Socred arts policy praised

Press, 26 November 1981, Page 12

Socred arts policy praised

PA Wellington A “remarkable consistency” has existed in main points of arts policy in the manifesto of the three main political parties in the last three General Elections but they have so far not materialised in “the goods,” according to a former chairman of the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council, Mr Hamish Keith, writing in “Action,” a publication of the council. He said, “All three parties have now promised a school for the performing arts and triennial funding and more use of New Zealand arts in public buildings.”

He said that the Social Credit Political Leage this year had produced “the richest and most comprehensive” policy of three parties. “Cynics will no doubt have their own views on that. But those vulgar quibbles aside, Social Credit has obviously been listening very carefully to what the arts have been saying.”

Mr Keith said that the “resourceful Minister” of the present Government (the Minister for the Arts, Mr Highet) had been able to shake out of the Government the resources needed to allow arts administrators to get on with the job generally. But this had not added up to a “growth strategy” and the time was ripe, even overripe, for “another look at the real needs of the arts now the fat has gone.” The Labour Party’s policy emphasised in a number of places that artists were workers, which was a substantial advance. Perhaps one of the most important planks in Labour's manifesto was a promise to promote liaison between the various bodies which employed artists in New Zealand to coordinate and produce a plan to provide that musicians, actors, and writers earned an adequate living.