Funding cut leaves ‘big hole’ for theatres
Two community-led theatres may face closure after they were denied funding from Hamilton City Council.
Both the Meteor Theatre and Clarence St Theatre were denied funding, casting a shadow across the futures of both theatres.
It comes alongside an additional 20% cut to community grants which will further compromise the delivery of services to local communities at an increased time of need, says Creative Waikato.
Both organisations have been in multiyear funding agreements since the theatres were passed into community service provision several years ago and Creative Waikato says there has been no increase in funding to those venues for a decade, despite a significant increase in costs through inflation.
Meteor chair Charlotte Chuen said the theatre had asked for more funding for the first time in the 10 years since it had taken it over from council, as costs had increased, just as they had for everyone.
“We asked council for $90,000 and previously they've funded us at $50,000 per year. And so to have zero... I think we're going to have to have a really tough conversation about if we've got the energy to carry on.”
The theatre, which relied heavily on volunteers, was already operating as lean as it possibly could so the funding rejection left a “big hole”, Chuen said.
It’s entrenched in the trust’s charter that the theatre can’t borrow money as they never wanted to be in that position. “So we can only spend what we have so if we don’t have that, you know, how do we pay our bills?”
Clarence St Theatre hadn’t even made it through the expression of interest phase of this funding round, Chuen said, and would have to try again in June.
Creative Waikato said there had been suggestion from council that it was not a funding cut, rather a change to single-year community services grants but the not-forprofit organisation believes that approach is ultimately still a significant cut.
“This proposed cut in funding is a misguided approach from our current decision makers” says board chair Sam Cunnane.
“This lack of vision for sustained partnership with organisations who provide an important service, alongside improving the cultural wellbeing of our community, and enhancing accessibility to local storytelling is not an example of good practice”.
There was concern the proposed cuts would place a “frustratingly complex” burden on volunteer community trusts, volunteers and staff with “true risk the theatres will no longer be able to operate”.
“Declining support for these spaces seems a clear signal from council that the arts are not a priority, which is quite devastating after a decade of community investment, through people and fundraising, into the Meteor” Chuen said.
“As well as running the theatre, the community has invested over $1.5m in the building. Last year we hosted 84 different public events, with 16,785 audience members. There is no comparable space to host this arts activity should The Meteor cease to exist”.
Councillor Kesh Naidoo-Rauf, who is chair of the community and natural environment committee, said the community grants policy was reviewed last year, which sets out how funding for community organisations is managed.
“Through the policy review, we did extensive engagement with community organisations to make sure the policy aligns with community needs.
“This resulted in some changes to the criteria of our funds and the funding cycle which means that some groups that previously sat in the multi-year fund category, have now been recommended to apply for our community services grant that opens on 1 June. This is due to some organisations aligning better to this fund.”
Conditional offers had been to groups who successfully met the criteria of the community partnerships agreement but formal agreements won’t be finalised until funding is confirmed through the 2024-34 Long-Term Plan, Naidoo-Rauf said.
“It should be noted, that when we receive applications for any of our contestable funds, we assess all applications based on their merits and how they meet the criteria of the fund. This is done case-by-case basis.”