Arts groups resist one-body idea

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33477, 7 March 1974, Page 1

Arts groups resist one-body idea

Like oil and water, three Christchurch arts bodies cannot nii\; the Arts Festival, Civic Music Council, and Civic i Orchestra Foundation have different objects, are not necessarily compatible, and any attempt at enforced amalgamation would most likelv end in disaster.

These were among the comments macle by representatives of those arts bodies to the Christchurch Metropolitan Local Authorities Grants Committee yesterday when they appeared to support their independent applications for grants.

After hearing the applica-,' tions, the committee called; together spokesmen for the three bodies and asked them, jointly, what prohibited an: amalgamation of the three when this seemed to be in the i best interests of allThe reaction to the question was at first decidedly cool, growing as the discus- ' sion progressed to more posi- ; tive opposition to the idea. ■' Agreement was reached on i the principle of a combined ), “secretariat” for the three to!' handle office work; an organ- ■] iser, or organisers, appointed bv the combined local bodies I 1 which financially support the)' three, was regarded as “anp interesting idea” but one un-h likely to be practicable; and): finally all possibilities were! shelved until the outcome is known of moves to restruc-! ture the Queen Elizabeth II! Arts Council. 1 I $35,000 sought ■ i Among them, the three , organisations had sought the . support of the committee in . obtaining grants totalling!' more than §35,000 from the), metropolitan local bodies tn Christchurch. The committee decided to recommend to the local bodies that grants amounting to $32,000 be paid to the three. If the councils are

agreeable, these will be met

on a schedule based on the irelative income of the local! bodies from rates. Mr H. G. Hay, representing: i the Arts Festival, said the three organisations were not' necessarily compatible. The! festival involved all arts, whereas the two others mentioned were more specialist in their approach. Although a pooling of resources for office ; work had merit, the festival: generated little of this on its;' iown account and what there )' was was done mainly on aj' part-time basis. Mr E. R. Field-Dodgson,'i representing the Civic Music!' : Council, said the three or-lj ganisations dealt with totally |i different structures within)' ) society and the arts. !| Professionalism ' “The Arts Festival is al- < most purely professional and -i deals largely with overseas !1 professionals; our Council is;i fully amateur; and the Civic'! Orchestra Foundation is hav-i ing its own problems while!' shifting between the two,” he !I said. 1 i “So much depends on the. ,development of the Univer- I

sity of Canterbury town site as an arts centre, where a! joint secretariat could be set) up,” he said. “In this .way. each could: ■ still deal with its own very! special administration, butj 'there would be a central office i structure.” Mr Hay said the Town Hall; ■ could become the centre for the arts. With this as a cen-, tral site, a friendly, close relationship could be main- ) tained. “100 diverse” Mrs R. W. Hendry, who also represented the Civic Music Council, said the func-l tions of the three were sd-l diverse that they “simply) could not amalgamate.” “The three societies can 'co-operate and help one another, their activities can in- : terweave, but they cannot ■ amalgamate. Like oil and ■ water, you could shake them up. but as soon as things began to settle you would find they cannot mix.” she said. In view of the possibility of regional arts councils being created when the Queen Elizabeth II Council is re-i structured, it was decided to., support the individual appli-l ; cations. The committee’s re- 1 commendations were for §26,000 to the Civic Orchestra Foundation. §3300 for the ■ Arts Festival, and §2700 for i the Civic Music Council.