Community arts suffering, says council chairman

Press, 25 July 1986, Page 5

Community arts suffering, says council chairman

Not enough money is being spent on arts at a community level, according to the chairman of the Christchurch Community Arts Council, Mr David Sell.

Mr Sell, addressing a meeting of Christchurch arts administrators yesterday said that the national Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council’s regional councils received $576,000 in the 1984-85 year compared with the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s $645,000. The emphasis on community arts and support from below had to be supported with money going to that level, he said.

Arts communities within New Zealand were diverse, but the needs of Reefton had to be recognised just as those of Auckland had to be.

The continuing trend towards centralising the arts and arts funding in New Zealand was concerning, Mr Sell said.

Funding and fostering of the arts disproportionately favoured established arts institutions. Sponsorship was more readily available for these established groups. That capital investment, however, often made little impact on the artistic life of New Zealand generally, he said.

Mr Sell accepted that some arts groups needed to be centralised initially to develop them but felt that the importance of activities at the “root level” had to be recognised in money terms.

The roles of the arts council and local bodies had to be more clearly

defined, as often each assign the responsibility for community arts to the other at the expense of the organisations involved, he said.

Mr Sell said that the loss of P.E.P. and V.O.T.P. schemes would have a significant effect on the arts.

Much use was made of the schemes at a community arts level. The full impact would only be felt after the next few months. The Christchurch Community Arts Council was also concerned, he said, that there was no South Island representative on the Maori and South Pacific Arts Council. Mr Sell said the most important task of community councils was to help the national arts council get a larger slice of the cake.