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Dame Liz Forgan to lead Arts Council
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent15.12.08
ARTS Council England is set to be run by a woman for the first time in its history.
Liz Forgan, a feisty figure who has already enjoyed careers in broadcasting and heritage, has been chosen to succeed Sir Christopher Frayling as chair.
The appointment is regarded as so important it is one which has to be ratified by No10.
But as long as there is no objection, Dame Liz, 64, will take control of what is one of the most important jobs in British culture in the new year.
She will arrive in post after one of the most turbulent period in the Arts Council's history. There was widespread criticism of the way it handled decisions on who should and should not receive grants in the last spending round where dozens of long-term funding recipients were axed.
The controversy has calmed somewhat with the appointment of Alan Davey, a sure-handed arts-loving former civil servant as chief executive.
But Mr Davey and Dame Liz face even greater problems to come as the credit crunch dents public funding. The arts world is already bracing itself for the toughest of fights to maintain the support it has enjoyed since Labour came to power.
Dame Liz, however, has spent her career fighting her corner in high- pressure public posts.
From early posts in journalism - including a stint on the Evening Standard - Dame Liz was a founding commissioning editor for Channel 4 and then its director of programmes.
She joined the BBC in 1993 and became head of network radio, quitting in a bitter row with Sir John Birt, the then director general, over the future of radio.
From 2001 until this year, she had chaired the Heritage Lottery Fund and the National Heritage Memorial Fund where she was at the heart of some equally fierce disputes about what public lottery cash should be funding.
She also has a number of other appointments including chairmanship of the Scott Trust which runs The Guardian newspaper where she also formerly worked.
If ratified, the appointment of a woman to the Arts Council will be a triumph for Margaret Hodge, the former arts minister who had called for more women at the highest level in the arts.
