The Cvic Orchestra

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32880, 1 April 1972, Page 16

The Cvic Orchestra

It will be regrettable if the Christchurch Civic Orchestra has to curtail its activities because of the N.Z.B.C.’s decision to cease making grants to regional orchestras from March next year. This year the N.Z.B.C. will provide $37,500 to help regional orchestras in Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin. About $12,000 comes to Christchurch, a fifth of the orchestra’s income. Although it has no formal obligation to finance local orchestras, the N.Z.B.C. will be shortsighted if it cuts off this modest assistance to a useful source of musical talent. Against the net annual cost of the N.Z.B.C. Symphony Orchestra—about s6oo.ooo—the contribution to regional orchestras is small indeed. Whether or not the corporation reconsiders its decision, the plight of the Christchurch Civic Orchestra is now clearly a matter of public concern. Increased local financial support will be needed if the orchestra’s future is to be assured. The orchestra depends on the N.Z.8.C., the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council, and the Christchurch City Council for most of its funds. The Arts Council grant of $15,000 a year is continuing; it will be increased only if the contributions of local bodies are also increased. Christchurch local bodies, and especially the City Council, are an important source of finance. This year the orchestra is asking them for $23,000; and the request deserves the sympathetic consideration of all. Last year the local bodies provided about $15,000.

The best solution to the financial difficulties of the orchestra would be increased public support for the Civic Orchestra Foundation itself. At present the orchestra has about 700 subscribers: it hopes, when the .Town Hall is opened, to increase this number to 2400. A new campaign for members should be productive: it should be possible to persuade many business firms and private individuals that, in helping the orchestra, they are contributing to one of the most vital of the city’s cultural activities. A nitv with a magnificent new Town Hall deserves to have a resident orchestra.