Arts League of Service

A little-known cultural organisation founded in Britain in 1919 with the singular aim of bringing art and the 'higher forms of entertainment' to the masses. A key figure in the organisation from its inception until 1931 was Ana Berry who was to become its spokesperson. The ALS held a series of lectures on art, literature, dance, music and crafts given by, among others, Wyndham Lewis, T.S. Eliot, Margaret Morris (1891–1980), and Eugene Goossens. They also staged exhibitions at the Twenty-One Gallery in London which featured work by Duncan Grant, McKnight Kauffer, John and Paul Nash, Cedric Morris, Frederick Etchells, Edward Wadsworth and Frank Dobson. They also ran a Dramatic Touring Company that staged repertory shows consisting of plays by W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, Harold Brighouse and others. The Arts League of Service was active until the outbreak of World War II. An article on the League appeared in the magazine Artwork in the October 1924 edition.