| Activity | The Committee for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts was established in 1940, a result of an informal conference held at the Board of Education in December 1939. It consisted of the following members; Lord Macmillan (chairman), Thomas Jones, Sir Kenneth Clark, Sir Walford Davies, Dr Reginald Jacques, L du Garde Peach, W E Williams and Mary Glasgow (secretary general). Later Thelma Cazalet, D Du B Davidson, J Wilkie and H B Wallis also became members. The initial objective of the committee was to give financial assistance to cultural societies finding difficulty in maintaining their activities during the War. The committee was funded by £25,000 from the Pilgrim Trust, of which Lord Macmillan and Dr Thomas Jones were also the chairman and secretary respectively.
In 1940 the committee, enlarged by the inclusion of several new members, was formally appointed as the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) by Lord De La Warr, President of the Board of Education. The new Council began to receive direct government funding. Lord Keynes was chairman from 1942-1945.
Organised travelling exhibitions, arranged primarily with an educational purpose. Guide lecturers were sent with exhibitions. These exhibitions had their origins in the 'Art for the People' exhibitions begun by the British Institute of Adult Education (BIAE) in 1933. The idea was to take exhibitions to towns which were too small or too poor to possess an art gallery, and to country districts. Pictures borrowed from private collections were mostly the work of contemporary artists, and some historical. Artists were paid a hiring fee for loaning works for exhibition.
In 1945 it was announced that CEMA would continue as a permanent peace time body under the name Arts Council of Great Britain - a Royal Charter of Incorporation was granted in 1946. |