§ 27. Mr. Channonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what criteria govern the Arts Council's policy towards grants to amateur organisations.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Education and Science (Miss Jennie Lee)The Arts Council gives grants to amateur choirs and music societies for employing professional soloists, coaches and conductors; and to one or two youth organisations of national significance. In this last category the Arts Council has just decided to give a grant to the National Youth Theatre.
§ Mr. ChannonIs the right hon. Lady aware that such a decision by the Arts Council will be widely welcomed but that there is considerable confusion, which is what has led me to ask this Question, because it has taken the National Youth Theatre such a long time to get any grant out of the Arts Council?
§ Miss LeeThe Arts Council must naturally be very careful before assisting an amateur organisation, because its job is to sustain the best in the arts and make the best more generally available. But it will be found that if, for instance, there is an ambitious youth musical group which engages professionals, it will try to help it in these special circumstances.