Look at boost for arts

‘‘We’re losing our reputation as the creative capital.’’ So says one anonymous Wellington arts sector player, in a review of the city’s performing arts scene. A little more cartoonishly, another says Auckland officials have spoken directly of their ‘‘desire to take over’’ the title.

The arts sector says Wellington lacks a decent midsized venue (one with 400 to 800 seats), especially since the town hall’s hiatus and the closure of Downstage Theatre. Meanwhile, costs for remaining venues are considered prohibitively high, public funding and corporate sponsorship are tight, and many practitioners have left for Auckland. There is a sense that Wellington does too little to promote emerging artists, and to encourage risk-taking new work.

Is it fair, this pessimistic take on the city’s vaunted arts scene – and this fear of Auckland’s success?

Partly. It’s true, for instance, that Auckland has poured more money and energy into the arts in recent years than it did for decades, most obviously with its bolstered annual festival. Government funders have increasingly directed more money north, too.

But Auckland was an arts desert for many years, and that was the true shame. What is happening now is catch-up as much as anything else, and a confident capital might view it without panic.

Wellington is, after all, still home to most of the country’s bastions of high art – the symphony orchestra, the national ballet company, and so on, with disproportionate levels of government funding and premium venues to match them.

On the other hand, it’s striking to discover that Wellington’s regional subsidies for the arts are much lower than Auckland’s, even when adjusted for population size. Equally, the council-commissioned report says Wellingtonians show no more inclination to support the arts than their Auckland or Christchurch equivalents. And there seems a broad consensus that the arts here have lost steam compared with five years ago, or further back.

All of these trends do more damage to Wellington’s selfportrait as a passionate arts mecca than anything Auckland can do.

The report’s authors speculate that central government funding, long static, might yet dry up further, especially if lottery takings, a major source of arts money, keep declining.

New mayor Justin Lester, for his part, has taken on the city council’s arts portfolio and vows to tackle the issue in the first quarter of this year. He needs to look closely at whether Wellington’s local arts funding has fallen short, whether its venues have become too expensive, and the case for a new one. If the council is going to own a network of venues, it must make sure they are fit for purpose – that is, fit for the purpose of encouraging a busy, inventive arts scene.

But he should also accept that some things are beyond his control. Young artists are as likely to be encouraged by affordable rents, say, or by work on a TV show, as they are by a ‘‘arts hub’’ with a cafe, as the report unconvincingly proposes.

Finally, the most direct route to a healthy arts sector is bums on seats. It’s not just the city council that needs to take the arts seriously. Wellingtonians, too, must support them, if they want their city to keep putting on a strong, bold show.

Is the city backing the arts strongly enough?