British organization, incorporated by royal charter in 1948 to take the place of the wartime Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts and to administer the subsidies granted by the state to artistic enterprises.
The Arts Council worked through panels, musical, literary, dramatic etc., independently of the government, though the government supplied its funds. It was not intended to represent an ‘establishment’ view of the arts and their place in society, and aimed for ‘patronage without control’. Regional arts associations working under its aegis and partly supported by the council, were free to form their own policies. The council’s care for music extended beyond professional orchestras and opera companies to amateur groups. London organizations (especially the Royal Opera House) took the greatest share of subsidies, but the policy from the 1960s and 1970s was to foster the arts in the regions by its support of small touring companies.
In 1994 the Arts Council’s responsibilities and functions were transferred to three new bodies: the Arts Council of England, the Scottish Arts Council and the Arts Council of Wales. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland was already established as a separate body. Each of these organizations supports, in addition to orchestras and opera companies, a range of ensembles in the fields of jazz, music theatre, improvised music, early music and Asian, African, Caribbean and other non-European music. They also actively encourage the works of living composers and have commissioned many new works.
HENRY RAYNOR/R