Grant inadequate, says theatre

Press, 9 July 1986, Page 8

Grant inadequate, says theatre

The Court Theatre believes the Government’s 1986-87 grant to the arts Is disastrously inadequate. It also goes against expectations raised" by the Government on coming to power, the theatre says.

The Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council’s budget for the 1986-87 year is $10,488,000, only $llO,OOO more than for the previous year. The Court Theatre’s own allocation is $357,000, a 5 per cent increase on the previous year.

The increase does not cover the added costs of inflation at 13 per cent and wage increases of 45 per cent, and the theatre is faced with severe cuts.

The cuts will include reducing the core company of actors and curtailing training, the creation of job opportunities, and staging untried New Zealand works. The theatre’s administrators see the prospect as disastrous for theatre workers in Christchurch as the Court theatre pro-

vides most of the steady employment for actors in the city. The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra is the other big group to receive an Individual grant from the council. This year it will get $117,850.

That increase of about $4OOO did not cover increases in costs for the Town Hall venue of 46 per cent, expected wage increases of up to 20 per cent, and rent increases of more than 100 per cent, said the orchestra’s general manager, Mr Earle Rowell. The next 12 months would be very difficult ones, he said. The orchestra would not reduce its performances because it had already made contracts with visiting soloists.

It would look to the business community for more sponsorship. Last year the orchestra got $37,850 from local authorities, compared with Auckland’s $103,000 for the regional orchestra there and $30,000 for Dunedin’s orchestra.

“We are going to have to rely on those who have supported us in the past,” Mr Rowell said.

He hoped that the grants made by the national council next year would increase. “With Lotto there should be more money for arts, but in the meantime our planning for 1987 must be very conservative,” he said.