Councils chafe at event fund’s capital focus
Porirua, Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt cancel their contributions, leaving only Wellington
A million-dollar kitty for major events, criticised by mayors for being a ‘‘free-for-all’’ and too Wellington-focused, is dead after the region’s councils yanked funding.
Dreams of a unified regional approach are over as the joint committee handing out about $1 million a year from the Wellington regional amenities fund is being dissolved.
Porirua City, Upper Hutt City and Hutt City councils have now pulled their funding, after Kapiti Coast District Council dropped out last year. Only Wellington City Council is left.
Wellington-based organisations and events helped by the fund, such as CubaDupa and the Kia Mau Festival, were now working directly with Wellington City Council staff to ‘‘support event and project delivery’’ in 2021, a council spokeswoman said.
Up until this year, Wellington was contributing $609,000 annually, with Hutt City paying $200,000 and Upper Hutt paying $106,000. Porirua and Ka¯ piti Coast were paying about $50,000 each.
Ka piti Mayor K Gurunathan said he thought the fund was meant to be used to build a ‘‘war chest’’ for the region. ‘‘The funding, as we understand it, was to stop events going to Auckland or Christchurch ... but what happened was the fund was used for all the small things.’’
There was no point in money being used for little events, he said, and it ‘‘just became a free-for-all’’.
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said her council’s decision was made ‘‘because we didn’t think it was value for money’’.
‘‘It was the same events, and they were usually run in Wellington, and I get that they have to be run in Wellington, but we’re not getting anything out of it.’’
In the long run, Wellington’s councils would most likely come up with a new approach that had a regional focus, she said.
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster said the capital contributed the ‘‘lion’s share’’ of funding and was the centre of the region, where a large proportion of events would naturally take place.
Allocation of events was not ‘‘disproportionate’’ and the fund started because there were many events in Wellington City, paid for by its ratepayers, that had a regional benefit.
‘‘This was a good symbol of the region working together to fund things. And we didn’t worry too much about where something happened but [just] that it happened in our region.’’
Last year’s allocations included events such as CubaDupa, the New Zealand Festival, which received about $340,000, and the Carnival of Lights in Hutt, which received about $97,000.
Gerry Paul is the director of CubaDupa, which received $195,213 from the fund last year – about a quarter of the event’s total budget.
The fund was crucial for free events, he said. There was financial belt-tightening going on following Covid-19 but Paul was confident CubaDupa could carry on next year.
New Zealand Festival of the Arts executive director Meg Williams said the withdrawal of funding was disappointing but understandable.
She felt there was still a place for arts funding in the region as it contributed to the economy, jobs and wellbeing of the community.
The fund had consistently allowed the organisation to produce large events across the region over the past few years.
It was unclear how the drop in funding would impact the festival and other events, she said.
Hutt City Council also pulled contributions to aid its coronavirus recovery. Mayor Campbell Barry said there was some dissatisfaction with how the fund was being split.
‘‘My concern was events of regional significance were all in Wellington.’’ He remained open to a regional fund but said it needed to be more equitable.
Upper Hutt cut its $128,000 contribution from its 2020-21 budget as part of its Covid recovery relief.
Mayor Wayne Guppy said the circumstances surrounding the funding cut were unique and unfortunate. Upper Hutt would look to restart contributions to a fund as soon as it could.
Although much of the funding went to Wellington, he believed councils needed to stop looking after only their own patch and start thinking about the region.
‘‘That’s where the facilities are, so that’s where these things happen. Our competition for events and acts is with Auckland and that’s where they’ll go. If we don’t work together, the region will be worse for it.’’
The fund has been running for almost a decade.
WellingtonNZ, the economic development agency funded by Wellington City Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council to grow the regional economy, would not comment on the loss of the fund or its economic impact.
‘‘It was the same events, and they were usually run in Wellington, and I get that they have to be run in Wellington, but we’re not getting anything out of it.’’