Artists across the South Island say the arts sector is in distress, as organisations compete for a limited pool of funding.
For Christchurch community theatre Little Andromeda, the latest funding round has delivered a devastating blow.
After its application to Creative New Zealand (CNZ) was unsuccessful, the theatre is due to close at the end of the year.
"I'm absolutely gutted. I think we have a really strong community of artists, audiences, and tūrangawaewae. We're losing it. We've lost it," said general manager Michael Bell.
Bell started Little Andromeda eight years ago, moving into its current space on the Christchurch Terrace about six years ago. Since then, hundreds of artists have performed and created work there.
A home for emerging artists
"For a lot of artists, this is our home, where we do our thing. We’ll find other places to go, but I've realised it’s more important to our community than I first realised. And I think it’s a lot more important to our community than CNZ realises."
For Bell the closure was about more than losing a venue — it meant losing a space where artists could develop their work, connect with audiences and build a community.
After its application to Creative New Zealand (CNZ) was unsuccessful, the Christchurch theatre is due to close at the end of the year. (Source: Breakfast)
He said the uncertainty made it difficult to see a future in the industry.
"I wouldn’t recommend anyone getting into the arts looking for a stable life."
His team was also devastated by the closure.
"When we ask for funding, it’s not to subsidise us, it’s for us to pass that subsidy on to freelance professionals and emerging professionals," said programmer and performer Dan Bain.
"Our last application, we solicited an enormous amount of feedback both from our audiences and our artists, and the scale of affection and sense of the space being essential to people is enormous, and a huge number of people are going to be gutted."
Little Andromeda wasn't the only arts organisation facing funding challenges, as Bain said other organisations also experienced significant setbacks — including the Otago Arts Festival — which received no funding in the latest round.
"It's pretty regular to get less than you ask for, but for established organisations to kind of receive zero is pretty shocking."
He said other organisations across the country are also struggling, with Massive Company in Auckland facing a major funding reduction and the Wellington Symphony Orchestra experiencing significant cutbacks.
A question of regional investment
But some arts representatives believe the South Island is also being left behind when it comes to funding.
"There's a broader culture of Southern invisibility," said University of Canterbury senior lecturer Erin Harrington, pointing to wider concerns about investment in infrastructure across the country.
Harrington said government funding has also failed to keep pace with demand.
"The government contribution has not improved in 20 years... So for 20 years we have had, in effect, a shrinking pie, while the pool of applicants gets larger and larger and larger."
CNZ expected to receive just over $16 million from the Government this financial year, alongside almost $53 million from the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board.
In its latest regional funding figures, 21% of investment went to the South Island, compared with 79% to the North Island.
Those figures exclude funding for online, national and international projects. CNZ said its regional investment broadly reflected where people live, while funding decisions considered the quality of applications and opportunities to support the arts nationwide.
But artists warn the consequences of limited funding could reach well beyond individual organisations.
"Our best artists will leave, because there isn’t enough infrastructure here to sustain them," said Bain.
Bell said he believed the value of the arts was being underestimated.
"The arts isn’t something fun to do on a Friday night, it's essential to everyone’s lives. I don’t think it's ridiculous that the investment should be 10 times what it is right now."
Bain said Little Andromeda’s closure will also affect the wider touring industry.
“It’s removed a huge part of the arts ecosystem for not just the South Island, but for the entirety of the touring arts sector, for the entire country.”
What happens to the next generation?
Harrington said the impact could be felt for generations.
"If we don’t have our grassroots community theatres, then we don’t get Taika Waititi, because that’s where those creatives often start out."
For students hoping to build careers in the performing arts, the loss of creative spaces raises questions about where they will learn, develop and showcase their work.
“Ultimately, I was disappointed. It’s just so sad that another space is gone. When I first heard, I said, ‘No, surely not,’” one student says.
“When you start performing, you don’t want big audiences because you’re still starting out. And if things go wrong, you don’t want a lot of people to witness it,” another says.
And while the arts may not always deliver a direct economic return, students say their value goes beyond money.
“Even if it doesn’t contribute more to the economy, it’s still important for our stories to be told.”
No plans for more funding
Political parties said there were currently no firm plans to increase funding for the sector.
"We’ve set out to support a lot of plans to support the artistic community. Extra funding for [CNZ] is not in that plan at this point, but in time that’s something we can look at," said Labour leader Chris Hipkins.
National was also not committing to increasing funding for the arts, saying its current priority is "reducing debt, and investing more into frontline services like schools and hospitals".
For Bell, the concern is that artists' determination to keep going can mask how much support they actually need.
"The problem with artists, if you take everything away, we keep going. And I think that's a misconception that means we're okay."
A community trying to survive
The Little Andromeda team hoped future fundraising could help rebuild its theatre community in a different location.
But, with the closure at the end of the year already decided, the future remained uncertain.
"We are kind of cockroach-like. We’re very hard to kill, but despite that, you can only live off eating garbage for so long," said Bain.
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