Council faces choice on competing festival bids

Press, 27 September 1988, Page 6

Council faces choice on competing festival bids

By

KAY FORRESTER

The Christchurch City Council may have to choose one proposal for a Christchurch arts festival and back that against competing proposals, says Cr Vicki Buck.

The council's property and promotion committee yesterday discussed letters from two arts organisations wanting to run a festival. The Christchurch Arts Festival Committee wants the council to give it the responsibility — and the $lOO,OOO allocated towards a festival — of implementing a consultant’s report that suggests a $1.3 million annual festival, the first to be in October, 1990. Shakespeare Upon Avon Inc. wants a festival of local talent with a Shakespearian theme. It has withdrawn its support

from any festival related to the consultant’s report because it believes that report does not contain adequate guidelines for any organisation attempting to run a permanent festival for Christchurch.

At yesterday’s meeting, the name of a third arts organisation was put in the hat. Cr John Burn said the Christchurch Arts Centre Trust Board wanted an imput. Sir Hamish Hay applauded further investigation of that suggestion because “the Arts Centre ran the last festival in 1984 from the Arts Centre.”

Cr Buck suggested the council wait a month or two before committing itself to any particular proposal. In that time at least two of the groups may have got together on a proposal, she said.

“This council is eventually going to have to choose which group gets the money but I think it’s a bit premature to do that yet,” she said. The council allocated $lOO,OOO late last year toward a festival, indicating that the Arts Festival Committee and the Shakespeare Upon Avon group should work together. Representatives of both were on the Shakespeare Upon Avon steering committee that commissioned the consultant’s report with a $lO,OOO grant from the office of the Minister of Tourism. The steering committee has now disbanded.

Cr David Close suggested more information on either proposal for a festival was needed before the council could make a decision. He was not happy at giving $150,000 (as suggested in

the consultant’s report) simply for administration.

“It seems a lot of money to pay without a dollar going towards a performing artist,” he said. The committee referred the consultant’s report to the Christchurch Promotion Working Party, along with the suggestion of Arts Centre involvement.

Cr Burn was anxious that publicity of disagreement — “if there is any” — between arts groups not put the festival in jeopardy. He tried unsuccessfully to have yesterday’s discussion of the report taken in closed meeting. Sir Hamish Hay, the Mayor, was one who voted against that. “There is a fair bit of public interest in festivals in Christchurch,” he said.