Arts Council of Great Britain: records, 1928-1997

Series description

Context

The Arts Council's commitment to touring productions of ballet, theatre and opera dates from its earliest days, when it inherited the war-time work of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA). In 1970, the Council took over the formerly independent Dramatic and Lyric Theatre Association (DALTA) and appointed its director, Jack Phipps, to run a scheme to organise the touring of opera, ballet and drama. Initially, the touring scheme was known as DALTA. By 1973/74, it was being run by the Regional Department and the name DALTA was gradually replaced with 'Arts Council Touring'. In 1975/76, the Regional Department was disbanded and a separate Touring Department was formed. This department existed until 1979/80, when Touring was once again absorbed within a new Regional Department. The next restructuring took place in 1985/86. After this date, Touring was re-established as a separate department.

Scope and content

This series ranges from the early days of DALTA to the final re-establishment of the Touring Department. The series contains files originally labelled with the distinctive reference code "ACT-TC" (Arts Council Touring - [probably] Touring Companies). Although the DALTA files were unmarked, it is probable that they were also part of the ACT-TC group and these files have therefore been marked as "Previous ref: probably ACT-TC." Elsewhere in the series, some of the previous references were indistinguishable and the reference that appears beneath one of these file titles is preceded by the word "possibly" to differentiate it from files where the previous reference is known. The files reveal the detailed administration involved in overseeing touring productions in opera, dance and drama to cities and towns across England, Scotland and Wales. There is a particular emphasis on seat pricing structures for touring productions. The files contain a large number of tour confirmation sheets and returns sheets. Typically, they also contain contracts, correspondence, production flyers, and reports on marketing and seat pricing. Occasionally, files contain company itineraries, minutes from subsidy meetings and tour planning charts. Dance companies represented here include: Ballet Rambert, London Contemporary Dance Theatre, London Festival Ballet, Northern Ballet and Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet. Opera companies include: English National Opera, Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Kent Opera, Opera 80, Scottish Opera and Welsh National Opera. Theatre companies include: Compass Theatre, New Vic, National Theatre Touring, Oxford Playhouse Company, Royal Shakespeare Company, Tynewear Theatre Company and Whirligig.

Arrangement

This series is arranged to reflect the original file references.

Access

General information on access to archives at the V&A is available on the archive pages of the V&A website.

Restrictions on access

Access to some unpublished material may be restricted and requests for access can take up to 20 working days to be processed. When applying for access, it is helpful if you can quote the reference number, title and covering dates of the file(s) in question. For very large requests you are advised to contact us to discuss your requirements. All requests should be sent to archive@vam.ac.uk or Victoria and Albert Museum Archives (ref. ACGB), Blythe House, 23 Blythe Road, London W14 0QX.

Detailed catalogue