The Dunedin Arts Festival has been “blindsided” by a funding blow that could impact its number of overseas offerings in next year’s programme. Creative New Zealand announced this month 94 arts organisations and groups were offered 1- to 3-year grants totalling $104,170,885 in its latest funding round. Up to $9.9 million, less than 10%, went to South Island recipients and none outside of Dunedin, Queenstown and Christchurch. “For the first time in the festival’s history, we received zero funding from Creative New Zealand,” Dunedin Arts Festival director Charlie Unwin said. He had thought the festival, established in 1999, was in a position where funding was reasonably secure. But Mr Unwin said he was told at the last sign-off other applicants around the country were a higher priority than them. “All the feedback that I had been receiving from Creative New Zealand was all positive in the lead-up to it. “It blindsided us.” Creative New Zealand funded on average $135,000 per festival over the past three years, about 15% of the budget. This gave them the ability to get visa and tax waivers for overseas artists, which they would no longer be eligible for. The festival often partnered with the Wānaka Festival of Colour, which was awaiting the results of the next funding round, “so some of these international artists who can’t come unless there’s multiple festivals involved will just have to be put on hold until we know,” Mr Unwin said. Each Dunedin Arts Festival brought in an estimated $4m-$5m to the Dunedin economy. Mr Unwin hoped next year’s festival, scheduled for April, would still go ahead, but was unsure at this stage what it would look like. He was also concerned about the funding going to the South Island compared to the North Island. “I’m very concerned about the South Island being left behind.” The arts were consistently underfunded and the government needed to take it a lot more seriously, Mr Unwin said. “The mental health in the arts industry is at an all-time low, and especially with these funding decisions.” The only per annum funding in Dunedin went to the Blue Oyster Gallery ($200,765), the Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust ($156,208) and the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra ($368,995). Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust development manager Hannah Molloy said they considered themselves really lucky. “When the result came in, I nearly cried, to be honest, because it just feels like such a gamble at the moment.” It would help fund the Dunedin Fringe Festival, the Amped Music Project, the New Zealand Young Writers Festival, Te Whare o Rukutia and others. Most of the national funding went to the North Island, which meant people were leaving Dunedin in search of work, Ms Molloy said. Artists needed funding to create the shows that put the Dunedin Fringe Festival together. “If they can’t do it, we can’t have a Fringe Festival.” The next funding round would be announced in September, and applicants would be feeling stressed off the back of these results, she said. “There’s a whole cohort of Dunedin and Otago organisations who are still waiting to know, but have got this kind of dread.” Wānaka Festival of Colour general manager Daz Coppins said public funding was fundamental to how a festival of its scale was built. Creative New Zealand investment underpinned its ability to commission and present work at a national standard, and it would be hard pressed to deliver the kind of festival its audiences had come to expect on local grants and sponsorship alone, Mr Coppins said. Last year’s festival drew more than 12,000 attendees and injected an estimated $2.2m into the regional economy. “We are devastated that our good friends and colleagues at the Dunedin Arts Festival have received no funding in the latest round — this has a significant impact on our 2027 programme as we have a strong partnership with them and work closely to partner on a number of performances across our programme.” Creative New Zealand this month confirmed its new operating model would result in 16 job losses. It did not respond to a request for comment before deadline. tim.scott@odt.co.nz
