$l00,000 sought for opera

Press, 11 July 1980, Page 4

$l00,000 sought for opera

PA' Wellington The National Opera of New Zealand had appealed to the Minister for the Arts (Mr Highet) for $lOO,OOO to stay afloat after two big productions lost an estimated $BO,OOO said the opera’s general manager, Mr Christopher Blake, from Auckland yesterday. A spokesman for Mr Highet, who is in Queenstown, said that as far as she knew, no decision had been made on the opera’s request yec. It is believed the request was made about two months ago. Mr Blake denied yesterday that there was any basis for allegations of financial mismanagement in the opera’s plight. When the proposed budget for a new New Zealand Opera Company was prepared in 1978, he said, the people working on the figures were working largely in the dark. No national company had been working for eight or ni nine years.

Thus, when the company was formed and was faced with establishment costs, it quickly became apparent that the reality could cost more than the theory, Mr Blake said. He denied that any money had been squandered.

Last year had been the opera’s first working year and it had had the combined grants of 1978-79 to work with, Mr Blake said. However, setting-up costs had been higher than budgeted. Of the $60,000 deficit at the end of last year, $47,000 had been lost from the “Cosi Fan Tuttee” season.

The rest had been spent on reports and consultative studies about opera, taken from the company’s budget.

The financial result of the just-finishing season of “La Boheme,” was not yet available, but it was estimated to have lost about $40,000. Mr Blake said these figurs were the basis of the $lOO,OOO request to the Government.