The Scottish Dimension to British Arts Governance: An Historical Perspective

Susan Galloway; Huw David Jones

doi:10.1080/09548961003695981

The Scottish Dimension to British Arts Governance: An Historical Perspective

Susan Galloway, Huw David Jones

Theatre, Film, TV and Interactive Media

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Whereas most histories of British arts patronage have viewed the tensions between core and periphery in terms of the relationship between the Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) and the English regions, this article examines the relationship between London and Scotland, a country with its own distinctive history of regional arts development. It considers how the autonomy of the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) was tested in conflicts involving both ACGB and government for control of Scottish arts policy from the 1940s onwards. Our argument is that, from the establishment of ACGB's Scottish Committee – SAC's forerunner – in 1947 until devolution in 1999, Scotland enjoyed considerable autonomy over arts policy, because it was at “double arm's length” from government. This made it less directly accountable, but it also allowed Scotland the freedom to develop the arts in different ways to the rest of Britain. Devolution ended this “double arm's length” relationship and the article argues that the politicization of the arts combined with the drive for public sector efficiency since then, has taken Scotland along a path of convergence with England, both in models of governance and policy.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	27-40
Journal	Cultural Trends
Volume	19
Issue number	1-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/09548961003695981
Publication status	Published - 2010

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10.1080/09548961003695981

Cite this

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title = "The Scottish Dimension to British Arts Governance: An Historical Perspective",

abstract = "Whereas most histories of British arts patronage have viewed the tensions between core and periphery in terms of the relationship between the Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) and the English regions, this article examines the relationship between London and Scotland, a country with its own distinctive history of regional arts development. It considers how the autonomy of the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) was tested in conflicts involving both ACGB and government for control of Scottish arts policy from the 1940s onwards. Our argument is that, from the establishment of ACGB's Scottish Committee – SAC's forerunner – in 1947 until devolution in 1999, Scotland enjoyed considerable autonomy over arts policy, because it was at “double arm's length” from government. This made it less directly accountable, but it also allowed Scotland the freedom to develop the arts in different ways to the rest of Britain. Devolution ended this “double arm's length” relationship and the article argues that the politicization of the arts combined with the drive for public sector efficiency since then, has taken Scotland along a path of convergence with England, both in models of governance and policy.",

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