The Arts Council of Great Britain was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England, Arts Council of Scotland and Arts Council of Wales. It was a British public body dedicated to promoting the fine arts.

In 1940, during the Second World War, a Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), was appointed to help promote and maintain British culture. Chaired by Lord De La Warr, President of the Board of Education, the Council was government-funded and after the war was renamed the Arts Council of Great Britain.

A Royal Charter was granted in 1946, followed by another in 1967. The latter provided for functions in Scotland and Wales to be conducted by two almost autonomous committees known as the Scottish and Welsh Arts Councils – the basis for today’s Arts Council of Scotland and Arts Council of Wales.

To support the Council’s responsibilities in relation to the visual arts, it opened the Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank in 1968 as a home for its major exhibitions. Since 1987, the gallery has been independently managed by the South Bank Centre.