounts year ended 31 March 1976 The arts in hard time s ARTS COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN REFERENCE ONLY DO NOT REMOVE FROM THE UBRARY~ Thirty-first annual report and accounts 1975-1976 ISBN 0 7287 0112 X Published by the Arts Council of Great Britai n 105 Piccadilly, London W IV OA U Designed and printed at Shenval Press, Englan d The illustration on the cover is the detail from the painting `The Gleaners'by J. F. Millet that was used on the poste r announcing the Millet exhibition . Contents 4 Staff 7 Chairman's introduction 8 Secretary-General's Report 21 Scotland 25 Wales 30 Membership of Council and Staff 31 Council, Committees and Panels 37 Annual Accounts The objects for which the Arts Council of Great Britai n is established are : To develop and improve the knowledge, understandin g and practice of the arts; To increase the accessibility of the arts to the public throughout Great Britain ; and To co-operate with government departments, loca l authorities and other bodies to achieve these objects . Staff Secretary-General: Roy Shaw Headquarters Deputy Secretary-General: Angus Stirling 105 Piccadilly Finance Director: Anthony Field, 1P, FCA London W 1 V OAU Art Director: Robin Campbell, DSO 01-6299495 Director ofExhibitions : Joanna Drew Drama Director : N . V. Linklater, CB E Deputy Drama Director : D . G . Andrew s Music Director : John Cruft Deputy Music Director : Eric Thompson, OBE Literature Director: Charles Osborne Director of Touring: Jack Phipp s Advisor for Festivals andExternal Matters: K . H . Jeffery Chief Administration Officer : J. D. Haskin s Accountant : David Pelham, ACA Director : Alexander Dunbar Scotland Deputy Director : Harry McCann 19 Charlotte Square Art Director : William Buchanan Edinburgh EH2 4DF Music Director : Christie Duncan 031-226 6051 Drama Director : J. R. H . Faulkner Literature Director : Trevor Royl e Director of the Council's Arts Centre in Glasgow : Tom McGrath (350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow C2) Director : Aneurin Thoma s Wales Music Director : Roy Bohana Hoist House, Museum Plac e Drama Director : William Dufto n Cardiff CFI 3NX Art Director: Peter Jones Cardiff (STD 0222) 39471 1 Literature Director : Meic Stephen s Finance Director : R. J. K. Harris Accounts Officer : D . T. Murdoch 4 Rom firepo .srer far an Arls Council touring erlribilhur of u'reerrpriurs In• Purrick C'uulfiekl for a hook ofpoems by the bwnclr poet Jules L alorkue . Chairman's introductio n The arts in hard times The title of this report applies not only to the year under Inevitably, and rightly, most of our money has gone to th e review. It describes the last three years . We are not perhaps traditional arts . This is not due to any desire on the part of quite like the women on our cover, who were allowed only t o the Arts Council to dam the flood of change . It is due to its glean what was left after the harvest, but it is certainly tru e belief that each generation has a right to enjoy its cultural that throughout these three years our resources have inheritance, and that each time it is explored afresh it ca n hardly grown in real terms. Our problem, therefore, has bring with it new insight and understanding . d been to maintain intact what was so successfully create There is, however, a new creed emerging, to which we are t before runaway inflation took hold, but to do so withou totally opposed . This is the belief that because standard s denying all response to new ideas and initiatives . have been set by the traditional arts and because those art s Mr Roy Shaw's report on his first year of office as Sec- are little enjoyed by the broad mass of people, the concept retary-General reflects these difficulties, but readers wil l of quality is `irrelevant' . The term cultural democracy has note a change of emphasis, a move towards a mor e been invoked by those who think in this way, to describe a explicit cultural policy, into which, when finances permit , policy which rejects discrimination between good and ba d initiation as well as response will increasingly be fitted . and cherishes the romantic notion that there is a 'cultura l Such a development must await a Government decisio n dynamism' in the people which will emerge if only they ca n that education and the arts are to have more money - an d be liberated from the cultural values hitherto accepted by a n at present this is not part of the Government's plan fo r elite and from what one European `cultural expert' ha s national solvency. recently called `the cultural colonialism of the middl e classes'. During the year we lost our Minister, Mr Hugh Jenkins. He held office during a period of acute economic difficult y This demagogic doctrine insults the very people it i s and he fought hard for the Arts Council's share of the supposed to help. On the other hand, what is undoubtedl y national budget throughout the two years of his service a s true is that many people who have had no chance to enjo y Minister. We greatly appreciated his efforts on our behalf the arts can be helped to approach them by being encourage d which met with not inconsiderable success and we send hi m to participate in creative activity rather than merely to our good wishes and thanks . We know he will keep a experience it passively. It is this feature of community art s benevolent eye on our activities, even if he sometime s which is of particular interest to the Council . We have criticizes our constitution as not according with his ideas given work of this kind some encouragement over the pas t of democracy . We welcome Lord Donaldson as our present two years and the results are currently being reviewed . Minister. His love for the arts, especially music, is equalled But here as elsewhere, we must not jettison our concern for only by his lifelong concern for the underprivileged. No standards, and we need to improve, not abandon, ou r better combination of interests could be found in a Ministe r methods of assessing them . of the Arts and we look forward to our work with him wit h It is encouraging that the TUC's first major statement o n enthusiasm. the arts, which appeared as this was being written, repudiates Another major event in the Arts Council's affairs, sub- the particular brand of `cultural democracy' to which I hav e sequent to the year under review, has been the publicatio n referred above and emphasizes the need for high standard s of Lord Redcliffe-Maud's report . Mr Shaw gives it specia l in the arts which they are rightly anxious to see made mor e attention and I can only add here that it will be of th e accessible to their members. the greatest assistance to us in developing our regional It is easier to talk about standards than to define them, and policy. We know that in the long run we can achieve littl e the task of assessing the multitude of artistic enterprises we without the help of the Local Authorities and we can onl y support is more difficult every year . The Council is deeply hope that the example set by the best of them wil l grateful to the panels which advise and assist it in this work . gradually be followed by the others . We believe strongly i n Panel members go to great trouble to attend performances , the potential of the regional arts associations to achiev e often in remote places, and to examine the work of individua l what no national arts council can achieve from the centre . artists. Like Council members, they receive no materia l Our relationship with them must be developed construc- reward and we are very conscious of our debt to them . I am tively, with particular reference to our accountability fo r by no means sure that the system of relying so much o n the funds they receive from us, and we look forward t o volunteers to carry out the work of assessment can continu e . special discussions with them this autumn indefinitely, and I believe that the Council's staff should be In his introduction to the report Mr Shaw sets out clearl y strengthened so that they can undertake more of this work his own approach to state support for the arts, and I themselves . There are two main elements in Art s endorse it keenly Finally, I should like to extend to our staff the Council' s . One is to use our resources to help maintai n Council policy grateful thanks. It is they who wrestle unendingly and o and improve the practice of the traditional arts, and t uncomplainingly with the intractable problems faced by the make them not only more accessible to, but more ap- arts in hard times . I can only say that they seem, as we al l proachable by, an increasing number of people. The other do, to enjoy it. is to support artists working in experimental forms, an d to give encouragement to ways of involving new audience s in artistic experience. GIBSON 7 (;sport Introductio n A new Secretary-General has a great deal to learn . and l must begin by acknowledging the kindness and help I hav e received from all quarter, ; from the Minister and his staff.