Ira Dilworth

Dilworth, Ira

Ira Dilworth. Administrator, teacher, editor, conductor, b High Bluff, near Winnipeg, Man, 25 Mar 1894, d Vancouver 23 Nov 1962; BA (McGill) 1915, MA (Harvard) 1920, honorary LL D (British Columbia) 1948. As a child he moved with his family to the Okanagan Valley and there studied piano. He served the arts in British Columbia tirelessly, 1915-38 as a teacher of English literature, then as an administrator with the CBC, as the literary executor of the writings of the painter Emily Carr, and as the first president (1946) of the Community Arts Council ofVancouver. He worked especially during the 1920s and 1930s for the recognition of music in the province's schools. Besides teaching English 1934-8 at the University of British Columbia, he taught music appreciation, lectured on music throughout the province, was responsible for the university's collection of scores and records, and established its Carnegie Foundation Recorded Library. He conducted 1930-4 the Ladies' Choir of Victoria and 1935-40 the Vancouver Bach Choir. In 1938 he joined the CBC, working first, 1938-47, in Vancouver as British Columbia regional representative and manager of station CBR, where he encouraged the development of the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, then 1947-51 in Montreal as director of the International Service, and finally in Toronto as director of program production 1951-3 and director of radio for the province of Ontario 1953-6. In 1956 he assumed responsibility for the CBC's English network and in 1958 he became director of program evaluation.