The state of the arts in 2001

For the first edition of the year, we ask those who run Auckland's major cultural and performing arts organisations five key questions about the year past, and what lies ahead.

1. What was your highlight of 2000?
2. What main hope do you have for your organisation in 2001?
3. What is your pet hate about how culture is perceived/treated in New Zealand?
4. If there was one cultural policy that you could change or enact what would that be?
5. How do you score Helen Clark's performance as cultural minister?

Rodney Wilson, director, Auckland Museum

Highlight?

The public support, and the NZIA National Architectural Awards proclaiming the success of the museum's 1994-99 refurbishment programme, and praise for the high quality and beauty of the exhibits, and the volume of collections that are now finally available to our visitors.

Hope?

Government agreement to the Museum Trust Board's funding proposal for the Museum Completion Project due to start in 2002. This will be the first new development of the museum buildings in 40 years and will add facilities which are badly needed for the museum to fully function.

Pet hate?

When culture is used as a way of separating people, creating "inside"and "outside" groups, instead of culture as the manifestation of the highest values of the human spirit, uniting people in a common but diverse celebration of creativity, excellence and artistic/intellectual achievement.

Policy wish?

Dismantle, or at least pare down to a minimum, cultural bureaucracy.

Arts Minister Helen Clark's performance?

We are blessed with a minister who genuinely cares for, enjoys and understands the arts and culture. The fillip for the national institutions was largely necessary, albeit perhaps a tad hastily carried out. The arts in Auckland, with the biggest of all New Zealand audiences, have yet to receive the same Government recognition.

Lloyd Williams, general manager, Auckland Philharmonia

Highlight?

Mahler's The Song of the Earth, with music director Miguel Harth Bedoya and soloist Helen Medlyn.

Hope?

Our steady artistic growth requires a similar growth in income. My hope is that we will be able to source income that will keep up with that inevitable growth. As with any vibrant living form - and an orchestra is just that - to arrest growth is to invite atrophy.

Pet hate?

I have no problem with the way in which culture is perceived in New Zealand. We have a population problem, in that there is so much to do with leisure time that the survival of any company offering leisure activity, whether it's a concert, a meal in a restaurant or a jet boat ride, is vulnerable to the fickle swings of underpopulation.

This has its advantages. As a grazing leisure purchaser you can usually get a seat in a concert hall, a table at short notice at your favourite restaurant and a very good value-for-money ride in a jet boat.

But most importantly, if the leisure-time activity isn't world-class, it doesn't survive, meaning that in my field, anyway, we have a fantastic quality of performance.

Policy wish?

To put in place a system of arts funding similar to the Australian system, where all major arts companies are funded from public sources to an agreed percentage of their annual turnover. Funding is administered by the Australian Council, which is funded directly by the federal, state and city purses.

The enormous inequities in arts funding that exist in New Zealand because of history, or the existence of more than one funding conduit, would be removed.

Clark's performance?

10 out of 10.

Jonathan Alver, creative director, NBR New Zealand Opera

Highlight?

As an arts company in a difficult environment, the highlight is to survive the year financially while making significant artistic advances. It's been an exciting year bringing the two centres of Auckland and Wellington together under one operatic umbrella and we have had three highly acclaimed productions. If I had to pick just one, the most exciting was Aida - the first opera to be produced in both centres and performed to sell-out audiences. An opera neither one of us could have done alone, but together it was a hit.

Hope?

To be brave! Now that the national company exists we want to widen the repertoire, to give our devoted followers something they have never had before. Both Manon and Falstaff are New Zealand premieres but I know that these shows will be adored.

Pet hate?

Being perceived as elite when we're for everyone. The greatest joy for us comes from our subsidised performances for young people. When 2000 fresh minds see an opera for the first time, they react directly from the heart. They love it, they scream and shout. This reaction is available to everyone if we could dump the pigeonholing that persists.

Policy wish?

This is a tough one, but like many I'd like to point the finger at television programming. This country is full of wonderful arts product, but the television viewing population are never given even a taste of it. We should be proud of what we do and the most immediate communication is through the box. Please let's see some art on TV and then maybe the elitist label will get erased.

Clark's performance?

It's great to have a Prime Minister who loves the arts. It is also positive that the cultural recovery package has come into being. But it is only a start. There's a perception out there now that suddenly the arts are well funded - this is simply not true. We still struggle to keep our heads above water and are still mostly reliant on the support of corporates and opera-lovers who are willing to pay for opera to exist.

Simon Prast, Auckland Theatre Company

Highlight?

Serial Killers by James Griffin. This was ATC's 40th production and our first commission. It was gratifying to introduce a new Auckland writer to the theatre scene. James came up with a smart, sharp, contemporary work that, aside from being funny, had lots to say about popular culture in this country.

Hope?

ATC unveils its research and development programme next year, ATC Second Unit, to be led by Oliver Driver. We hope this initiative will afford us many more opportunities to develop new works, artists and audiences outside of the imperatives of the main bill.

Pet hate?

Primetime television and radio coverage of local arts events remains scant, while visiting overseas act are welcomed with open arms. The judgment of the producers and presenters of such programmes (that local arts are not good enough or, worse, too elitist for their viewers/listeners) is most often based on boorish prejudice than tangible data.

In a country this small, those with influence in the mainstream media should acknowledge a responsibility beyond sycophancy or self-promotion to fairly represent all sectors of society, not just those which coincide with their own world view.

Policy wish?

Despite substantial increases in arts funding, most of the money still clusters in Wellington. Though we rightfully acknowledge Wellington's status as the nation's capital, similar acknowledgment of Auckland as our most diverse city is not yet fully reflected in the funding to its major arts organisations.

Specifically to theatre, I would enact policy that would allow various Government departments such as tourism, health, education and race relations to work together with Creative New Zealand to legitimise and encourage cultural expression as a means of "selling" New Zealand, improving literacy, promoting wellness (such as reducing youth suicide rates through presentation of a greater range of role models) and diffusing tensions between the many cultures that make up our population.

Clark's performance?

Clark receives top marks from me. It was a difficult year with many unexpected political and economic twists and turns.

Against this backdrop, Clark fulfilled her promise to the arts sector, staring down those who thought the money could be better spent elsewhere.

Chris Saines, director, Auckland Art Gallery 1

Highlight?

That we finally managed to breathe real life into the collections. Beginning with the late-1998 main gallery refurbishment, we are now continuously acknowledging the development of our collections as one of the most important things we do. The unveiling of the Picasso in April and commissioning of Michael Tuffery's mechanical bull in September was just the tip of that iceberg. And I'm excited about the new collection guide, to be published early in 2001.

Hope?

That the community will get behind the major building redevelopment we are planning over the next two to five-year period. 2001 will be a busy year of refining the scope of works, developing funding and formulating a brief. I want the main and new gallery buildings to work better together. Both must rise to meet the demands of a new century, new art forms and new audiences that expect different things of public galleries now than they did 10 years ago.

Pet hate?

That the visual arts and particularly public art galleries are seen as elitist. Not true! Most of our visitors are drawn from those very strata of society that lack advantage, not the other way around, and love the experience of coming here.

I want to make the gallery even more user-friendly.

Policy wish?

That the visual arts are funded more equitably with the performing arts. Most arts funding, at a national level at least, is chunked out by the major performing arts companies. Visual artists need to live just like the salaried or contracted members of orchestras do. I think that visual artists contribute work no less socially and culturally useful. However, it's the fact that they mostly work alone which limits their advocacy and bargaining power.

Clark's performance?

I can't praise her performance highly enough. Not because she has increased funding to the sector - which in the scheme of things is not a vast amount anyway - but because she is hugely interested in the arts, which in itself shapes perception and generates a wider public interest. She attends, she has insightful things to say about her arts experiences. This is not typical of cultural ministers the world over.