The Arts Council Collection (ACC) is at a pivotal point in its history. Previously expertly managed by Southbank Centre on behalf of Arts Council England, a new organisation, the Art Collections Management Services (ACMS), is being established to care for and share the ACC from its new Coventry home.
The new Executive Chair of ACMS, Sukhy Johal, has been appointed to lead its set-up and to transition activities from Southbank Centre. As part of the organisation’s development, ACMS is seeking up to six Trustees to assume responsibility for the development, care, stewardship, and national reach of the Arts Council Collection.
Background
The ACC is the most widely circulated national collection of modern and contemporary British art. Founded in 1946, the Collection reaches audiences through loans to public institutions across the UK, galleries, schools and libraries, touring exhibitions, as well as digital and print publications. The Collection supports artists in the UK through the purchase and display of their work, and safeguards it for future generations, using the highest possible standards of collection care.
Operating as a ‘museum without walls’, the Collection includes important examples by the UK’s most prominent artists. The ACC began shortly after the Arts Council of Great Britain was founded in 1946. Taking over a small group of paintings from the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), its initial aim was to promote and encourage the appreciation of contemporary art through touring exhibitions. The Collection’s remit also included acquiring innovative works each year and circulating these as widely as possible.
There are currently over 8,000 works in the Collection. The Collection includes significant and often early works by the most important artists working in the UK over the last 70 years, including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Gilbert & George, Richard Hamilton, Sonia Boyce, Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley, Isaac Julien, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas, Chris Ofili, Peter Doig, Rachel Whiteread, Mona Hatoum, Steve McQueen, Grayson Perry, Lubaina Himid, and Jeremy Deller.
ACMS is being set up as an independent charity to enhance the opportunity for entrepreneurial partnerships and new sources of funding. Arts Council England will continue to be a key funding partner.