Artist Unknown: An Alternative History of the Arts Council by Richard Witts Little, Brown 592pp, £22.50 in UK
This lengthy book charts the rise of British Government funding for the contemporary arts since the first World War. The great and good of the English establishment form the dramatis personae - John Maynard Keynes, Kenneth Clarke, R.A.(Rab) Butler and Hugh Gaitskell, amongst others. Occasionally, a woman gets a look in, such as Virginia Bottomley, National Heritage Secretary 1995-96.
Early in its history the Arts Council was intent on bringing quality music, theatre and visual art to the regions of England, promoting these art forms directly, an approach lost sight of in later years as the Council became reactive and narrowly concerned with the big London-based national institutions such as Covent Garden and the South Bank. The latter part of the book covers the more recent history of the Arts Council. This is the more interesting as there are pointers for the arts community here as well as for the new Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaion members. The independence of the Arts Council of England has been severely dented due to its closeness to government, and its long-term reputation has been sacrificed to short-term political expedient. A Council official notes that there was "a prevailing view amongst staff that their constitutional responsibility is to artists. But this is untrue - it is to the public". And some unwisely think it's to the public's representatives. A recent Chairman of the Arts Council, Lord Palumbo, was close to his "beloved Margaret", according to the author. Little good it did his Arts Council, though. In such supping, a long spoon is a necessity.
The account of the labyrinthine workings of the committee system of advisers within the Arts Council makes salutary reading. If ever a system were devised with the sole purpose of stifling innovation, this is it. An Chomhairle Ealaion, beware. At times the history of the Council makes for a racy narrative, as in the description of the music circuit run by CEMA - Committee (later Council) for Entertainment and the Arts, forerunner of the Arts Council. Circuit venues included the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock, the Forces Quiet Club in Liverpool and the RAF Camp Theatre in Rhyl. There is a school-boyish tinge to the text here.
Indeed, Keynes as Council chairman gets short shrift from the author for his machinations in getting Council support for opera and dance. His "unconsummated but congenial marriage" to his dancer wife, Lydia, no doubt played a part in this. Keynes was also gaily keen on buildings for the arts. Not so his Council colleague, Vaughan Williams, as recorded in the minutes ". . . it was not the function of the Council to provide a setting for the arts, but rather to foster the arts themselves". Arts Council/AnChomhairle Ealaion watchers can take some solace from the fact that the arts v buildings argument is not of recent origin or particular locale.
Relations with local authorities were, as ever, difficult. One Council officer "felt we were being taken for a ride when a city claimed to pride itself on its orchestra while doing little more than covering rental charges at the city hall . . ." In 1995 Liverpool gave £25,000 to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society compared to the £1.4 million from the Arts Council. The situation in Ireland, North and South, is much less grim on that front. Still, we should not get carried away - the brilliant Wexford Opera Festival thrives due to its Arts Council, not its local authority, support.
There is copious detail in the book on developments in music, opera, theatre and visual art. Almost blow-by-blow accounts in this area (and rows there were) will try readers this side of the Irish Sea. The debate on Alternative Arts and the rise of Community Arts has echoes here - happily, a debate now concluded, with Community Arts in the ascendant.
Artist Unknown is stronger on description than analysis. The interested reader will mine nuggets from the extensive research which gives the book breadth. Perhaps the depth we look for will be found in the history of the Arts Council of England yet to be written.
Adrian Munnelly is a Senior Consultant at Carr Communications, and former Director of the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaion