Regional Arts Board

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The Regional Arts Boards were arts organisations in the regions of England.

Informally established in the early 1970s, the constitutions and organisations of each of the nine boards varied. The Northern Arts Board was created by a coalition of Local Government while others were voluntary organisations created by artists. The Green Report of 1986, The Glory of the Garden, recommended a formalising of the relationship between the Arts Council of Great Britain with the regional boards gaining regular government funding in exchange for taking responsibility for smaller venues and arts organisations. This created a two tier arts funding system that was emphasised by the creation of the National Lottery in 1994 as organisations could apply for Lottery funding from the Arts Council even if they were not a priority of the regional board. In 2001, a reorganisation of the Arts Council England merged the boards into a single organisation.