Victoria and Albert Museum

Arts Council of Great Britain: records, 1928-1997


Series description

Series title: Arts Access Unit Files, 1987-1993
Reference: ACGB/89
Extent: 1m 10cm

Context

The Arts Access Unit was set up during restructuring of the Planning and Development Department in 1988/89. This new unit merged the responsibilities of the Arts and Disability Unit and the Ethnic Minority Arts Unit. It was intended to look at further issues of access and equal opportunities in the arts.

The unit was headed by Peter Blackman who became head of the Cultural Diversity Unit once Arts Access was disbanded in 1991. These files reflect the rapidly developing area of access and equal opportunities. Some records were created either before or after the Arts Access Unit and seem to have found their way into the files through the fact that Peter Blackman's career reflects this cross-over period.

Scope and content

The records in this series tend to relate to specific access issues rather than reflecting the organisation or the administration of the unit. There are, for example, files relating to Minority Arts Advisory Service, Women in the Arts, the Commission for Racial Equality and Arts Education in a Multicultural Society.

Access

No list of the individual files in this series is currently available.

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Access to unpublished material less than 30 years old is subject to the written permission of the Arts Council of England.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.