Arts for Everyone, Everywhere
The joy of a ‘woke’ family is that just when I am considering my next blog, one of the family makes an apposite suggestion. So without further ado, and thanks to Stuart, let’s celebrate the remarkable life and achievements of Dame Jennie Lee.
Lee was a Labour MP who became known for promoting the arts as a serious government concern. Daughter of a coal miner, she was born in 1904 in Lochgelly, Fife, and graduated with an MA and LLB from the University of Edinburgh in 1927. In 1929 she was elected as an Independent Labour MP representing North Lanark at the age of 25, becoming the youngest MP. When she was not re-elected in 1931, she turned to journalism and lecturing.
Lee married Aneurin Bevan, leader of the Labour Party, in 1934. During WW2 she served with the Ministry of Aircraft Production and as a political correspondent until she was returned to Parliament as the Labour Party representative for Cannock in 1945. It was in the 1960s that she made her indelible mark on education and culture in the UK. Under her tenure as Minister for the Arts from 1964–70, government funding for the arts more than doubled: the film industry was strengthened, theatre censorship by the Lord Chamberlain was abolished, and she played a leading role in the creation of the Open University. As she stated: ‘Enrolment as a student of the University should be open to everyone … irrespective of educational qualifications, and no formal entrance requirement should be imposed’.
Bearing in mind that women had only been allowed to attend university in the UK since the 1860s and Oxford University was the pioneer in actually awarding degrees to women in 1920, the fact that a mere 40 years on a university was created that would accept anyone, regardless of their educational achievements, deserves some contemplation.
The Open University was based on the idea of a ‘University of the Air’. It was intended as a correspondence university reaching out to those who had been denied the opportunity to study. Lee produced a White Paper in 1966, outlining university plans which would deliver courses using correspondence and broadcasting as teaching media. Prime Minister Harold Wilson was in full support: it was a perfect fit with his desire to build a more competitive economy while also promoting greater equality of opportunity and social mobility.
Not all of Lee’s fellow MPs were of a similar opinion, however, and she had to counter scepticism and some opposition from them. ‘Nevertheless, she persisted.’ The university was granted its Royal Charter by the Open University on 23 April 1969, applications opened in 1970, and the first students began their studies in 1971.
Lee also reviewed the charter of the Arts Council in 1967, which led to an expansion of its work in the regions, as well as the creation of new arts institutions at London’s South Bank Centre. Her other roles included Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, and she was made Baroness Lee of Asheridge in 1970. She died in 1988 from natural causes, aged 84, and bequeathed her personal papers to the Open University.
At a time when arts education and culture are under threat, dames salute Jennie Lee for all she did for education and the arts in this country.