An arts festival for Auckland?

By Brian Rudman

On the eve of Wellington's highly successful international arts festival, Auckland city councillors are about to revive debate about staging an Auckland festival.

"It's part of being a civilised city," says councillor Victoria Carter, who is leading the push. More wary are some of the cash-starved performing arts organisations which worry that scarce public funding and sponsorship money will be further diluted.

On February 16, the council's city attractions committee is to consider a feasibility study prepared by Briony Ellis, who founded and directed the biennial Christchurch Festival from 1995 to 1999.

Carter says there is money put aside for a festival during the America's Cup which could go towards advancing the project. She is proposing a working party be established to organise an arts festival for February 2001.

Carter doesn't want a festival that copies the high-arts Wellington formula - she wants one "more reflective of the fact that we claim to be the first city of the South Pacific." She also wants one that reflects "the flavour" of the region's various cities. "If Waitakere wants to have a hotrod competition during the same period, I think that's got to be considered as their contribution to the arts festival."

A hotrod festival? "I was thinking of the diversity. What might appeal to Waitakere residents in terms of something they saw as artistic may not be what your mainstream might want in Auckland City."

Carter argues that to be successful, the proposed festival should incorporate existing big events such as Pasifika, the secondary schools Polynesian festival and the Hero Parade.

"I see it more as a festival of festivals. We are trying not to reinvent the wheel. At the moment we have a lot of unstructured events - I see this as a great opportunity to link a few of them under the umbrella of an arts festival and adding some other quality acts to that."

The last attempt to organise an Auckland festival foundered in 1997 after the city council refused to provide funding of $350,000 to set up a management structure. Big names behind the Auckland Carnival Company included Christine McLaren, Chris Alpe, Rosanne Meo, Jenny Gibbs and Robin Congreve.

Planned was a week-long carnival this time last year, with the waterfront lit up from the Viaduct Basin to Mission Bay. Events would have included an international marathon, a big light-and-sound show on the harbour, an ethnic food festival, a parade of floats and concerts in the park.

Susanne Ritzenhoff, business manager of Auckland Theatre Company, is one of those worried about the financial impact such a festival could have on companies like hers. She is not opposed to a festival but says the impact has to be thought through.

"We know all the arts organisations in Auckland are struggling. It's a question whether you put something up that is sort of in competition and draws audiences away from the existing companies and makes it harder for them to survive."

She says if funding for a festival came from the main state funding body, Creative New Zealand, this could result in reduced funding for existing companies. The same could be true of local body support.

"This is the threat for all companies. We would not be able to sustain our activities if our funding was to be dropped."

A festival could bring in new audiences, she says. On the other hand Wellington companies find that audiences suffer post-festival exhaustion - both artistic and financial. This can make it harder to get audiences along to the first shows after the festival.

Paul Minifie, director of the Maidment Theatre, is similarly wary of the impact a festival might have on existing arts budgets.

"I think the priority needs to be to fund existing local structures, making sure they're sound and present work constantly in the city. I think there are inadequate resources available locally or nationally or from sponsorship sources, to readily fund a large festival in Auckland."

He says if more funds are available they should go to organisations like the Auckland Theatre Company and the Auckland Philharmonia where "they are desperately needed to enable them to move forward and secure what they have."

He also questions whether Auckland has anyone with the vision to lead an Auckland festival.