Govt package aims to save thousands of arts-sector jobs

The Government will bail out struggling artists, musicians and venues with a $175 million package that aims to save thousands of jobs in the decimated industry.

The arts and creative sector contributes nearly $11 billion a year to New Zealand’s gross domestic product and employs 90,000 people but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the industry had been hard-hit by Covid-19.

“Modelling based on Treasury forecasts suggests that without government intervention, the cultural sector will be hit roughly twice as hard as the rest of the economy, and

11,000 jobs could be lost within a

12-month period,” said Ardern, who is also the Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister.

“We know many of our creatives get income from multiple sources and it is an ongoing challenge to piece together the gigs and commissions to earn a livelihood.”

Speaking yesterday, Ardern said the arts sector would take time to rebuild, starting with the move yesterday lifting the limit to 100 people allowed at social gatherings.

Level 1 will result in events taking place without restrictions on numbers, and Ardern said the $175m package was about keeping the sector afloat in the meantime.

She encouraged people to visit local businesses to kick-start the economy and said she herself would be “out and about” this long holiday weekend, and might take in a Nadia Reid show in Napier.

“It’s not just about support from Government. It’s also about support from Kiwis.”

Four new funds and a jobseeker programme for the creative sector are to be set up to help the industry recover.

A total of $7.9m will go towards careers support for creative jobseekers while the four funds target specific areas of the industry. Those areas are:

● A $16.5m New Zealand music recovery fund for the contemporary popular music industry, including $7.1m to boost NZ on Air’s New Music programmes and $5m for a Live Music Touring Fund to support NZ acts on the domestic circuit as alert levels permit.

● $70m over three years for a creative arts recovery and employment fund, commissioning and supporting creative projects at a national and local level.

● $60m over three years for a cultural innovation fund to support new ways of operating, particularly through digital exports, and supporting innovative approaches to Ma¯ori art forms and traditional knowledge.

● $20m for a cultural capability fund to focus on immediate needs in response to Covid-19.

Ardern said the package would protect cultural sector jobs, build skills and resilience, protect Ma¯ori art forms, and continue to help artists inspire New Zealanders.

“A healthy cultural sector has many positive flow-on effects for other important parts of our economy, such as technical production, hospitality, venues and domestic tourism.”

Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Grant Robertson said the revival of art after the Canterbury earthquakes showed how important they were in a crisis.

The first wave of funding becomes available from July this year. Hawke’s Bay Today