We were delighted to welcome the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to deliver the inaugural Jennie Lee Lecture at The Other Place.
Held on 20 February in The Other Place, the lecture celebrated 60 years since Lee, the UK's first ever Arts Minister, put together the first and only white paper on the arts entitled A Policy for the Arts - The First Steps.
The event was hosted by the DCMS Secretary of State, Lisa Nandy MP, who was joined by DCMS Minister Sir Chris Bryant MP, along with more than 100 representatives from across the arts industry, including our Co-Artistic Directors, Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey.
During the lecture, the Culture Secretary laid out how she wants to make Jennie Lee’s vision of the ‘arts for everyone, everywhere’ a reality, as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, which includes a new £85 million Creative Foundations Fund to support urgent capital works to keep arts' venues across the country up and running.
As Minister of Arts, Lee huge achievements included:
- Renewed the charter for the Arts Council
- Trebled the Arts Council grant in 6 years
- Established The National Theatre on London’s South Bank
- Widened the focus of arts money from London to Scotland, Wales and the English regions
- Played a central role in the foundation of the Open University
Jennie Lee was created a Baroness in 1970 and entered the House of Lords, continuing to support and spearhead arts initiatives, like opening the Jennie Lee theatre in Bletchley (1974). She died in 1988.
