Grants made to choirs

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33079, 21 November 1972, Page 10

Grants made to choirs

Grants of SIOOO each' to the two major choirs in Christchurch, other grants to choirs in Auckland and Hamilton, and a guarantee against loss for specific projects planned for the Wellington Festival next March, have been approved by the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council. Specific grants to choirs for 1972 are: Hamilton Civic Choir, $500; Christchurch Harmonic Society, $1000; Royal Christchurch Musical Society, $1000; and the Auckland Choral Society, SIOOO. The council’s maximum allocation of S2OOO as a guarantee for the Wellington Festival will probably involve support for the first performance of a new musical work composed by lan McDonald, of Wellington, and James Ritchie, of Hamilton, to by Opera

Technique, and a social drama in the Wellington Cathedral by the Amamus Theatre Group. Other grants recently approved by the Council include a re-establishment grant of $5OO to the Christ-church-bom actor, Elric Hooper, who has returned from England to join the Mercury Theatre in Auckland, and subsidy payments to three regional arts associations under the council’s regional development scheme. The regional organisations assisted are the Wairarapa Arts Centre, the Palmerston North Civic Arts Council, and the Nelson Provincial Arts Council. Further grants are: Music Players 70, a guarantee against loss of $2OO for three concerts at Old St Pauls, Wellington, plus the payment of music hire fees to the New Zealand composers, John Rimmer and David Farquhar; Theatre Action, $5OO towards > establishment costs: New Zealand Quota

Committee, research grant of SIOOO. The Auckland Junior Symphony Orchestra will receive a subsidy of up to S3OO for purchase of instruments, a grant of S2OO for out-of-town concerts, and SSOO towards administration costs. The Waikato Junior Orchestra will get a subsidy of up to $250 for the purchase of instruments. The administrator of the Association of Ballet and Opera Trust Boards, will get S7OOO to assist the New Zealand Ballet to perform in Palmerston North, Wanganui, New Plymouth, Hastings, Napier, and Gisborne. The Amamus Theatre Group will also get SSOO for a tour of small towns in its region next March. The tour will be organised by the Theatre Federation. Gordon Burt, a lecturer in music at Victoria University, will receive a S2OO commis- ; sion fee for a report on • trends in music and musicdmaking overseas, ft