Experience and Experiment - The UK Branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation 1956-2006 (Paperback)

"Experience and Experiment", the history of the United Kingdom Branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, tells the story of a significantly successful venture, one that has had profound effects in the arts, social welfare and education in the UK since the Foundation's establishment in 1956. The list of organisations that the Gulbenkian has nurtured or supported from its earliest days is both extensive and impressive and includes the Samaritans, Shelter, the Runnymede Trust, the Royal Shakespeare Company, London Contemporary Dance, the Tate Gallery and Snape Maltings. The Foundation's seminal reports and publications have injected intellectual rigour and fresh thinking into the national debate and have prodded politicians into action - John Myerscough's "The Economic Importance of the Arts in Britain" (with the Policy Studies Institute, 1988), Ken Robinson's "The Arts in Schools" (1982), Peter Newell's "Taking Children Seriously" (1991, 2000), to name a few. The Gulbenkian has always acted as a catalyst, initiating original grant programmes, taking stock of their effect and leading the way for others to follow. Commissioned from two of Britain's best-informed cultural commentators, the book is written with critical perception and wit, and provides a fascinating reflection on changes in British social, educational and cultural policy, from post-war patrician attitudes to 'charity', through the radical optimism of the Sixties to the cash-driven ideology of Thatcherism and the emphasis on community self-help and capacity building which prevails today. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the development of social and cultural policy in the UK and highlights the unique contribution that can be made by enlightened independent trusts and charities.