Public Authorities and the Arts
| Author | John Sargent |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1952.tb02806.x |
| Published date | 01 December 1952 |
| Date | 01 December 1952 |
Public Authorities
and
the
Arts
By
JOHN
SARGENT
The Assistant Director of
the
Institute reports
on
the
Edinburgh Conference.
HE
City of Edinburgh,
on
the
T
eve of the
1952
International
Festival, was the setting for the
Institute’s Conference
on
Public
Authorities and the
Arts.
A hundred
visitors and delegates, a number of
them from overseas, attended the
discussions
on
subjects of interest
to public bodies with new responsi-
bilities for cultural activities. The
Chairman,
Sir
John Falconer, Lord
Provost of Edinburgh from
1944
to
1947
and one of the founders of the
Festival, was supported by a group
of outstanding speakers and the
Conference was enjoyable and of
considerable value.
Sir
John
Falconer, in opening the
Conference, stressed the need for
competent administrators and the
necessity for adequate education in
public administration at the Univer-
sities. At a time when the
arts
were largely administered by public
authorities,
officials
would in future
need to be prepared to serve in
this
additional sphere. He then intro-
duced Moray McLaren, the Scottish
author, who had gallantly volunteered
to take the place of Sir Compton
Mackenzie,
so
unfortunately taken
ill
during his journey to Edinburgh.
Mr.
McLaren said that private
patronage of the
arts
no
longer
existed to any extent and that since
the responsibility had been accepted
by public authorities, there was
some
danger
of
restricting the freedom of
the artist. Public money, he thought,
should not generally be devoted to
the support of
unknown
young
artists although he agreed that their
talent should not be stifled.
It
was
very difficult to decide which poten-
tial
artists were worthy of public
support and
it
would perhaps be
better to wait
until
sufficient time
had elapsed for them to prove their
mettle.
Mr.
McLaren said that,
in
Sir
Compton Mackenzie’s opinion,
some provision by way of income
tax
relief should be devised to help the
older artist who had served the
nation well. The Conference, dis-
cussing
this
address, drew attention
to administrative and economic
difficulties in adopting Sir Compton’s
suggestion.
It
was
clear
that many
Local Authorities did
a
great deal
to sponsor the arts
within
their
areas and
it
seemed to be the general
opinion
that if public authorities
were to give financial assistarice to
artists and to the development of
artistic enterprise, the project should
be undertaken by specially appointed
agencies, such as the
Arts
Council,
rather than by elected committees,
the members of which might
not
always be suitably qualified.
The second session was devoted
to the problem of preserving works
of
art,
and the Earl of Crawford and
Balcarres,
in
a brilliantly-phrased
address, pleaded for the preservation
of the her examples of architecture
and for a more artistic approach by
authorities to modern building and
development. Public authorities
accepting responsibility for the pre-
servation of the countryside and
of
works
of
art,
should not be too
sensitive over parliamentary questions
and the public should not be too
willing to adopt
an
official style or
to accept the artistic conclusions
of
official bodies however worthy the
intentions
of
the organisation.
Speaking
on
Education and the
Arts,
Sir
John
Maud,
still
at that
time Permanent Secretary to the
Ministry
of Education, described
373
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