Giving a Voice to the Nation: the Arts Council of Great Britain and the development of theatre and performance in Britain 1945-1995.

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Public subsidy is the cornerstone of post-war British theatre: new writing; new theatre spaces; new theatrical styles and genres; the birth of the fringe and the encouragement of ethnic minority involvement all owe their continuing existence to the policies and financial backing of Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB). The formation of ACGB transformed the way in which theatre practitioners were trained (directly and indirectly), their careers were defined; and the way in which institutions and buildings were shaped. 'Giving a Voice to the Nation' is the first comprehensive study of the Arts Council of Great Britain's influence on theatre practice and development, as opposed to a general history of the Council's work across all the art forms (many of which are written by former ACGB employees and members). Previous histories of post-war theatre particularly those concerned with new writing, regional and touring theatre - have often alluded to its impact, but it has never been fully explored partially because the archive is a relatively unknown resource, but also because extant works rely heavily on the ACGB's published reports, or on anecdotal evidence. As a result of this, the ACGB's relationship with theatre is generally conceived of as consisting of two phases. The first phase, from the 1950s to the mid-1970s, is seen as an essentially benevolent one in which the Establishment provided the space and money for a new generation of artists to develop. The second, from the mid-1970s until devolution in 1994, suggests a much more oppositional relationship: of administrators and accountants dictating to artists. This second phase is widely understood as a direct result of the violation of the 'arms-length principle' under which ACGB was originally conceived and as the point at which funding decisions started to be politically motivated, for example, companies whose work was directly critical of government values had their funding cut or withdrawn. Ian Brown, former Director of the Drama Panel, has already published a number of articles in New Theatre Quarterly and Contemporary Theatre Review suggesting that this second phase was more nuanced than early accounts suggest, and the extensive mapping and analysis of the archive proposed in this project will allow the project team and future researchers to reconsider these phases in the light of a greater body of material, and also, through an organised programme of interviews, to ask key figures in the history of ACGB and post-war subsidised theatre to reflect on ACGB's influence and development. In addition to this, tracing the relationship between policy and practice and policy-makers and practitioners throughout a fifty year period, offers a new way of examining knowledge transfer among practitioners and administrators. The project will broaden the way the history of theatres is perceived and understood and contribute a more structured and rigorous method of analysing personal testimony and archival sources. This will create the foundation and the framework for future research in theatre, cultural studies, and other branches of the creative industries. The presentation of the results of the research through an enhanced electronic catalogue, online essays, online resource discovery guides, published articles, symposia and an international conference to be held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, will ensure that the benefits to future researchers will be both long-term and widespread.