Victoria and Albert Museum

Arts Council of Great Britain: records, 1928-1997

Series description

Context

In 1958, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer,Harold Macmillan, invited the Arts Council to undertake a first ever survey of existing buildings to house the arts, and to make recommendations for the future. The consequent Report was published in two volumes in 1959 and 1961.

The Report painted a very bleak picture, but a further four years passed before the Arts Council was empowered to give capital grants to encourage local authorities and other promoters to build. The scheme was a success and, by 1976, grants totalling £8,214,500 had been paid or promised to 271 scheme in England, Scotland and Wales.

In 1982/83 responsibility for the Housing the Arts scheme was taken over from the Finance Department by the Regional Department. By the mid-eighties, the capital programme was wound up and Housing the Arts survived briefly only in an advisory and information role.

Scope and content

These files contain correspondence, invoices, reports and accounts relating to individual Housing the Arts projects. They were clearly labelled as "closed files" and hence they have been catalogued separately from the similar files contained in series ACGB/12.

See ACGB/12, ACGB/84 and ACGB/120 for further material relating to the Housing the Arts scheme.

Arrangement

The files are arranged alphabetically by the town or city (Outside London and London) in which the individual project is based.

Access

Restrictions on access

Access to unpublished material less than 30 years old is subject to the written permission of the Arts Council of England. Apply in the first instance to the Archive of Art and Design at the Victoria and Albert Museum.