Page 22 - Studio International - October 1967

Patronage as an improve the standard of execution of the fine greens-in fact Merrie England. Lord Mac-
arts and to advise and co-operate with Our millan's grave judicial calm collapsed suddenly
outdated concept Government Departments, local authorities and completely. At the moment he was
and other bodies on any matter concerned responsible for the national morale, and in
directly with those objects'. The charter des- the President's dream he saw employment for
cribes the goal which is to be reached, but it actors, singers and painters, and refreshment
does not specify the means of reaching it. The for the multitude of war workers for the
White Paper was an important step in dis- duration. Supply and Demand kissed. Would
cussing the means and thereby the basic £25,000 be of any use ? The Secretary
policy in supporting and fostering the arts. blushed and fell off his stool.'
One of the main points of the White Paper is CEMA's function was not unlike a mission
the need to make the public understand that taking the arts to all corners of the provinces
art, far from being academic and solemn, can with the provision, for instance, of 'music
be fun, and further, that in order to have a travellers' -professional instrumentalists and
Jasia Reichardt civilized nation, the arts must be made to singers who travelled the country on their
play their part. own and performed assisted by local talent
Ironically enough the 1962-3 Arts Council wherever an audience could be found. The
report discussed whether having a Minister of key to CEMA's role was provided by some of
If an official body undertakes to act as the the Arts would be an advantage. The matter the headings under which their activities were
national channel of support for any field of had been debated in the House of Lords to described, e.g. 'Factory concerts', 'art for the
endeavour, then the term 'patronage' should establish whether the principle role of such a people', 'people's concerts', and provision for
be replaced by 'responsibility'. Many mis- Minister would be to get more money from events in air raid shelters and internment
understandings about the function of the Arts the Exchequer, and whether such a post camps. The annual report describing some of
Council and the Government's policy for the would be a realistic proposition. It was noted these activities reads rather like the 1st mani-
arts arise from this semantic discrepancy. that despite the lack of such a Minister the festo of Centre 42, with the main difference
I doubt if any report on any branch of Arts Council grant had been multiplied ten- between the two projects to be found in the
scientific research which is paid for by the fold since 1946. The expert opinion was quite extraordinary receptiveness of people's minds
nation mentions the word 'beneficence' in rela- clearly divided on the subject. Today there is in times of emergency to things and ideas they
tion to government support ; the Arts Council no doubt that Jennie Lee's position of Minister might normally reject.
report does. What this suggests is that the arts with special responsibility for the arts, was The £25,000 grant from the Pilgrim Trust
are a poor ailing cousin sporadically attended the first radical step from the nation's official was doubled by the Government four months
to by a lady bountiful who makes numerous attitude of beneficence towards the arts, to- after CEMA's inception. After the war,
gestures of kindness, while the sciences, like a wards one of responsibility. CEMA's effectiveness having been proved, its
bona-fide patient, have a professional nurse To understand something about the Arts status was changed to that of the Arts Council
whose obligation it is to tend the patient. The Council and its changing role, one must go of Great Britain which drew for finances on
arts are approached with circumspection back to the beginning of World War II and the the Treasury, unlike CEMA which was sup-
because, if anyone would but admit it, their organization to which the Council owes its ex- ported by the Ministry of Education. Whereas
benefits cannot be added up, weighed or even istence - the Committee for the Encouragement CEMA concerned itself with both professional
sold. Their rights must be in question unless of Music and the Arts, which began as an emer- and amateur activities, the Arts Council's
one recognizes the fact that creativity is a gency movement in 1939. CEMA was set up primary obligations are to the former, although
basic human need. The way in which official- to keep ,the arts alive during the war. Origi- these include occasional grants to amateur
dom responds to the arts is a reflection of an nally it was sponsored solely by the Pilgrim bodies to obtain services of professionals.
accumulation of attitudes, both sociological Trust, and Dr Thomas Jones, secretary of this Thus the Arts Council became the instru-
and political, which don't really fit current Trust, who became the moving spirit behind ment of official national patronage of the arts.
contingencies. To accommodate the ready- CEMA, recorded the event of CEMA's crea- It is a democratic body with a council of
made systems for dealing with, say, industry, tion as follows : sixteen eminent men and women, of whom
pensions and national health, to something as `It began on the telephone. Lord de la seven belong to the executive committee. The
irrational as the creative endeavours of a Warr, then President of the Board of Educa- Arts Council is divided into three separate
minority of maladjusted individuals is bound tion, rang up the Secretary of the Pilgrim committees for England, Scotland and Wales,
to produce conspicuous discrepancies. Trust to sound him about an "idea" and a and is advised by four specialist panels-for
Jennie Lee is obviously well aware of this, possible grant; nothing very much, £5,000 art, music, drama and poetry.
since she opens her White Paper of 1965, perhaps. A familiar experience. The "idea" In the field of the visual arts the Arts
called 'A policy for the arts', with : 'The sounded promising on a first hearing and it Council's most important functions are the
relationship between artist and State in a was arranged that the President of the Board promotion of art through the provision and
modern democratic community is not easily should meet, without prejudice, the Chairman circulation of exhibitions and the distribution
defined.' The White Paper goes on to state of the Trust, Lord Macmillan, then Minister of funds. These funds provide grants and
that the purpose of government support for of Information. They met in the latter's room guarantees to local art societies, purchases, and
the arts is to sustain the best in artistic at the University of London at noon, on various awards to individual artists. Since the
achievement and to make it more widely December 14, 1939. I was present. White Paper stressed the need to increase the
available. This is done in three different ways : `Lord de la Warr was enthusiastic. He had government support for artists particularly in
through education, preservation and patron- Venetian visions of a post-war Lord Mayor's the early years before they become estab-
age. This last category is dealt with by the Show on the Thames in which the Board of lished, a special sum has been allocated for
Arts Council, whose exact duties were set out Education led the arts in triumph from White- this very purpose, amounting to £11,000
in the Royal Charter of 1946 as 'the develop- hall to Greenwich in magnificent barges and for 1965/66 and 1966/67, and £15,000 for
ment of greater knowledge, understanding gorgeous gondolas; orchestras, madrigal sin- 1967/68.
and practice of the fine arts exclusively and in gers, Shakespeare from the Old Vic, ballet The figures for the Arts Council budget,
particular to increase the accessibility of the from Sadler's Wells, shining canvases from the according to the Civil Estimates for the year
fine arts to the public through Our Realm, to Royal Academy, folk dancers from village ending 31.3.68, are : a total of £7,200,000
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