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44-625: The regional arts boards (formerly regional arts associations ) were English regional subdivisions of the Arts Council of Great Britain As the Arts Council began to move away from organising art activities in the 1950s, regional offices in England were restructured as regional art associations (RAAs). The new RAAs were intermediate organisations acting as a link between the Arts Council and

88-591: A "beacon for change" that proved immensely popular with thousands of elite visitors and millions of ordinary citizens. It helped reshape British arts, crafts, designs and sports for a generation. Journalist Harry Hopkins highlights the widespread impact of the "Festival style". They called it "Contemporary". It was: clean, bright and new.... It caught hold quickly and spread first across London and then across England....In an island hitherto largely given up to gravy browns and dull greens, "Contemporary" boldly espoused strong primary colors. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says

132-535: A "giant chicken coop". The building was officially opened on 3 May 1951. The inaugural concerts were conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent and Sir Adrian Boult . In April 1988 it was designated a Grade I listed building , the first post-war building to become thus protected. The Festival Pleasure Gardens were created to present a lighter side of the Festival of Britain. They were erected in Battersea Park ,

176-619: A Regional Department was formed. The Wilding report of 1989 recommended the RAAs should be replaced as there was significant differences in distribution of funding between different regions. They were replaced by 10 Regional Arts Boards (RABs) in 1990. The new Boards received the majority of their funding directly from the Arts Council rather than local sources. This changed the nature and structure of regional arts. These were independent non-profit limited by guarantee companies with some local authority representation on their management boards, but

220-565: A few miles from the South Bank Exhibition. Attractions included: The majority of the buildings and pavilions on the site were designed by John Piper . There was also a whimsical Guinness Festival Clock resembling a three dimensional version of a cartoon drawing. The Pleasure Gardens received as many visitors as the South Bank Festival. They were managed by a specially-formed private company financed by loans from

264-532: A high level of funding despite Britain's poor finances following the war. The majority of this funding was directed to organisations with which Keynes had close ties such as the Royal Opera House and was restricted to Central London . Keynes used his political influence to ensure that the Arts Council reported directly to the Treasury rather than an arts minister or the education department as had been

308-570: A steel latticework frame, pointed at both ends and supported on cables slung between three steel beams. The partially constructed Skylon was rigged vertically, then grew taller in situ . The architects' design was made possible by the engineer Felix Samuely who, at the time, was a lecturer at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in Bedford Square, Bloomsbury. The Skylon was scrapped in 1952 on

352-861: The British Film Institute and the National Book League. In addition, a Council for Architecture and a Council for Science and Technology were specially created to advise the Festival Organisation and a Committee of Christian Churches was set up to advise on religion. Government grants were made to the Arts Council, the Council of Industrial Design, the British Film Institute and the National Museum of Wales for work undertaken as part of

396-540: The Design Council's files relating to the planning of the festival. Exhibitions Festival Pleasure Gardens , Battersea Park, London (3 May – 3 November) London Season of the Arts (3 May – 30 June) Arts Festivals Pageant of Wales , Sophia Gardens, Cardiff St Fagan's Folk Festival , Cardiff Welsh Hillside Farm Scheme , Dolhendre Arts Festivals Exhibitions Arts Festivals Gathering of

440-482: The Harold Wilson government of 1964–70 the Arts Council enjoyed a Golden Age thanks to the close relationship between chairman Arnold Goodman and the arts minister Jennie Lee . This period saw the council establish a network of arts organisations across the country as regular client organisations and a programme of touring exhibitions and performances. To support the council’s responsibilities in relation to

484-703: The Second World War , the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), was appointed to help promote and maintain British culture . Chaired by Lord De La Warr , President of the Board of Education , the council was government-funded and after the war was renamed the Arts Council of Great Britain. Reginald Jacques was appointed musical director, with Sir Henry Walford Davies and George Dyson also involved. John Denison took over after

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528-469: The 1950s. William Feaver describes the Festival Style as "Braced legs, indoor plants, lily of the valley sprays of lightbulbs, aluminium lattices, Cotswold -type walling with picture windows , flying staircases, blond wood, the thorn, the spike, the molecule." The influence of the Festival Style was felt in the new towns , coffee bars and office blocks of the fifties. Harlow new town and

572-582: The Arts Council of England became one of the distribution bodies. For the first year after the change in organisation, the Arts Council of England acted to follow through on the final plans of the Arts Council of Great Britain. Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Labour Party cabinet member Herbert Morrison

616-570: The Clans , Edinburgh Scots Poetry Competition Masque of St. Andrews , St. Andrews Ulster Farm and Factory , Belfast Arts Festival Festival Ship Campania ,: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Land Travelling Exhibition  : England Construction of the South Bank site opened up a new public space, including a riverside walkway, where previously there had been warehouses and working-class housing. The layout of

660-648: The Festival Office and the London County Council. As the attractions failed to cover their costs, it was decided to keep them open after the rest of the Festival had closed. The Festival architects tried to show by the design and layout of the South Bank Festival what could be achieved by applying modern town planning ideas. The Festival Style, (also called "Contemporary") combining modernism with whimsy and Englishness, influenced architecture, interior design, product design and typography in

704-508: The Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: flocked to the South Bank site, to wander around the Dome of Discovery , gaze at the Skylon , and generally enjoy a festival of national celebration. Up and down the land, lesser festivals enlisted much civic and voluntary enthusiasm. A people curbed by years of total war and half-crushed by austerity and gloom, showed that it had not lost

748-402: The Festival. Gerald Barry had operational charge. A long-time editor with left-leaning, middle-brow views, he was energetic and optimistic, with an eye for what would be popular, and a knack on how to motivate others. Unlike Morrison, Barry was not seen as a Labour ideologue. Barry selected the next rank, giving preference to young architects and designers who had collaborated on exhibitions for

792-557: The Poplar district of London. The Festival's centrepiece was the South Bank Exhibition, in the Waterloo area of London, which demonstrated the contribution made by British advances in science, technology and industrial design, displayed, in their practical and applied form, against a background representing the living, working world of the day. There were other displays elsewhere, each intended to be complete in itself, yet each part of

836-520: The Skylon was the "Vertical Feature" that was an abiding symbol of the Festival of Britain. The base was nearly 15 metres (50 feet) from the ground, with the top nearly 90 metres (300 feet) high. The frame was clad in aluminium louvres lit from within at night. It was designed by Hidalgo Moya , Philip Powell and Felix Samuely , and fabricated by Painter Brothers of Hereford , England, between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge . It had

880-986: The South Bank Exhibition were planned by the Festival Office's Exhibition Presentation Panel, whose members were: The theme of the Exhibition was devised by Ian Cox. The Exhibition comprised the Upstream Circuit: "The Land", the Dome of Discovery, the Downstream Circuit: "The People", and other displays. Architect : Misha Black Theme : Ian Cox Display Design : James Holland The exhibits comprised: Architect : Ralph Tubbs Theme : Ian Cox Display : Design Research Unit The exhibits focused on scientific discovery. They included: Architect : Hugh Casson Theme : M.Hartland Thomas Display Design : James Gardner The exhibits comprised: An unusual cigar-shaped aluminium-clad steel tower supported by cables,

924-468: The South Bank site was intended to showcase the principles of urban design that would feature in the post-war rebuilding of London and the creation of the new towns . These included multiple levels of buildings, elevated walkways and avoidance of a street grid. Most of the South Bank buildings were International Modernist in style, little seen in Britain before the war. The architecture and display of

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968-438: The South Bank story was put on in the Festival ship Campania , which toured the coast of Britain throughout the summer of 1951, and on land there was a travelling exhibition of industrial design. London Transport ordered its first batch of 25 post-war RF single deck buses fitted with roof lights to provide a fleet of sight-seeing coaches for the festival. The University of Brighton Design Archives have digitised many of

1012-512: The arts, architecture, science, technology and industrial design, under the title "Festival of Britain 1951". Morrison insisted there be no politics, explicit or implicit. As a result, Labour-sponsored programmes such as nationalisation, universal health care and working-class housing were excluded; instead, what was allowed was town planning, scientific progress, and all sorts of traditional and modern arts and crafts. Much of London lay in ruins, and models of redevelopment were needed. The Festival

1056-670: The basis of the Arts Council Collection . The Arts Council commissioned 12 sculptors and 60 painters, who made large paintings, 114 by 152 centimetres (45 by 60 in) or more, to be displayed at the festival. Ultimately the works were to be given to new hospitals, libraries, schools, and health centres that emerged after the war. There were five cash prizes awarded: Robert Adams 's Apocalyptic Figure, Elinor Bellingham-Smith 's The Island, Lucian Freud 's Interior near Paddington, William Gear 's Autumn Landscape, and Robert MacBryde 's Figure and Still Life. Under

1100-463: The capacity for enjoying itself....Above all, the Festival made a spectacular setting as a showpiece for the inventiveness and genius of British scientists and technologists. The first idea for an exhibition in 1951 came from the Royal Society of Arts in 1943, which considered that an international exhibition should be held to commemorate the centenary of the 1851 Great Exhibition . In 1945,

1144-525: The case with CEMA, establishing the principle of an 'arms length' relationship between UK arts policy and the government of the day. After Keynes' death in April 1946 government funding was reduced but the Arts Council received wide recognition for its contribution to the Festival of Britain thanks to the new chairman Kenneth Clark . Artworks commissioned by the council for the festival were retained to form

1188-590: The democratic role and the link between subscription and governance was broken. Payment of a subscription did not guarantee a seat or a vote. After the Arts Council of Great Britain was abolished in 1994, the RABs were transferred to a new single body: Arts Council England . In 2001 it was announced that the RABS would be abolished in an effort to streamline the administration of Arts Council England. The Boards closed in April 2002 and smaller regional offices were maintained in

1232-581: The festival organisation. In March 1948, a Festival Headquarters was set up, which was to be the nucleus of the Festival of Britain Office, a government department with its own budget. Festival projects in Northern Ireland were undertaken by the government of Northern Ireland. Associated with the Festival of Britain Office were the Arts Council of Great Britain , the Council of Industrial Design ,

1276-474: The government appointed a committee under Lord Ramsden to consider how exhibitions and fairs could promote exports. When the committee reported a year later, it was decided not to continue with the idea of an international exhibition because of its cost at a time when reconstruction was a high priority. Herbert Morrison took charge for the Labour government and decided instead to hold a series of displays about

1320-543: The government was set up under General Lord Ismay . Responsibility for organisation devolved upon the Lord President of the Council , Herbert Morrison, the deputy leader of the Labour Party , who had been London County Council leader. He appointed a Great Exhibition Centenary Committee, consisting of civil servants, who were to define the framework of the Festival and to liaise between government departments and

1364-704: The one single conception. Festival Pleasure Gardens were set up in Battersea, about three miles up river from the South Bank. Heavy engineering was the subject of an Exhibition of Industrial Power in Glasgow. Certain aspects of science, which did not fall within the terms of reference of the South Bank Exhibition, were displayed in South Kensington. Linen technology and science in agriculture were exhibited in "Farm and Factory" in Belfast. A smaller exhibition of

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1408-523: The orders of Winston Churchill , who saw it as a symbol of the preceding Labour government. It was demolished and sold for scrap after being toppled into the Thames. Designed by Leslie Martin , Peter Moro and Robert Matthew from the LCC's Architects' Department and built by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts for London County Council . The foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Clement Attlee in 1949, on

1452-433: The prominent Conservative Party minister Norman Tebbit . The government grant to the council was capped effecting a real-terms reduction in funding, though it was argued that any shortfall would be made up by increased sponsorship from the private sector. The secretary-general from 1975 to 1983, Roy Shaw , the last secretary-general to be knighted, faced the difficult task of reconciling the needs of arts organisations with

1496-407: The regions set up by local authorities or consortiums of local arts associations. By 1971 there were twelve associations providing funding and advice for arts organisations. From the early 1970s they became the responsibility of the Council's Regional Development Department. When that Department was disbanded in 1976, the RAAs came under the then Deputy Secretary General, Angus Stirling, until 1980 when

1540-560: The regions, except the South East Board which became part of southern region, to bring them into line with the then regional development agency areas. This article related to the politics of England is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about an organisation in England is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Arts Council of Great Britain In January 1940, during

1584-400: The restricted funding. William Rees-Mogg was a political appointment as chairman and proposed slimming down the council's responsibilities. This led to a series of clashes with prominent figures from the arts such as Peter Hall , who resigned from the council in protest. In 1987 the restructure inspired by Rees-Mogg cut by half the number of organisations receiving Arts Council funding. During

1628-544: The same period the Arts Council began encouraging a greater level of corporate sponsorship for the arts. On 1 April 1994 it was replaced by the Arts Council of England, the Scottish Arts Council , and the Arts Council of Wales , each with their own new Royal Charter; the Arts Council of Northern Ireland already existed as a distinct body. At the same time, the National Lottery was established and

1672-404: The site of the former Lion Brewery , built in 1837. Martin was 39 when he was appointed to lead the design team in late 1948. He designed the structure as an 'egg in a box', a term he used to describe the separation of the curved auditorium space from the surrounding building and the noise and vibration of the adjacent railway viaduct. Sir Thomas Beecham used similar imagery, calling the building

1716-634: The visual arts, it opened the Hayward Gallery on London 's South Bank in 1968 as a home for its major exhibitions and the base for the Arts Council Collection . Since 1987, the gallery has been independently managed by the South Bank Centre . In 2003 sculpture in the collection was moved to a base in Yorkshire . During the 1970s and 1980s the Arts Council came under attack for being elitist and politically biased, in particular from

1760-519: The war. A royal charter was granted on 9 August 1946 followed by another in 1967. The latter provided for functions in Scotland and Wales to be conducted by two committees known as the Scottish and Welsh Arts Councils – the basis for the later Scottish Arts Council and Arts Council of Wales. The council's first chairman was John Maynard Keynes who used his influence in government to secure

1804-515: The wartime Ministry of Information. They thought along the same lines socially and aesthetically, as middle-class intellectuals with progressive sympathies. Thanks to Barry, a collegial sentiment prevailed that minimised stress and delay. The arts were displayed in a series of country-wide musical and dramatic performances. Achievements in architecture were presented in a new neighbourhood, the Lansbury Estate, planned, built and occupied in

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1848-483: Was an attempt to give Britons a feeling of recovery and progress and to promote better-quality design in the rebuilding of British towns and cities. The Festival of Britain described itself as "one united act of national reassessment, and one corporate reaffirmation of faith in the nation's future." Gerald Barry , the Festival Director, described it as "a tonic to the nation". A Festival Council to advise

1892-1122: Was losing support and so the implicit goal of the festival was to give the people a feeling of successful recovery from the war's devastation, as well as promoting British science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts. The Festival's centrepiece was in London on the South Bank of the Thames . There were events in Poplar (Architecture –  Lansbury Estate ), Battersea (the Festival Pleasure Gardens ), South Kensington (Science) and Glasgow (Industrial Power). Festival celebrations took place in Cardiff , Stratford-upon-Avon , Bath , Perth , Bournemouth , York , Aldeburgh , Inverness , Cheltenham , Oxford , Norwich , Canterbury and elsewhere, and there were touring exhibitions by land and sea. The Festival became

1936-553: Was the prime mover; in 1947 he started with the original plan to celebrate the centennial of the Great Exhibition of 1851 . However, it was not to be another World Fair , for international themes were absent, as was the British Commonwealth. Instead, the 1951 festival focused entirely on Britain and its achievements; it was funded chiefly by the government, with a budget of £12 million. The Labour government

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