Arts Council of Great Britain

In 1940, during World War II, a Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) was appointed to help promote and maintain British artistic traditions and culture. Chaired by Lord De La Warr, President of the Board of Education, the Council was government-funded and after the war was renamed the Arts Council of Great Britain. The Council was incorporated under Royal Charter in 1945 with the purpose of encouraging a greater knowledge, understanding and practice of the fine arts, and to increase their ease of access to the public. Its main sphere of activity is the organization of exhibitions within the visual arts field and the publication of associated catalogues. Although most awards to individuals are now made by the Regional Arts associations, the Council remains the central grant-making body for the arts in Britain and supports galleries around the country on a regular basis. These include the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, Kettle's Yard and the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. Although it has no permanent exhibition site, it holds an important collection of paintings and sculptures. The ACGB was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council, and the Welsh Arts Council (now the Arts Council of Wales). At the same time, the National Lottery was established and these three arts councils, plus the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, became distribution bodies. Its illustrious chairmen have included such luminaries as John Maynard Keynes who used his influence in Government to secure a high level of funding despite Britain's poor finances following World War II. Following Keynes’ death, Government funding was reduced but the Arts Council received wide recognition for its contribution to the Festival of Britain in 1951 thanks to the new Chairman Kenneth Clark, later Lord Clark. Works of art commissioned by the Council for the Festival were retained to form the basis of the ACGB. Under the Wilson labour government of 1964-70 the Council enjoyed a Golden Age thanks to the close relationship between Chairman Arnold Goodman and the then Arts Minister Jennie Lee.

This period saw the Council establish a national network of arts organisations who acted as regular client organisations coupled with a programme of touring exhibitions and performances. To support the Council’s responsibilities in relation to the visual arts, it opened the Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank in 1968 as a home for its major exhibitions and the base for the ever expanding Council collection. Since 1987, the gallery has been independently managed by the South Bank Centre. In 2003 sculpture in the Collection was moved to a base in Yorkshire. During the 1970’s and 1980’s the Council came under attack for being elitist and politically biased, in particular from the prominent Conservative Party minister Norman Tebbit. The Government grant to the Council was capped effecting in real terms a reduction in funding though it was argued that any shortfall would be made up by increased sponsorship from the private sector. William Rees-Mogg was a political appointment as Chairman and proposed slimming down of the Council's responsibilities. This led to a series of clashes with well-known figures from the arts such as theatre director Peter Hall who resigned from the Council in protest. In 1987, the restructure inspired by Rees-Mogg cut by half the number of organisations receiving Arts Council funding. During the same period, the Council began encouraging a greater level of corporate sponsorship for the arts. The Arts Council of Great Britain was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England, Scottish Arts Council and the Welsh Arts Council. At the same time, the National Lottery was established and the Arts Council of England became one of the distribution bodies.