CENTRALISED ART
SIR,—Amid the political comings and goings of the past fortnight and other spectacular items of home news, one announcement of considerable importance has not perhaps had the publicity it deserved. On December 8 the Arts Council revealed their intention to close MI their English regional offices as from March 31 and to replace them by a 'system of mobile liaison between its London headquarters and its provincial associates.' Whether this method will prove administratively effective only time can show, but unquestionably it represents an undesirable move in the direction of cultural centralisation. While it may be true, as the Council has stated, that regional artistic bodies arc now in a position 'to provide the arts on their own account,' that is surely a one-sided view, for is there not a -real danger that it will become not so much the Arts Council of Great Britain as the Arts Council of London? It is hard to believe that the provinces will be able, as they should, to influence the Council's policy as well as securing a proper representa- tion at court, if they have to depend upon visit- ing officials rather than upon a close and con- tinual contact with men and women who have lived in the regions and had an intimate per- sonal acquaintanceship with local needs and local feeling. A useful parallel is provided by the BBC, the vitality of whose national ser- vices has since the war depended so much upon contributions from regional stations. This could hardly have happened if the regional voice had depended for its expression upon visiting delegations from Langham Place.
If this move has been made in the interest of financial economy, it would be interesting to know how much the immediate saving is likely to be offset by the cost of maintaining a liaison staff, with its expenses for travelling and sub- sistence. And one wonders also how much regional opinion and feeling have influenced such a development in policy. Retrogression is a better word than development, for this is surely an impersonally unimaginative, as well as a backward. step, which does not reflect the tendency towards decentralisation in other fields.—Yours faithfully,
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