Auckland City Council

Auckland City Council’s Advocacy Committee would like to see more funding from central government made available to fund regional community arts activities in the Auckland metropolitan area.

Advocacy Committee chairperson, Cr Richard Northey says that community arts projects in the region are being disadvantaged, especially the larger projects, for a number of reasons, under the Creative Communities scheme.

"These include having to apply to at least two, and often up to four or five different committees for funding for activities which benefit the whole Auckland region, unco-ordinated application closing dates, and insufficient funding being made available," says Cr Northey. "The funding levels for the arts, after four years of operation are still only a fraction of the levels of funding granted to sporting groups. This is particularly relevant in the Auckland area, where a number of large projects cause a significant and on-going drain on funds which also need to be used for supporting the local community art groups from a wide range of ethnic groups and art forms."

Cr Northey says that the idea of a regional arts trust being established from the former Infrastructure Auckland Trust does not provide a solution because it is orientated towards professional and non arts organisations, rather than the community activities which should be the focus of the creative communities scheme.

Three Councillors from the City Advocacy Committee are to meet with Creative New Zealand to discuss the issues and seek ways to allocate more regional funding in the Auckland area.

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