APPENDIX 34
Memorandum submitted by Mr Jonathan Croall
I am a freelance writer and journalist with
a particular interest in the public funding of the arts. Over
the last year I have been both surprised and concerned at the
ill-considered and dogmatic approach that the Arts Council appears
to be taking in seeking to re-structure the funding system and
abolish the Regional Arts Boards. I was pleased to see that the
Select Committee is taking an interest in this subject and would
ask you to read the enclosed article copied from The Times. Although
I don't agree with every word in the article I do believe that
it contains some important arguments which, thus far, the Arts
Council has failed to answer. The Regional Arts Boards are of
varying quality but, in general, they are more efficiently run
than the Arts Council which is seeking to destroy them.
I do hope that the Select Committee will give
the Arts Council a thorough grilling; it appears to be behaving
in a destructive and high-handed manner.
10 January 2002
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