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 Arts 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 absorbed within a new Regional Department. The next restructuring took place in 1985/86. After this date, Touring was once again re-established as a separate department.

Scope and content

The records in this series belonged to Ruth Marks, who was one of the Drama Touring Officers and later the Assistant Touring Director. They date from the initial phase of the Touring Department, in the 1970s, through the mid-1980s, when Touring was taken over by the Regional Department, and reflect the re-establishment of the Touring Department after 1986. The majority of files concern individual theatre companies or theatre buildings and, unless otherwise stated, they contain most or all of the following items: correspondence, grant applications, capital grant applications for 'Housing the Arts' projects, show reports, reports on companies and / or buildings, tour budgets and details of projected tours. Many also contain printed publicity material and / or national press reviews and tour contracts; a few contain architectural plans and / or photographs. A smaller group of files (listed towards the end of the catalogue) includes material on / from organisations, committees and initiatives.

Arrangement

The files in this series that relate to touring companies and / or theatres are arranged alphabetically; the theatres represented here being arranged by geographic location first and then by theatre name. The files that follow are arranged thematically.

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Access to some unpublished material may be restricted and requests for access can take up to 20 working days to be processed.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