{"product_id":"before-the-arts-council-9781350169715","title":"Before the Arts Council","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHoward Webber \u003c\/b\u003ehas spent his career in Whitehall, in organisations including the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and the Arts Council. He has degrees from Birmingham and Harvard Universities and an MA and PhD in modern British history from King's College London, UK.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis wonderful book, witty, scholarly, revelatory shows how the arts became the People's Arts and why it was so important they did. It took the visionary arguments and campaigns to lay the groundwork for a reforming government after the Second World War to make the arts belong to all of us. * Jean Seaton, Professor of Media History, the University of Westminster, Director of the Orwell Foundation, UCL. *\u003cbr\u003eWebber challenges the prevailing view that the idea of government subsidy of the arts emerged only during the war.  He reveals the origins of the Arts Council in pre-war campaigns originating in the belief of well-known elite figures that the arts needed rescue from terminal  decline due to competition from the ‘mechanized arts’ of film, radio and gramophone records. He shows rather that the arts flourished, helped not hindered by the wider access provided by the BBC and recordings, and that interwar governments were more supportive of funding the arts than previously suggested. * Pat Thane, Visiting Professor in History, Birkbeck College, London, UK. *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHoward Webber shines a fascinating light on an all-but-forgotten period in British cultural history. He tells the story with clarity and humour; and it is inspiring (as well as being extremely relevant)  to discover the riches that emerged in our national life from a time of crisis. \u003c\/i\u003e * Steven Isserlis, Cellist and Author, UK *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgements    Chapter 1: The Creation Myth of the Arts Council  Introduction  The Creation Myth and its Persistence  Scope and Aims of this Book    Chapter 2: Theatre and Classical Music in 1930s Britain  Introduction  Cinema v Theatre  Broadcasting v Live Music  Conclusion    Chapter 3: The League of Audiences: (i) ‘I am progressing Almost Beyond my Hopes’: A Forgotten Debate  ‘Advancing Upon the Iron Portals of Whitehall’: the League Begins  Alfred Wareing  The League and the Press  The League’s Supporters  The League’s Programme  ‘A Piece of Idealistic Blackmailing’: the League Gains Support    Chapter 4: The League of Audiences: (ii) Fear of the Machine and Distrust of the State  Introduction  The League and Mechanised Art: (a) ‘A Sensation of Impotence and Dumb Acquiescence’  ‘Condemned to Death by Being Canned Alive’: The Scope of the Issue   ‘Death to Hollywood’?  Opposition to ‘Mechanised Music’  The League and Mechanised Art: (b) The Involvement of the Churches  ‘Under the Shadow of a New State Obligation’: Opposition to the League of Audiences  Conclusion    Chapter 5: The League of Audiences: (iii) Decline, Fall and Legacy Introduction  ‘Mr Wareing is Filled With Something of the Crank Ingredient’: The League of Audiences and the BBC  The League of Audiences and the Theatrical Establishment  The End of The League of Audiences: (A) Decline  The End of The League of Audiences: (B) Fall  The End of The League of Audiences: (C) Lingering Death  The Significance and Legacy of The League of Audiences    Chapter 6: John Christie and the ‘Council of Power’: 1936-39  Introduction  The Beginnings: ‘I Want to Form a Royal Society of Music’  The Glyndebourne Conference of March 1938  Christie Prepares  Discussion at the Conference  The July 1938 Conference  Christie in the Approach to War  conclusion    Chapter 7 ‘Cema is Already Broken Down’: John Christie and the National Council of Music 1939-41   Introduction  Preliminary Lobbying: to Summer 1940  ‘The Psychological Moment Has Arrived’: to December 1940  Christie and the Musicians  Successes and Excesses  ‘Let the Flags Be Out. Let Us Drive in State’: to Spring 1941  Christie’s Friends and Supporters in Spring 1941  Conclusion    Chapter 8: Butler, Keynes and the End of Christie’s National Council of Music: 1941-44  Global Ambitions and Legal Minutiae: the NCM Spring to Autumn 1941  ‘We Are At Last Unofficially Accepted \u0026amp; Wanted’: Christie Misunderstands – Autumn 1941 to Spring 1942  ‘Damn the Machine’: Keynes Blocks the NCM – Spring and Summer 1942   ‘I See Nothing But Hate and Envy’: Late 1942 to Spring 1943  The End of the NCM: Spring 1943 to Autumn 1944  Conclusion    Chapter 9: ‘No Levy on Laughter and no Fine on Fun!’: the Campaign Against Entertainments Duty   Introduction  Origin and History of Entertainments Duty to 1933  1933-34 - The Old Vic and Sadler's Wells: Music, Drama and Education   The Campaign 1933-39: ‘Why Should “Crazy Nights at Clacton” Escape?’  Conclusion: 'Bringing an Aesthetic Principle into Politics'?         Chapter 10: Restoring the Picture  The Picture Revealed  Completing the Picture  Bibliography","brand":"Bloomsbury USA 3pl","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52084832305495,"sku":"9781350169715","price":35.38,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781350169715.jpg?v=1762207297","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/before-the-arts-council-9781350169715","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}