VERY AMBITIOUS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 303, 22 December 1926, Page 6

VERY AMBITIOUS.

It would be interesting to know a little more about the project to establish "an Empire Academy in London, to encourage latent talent in Britain and the Dominions," at a cost of a million. It is cabled that the supporters include Lord Strathspey, Mr. J. G. Coatee, Sir James Parr, and Lord Howard de Walden, but those who wish the project well will perhaps be more interested to know who the others arc. Not even the most enthusiastic Reformer has ever connected Mr. Coates with art. He and Sir, James Parr are in this galley because of their official positions. Lord Strathspey is an earnest young man with a strong Imperialistic bent and New Zealand connections, but we have never heard that he knew much about art. Lord Howard de Walden is an art patron, and, as one of the great ground landlords of London, a very wealthy man. Possibly he could finance the whole thing himself. We are dubious, however, about the pros-, pects of this ambitious undertaking. The million-pound building "will include galleries where pictures and sculpture will be exhibited, and a theatre and halls for dramatic productions." A country which has not been able to find enough money for a national theatre will not easily raise enough for a combined theatre and picture gallery, even with the magic word "Empire" attached, and not much help can be expected from the Dominions, which are not finding it easy to suppoi-t their own artists and keep a few repertory theatres moving. It is so much easier to sketch out these plans on paper than to erect them in brick or stone.