As an international resort, many Queenstown community organisations benefit from the funding and expertise offered by overseas nationals who come here.
However, the contribution of Americans Abby O’Neil and Carroll Joynes is possibly unsurpassed.
Since the Chicago couple started summering here in the early 2000s, they’ve become major local arts philanthropists.
They funded global consultant Adrian Ellis to prepare a strategic plan for arts in the Queenstown-Lakes district, out of which the Three Lakes Cultural Trust was established, with their support.
They then put several million dollars into getting Queenstown arts and cultural centre Te Atamira established in 2022, while stressing it was also a group effort with founding director Olivia Egerton playing a pivotal role.
Ironically, being stuck in NZ during Covid gave them more time to devote to the project.
Yesterday, the couple were presented with a mayoral citation by mayor John Glover, who says they’ve ‘‘bestowed a magnificent gift by making the arts relevant and accessible to our community’’.
Carroll, who’s still co-chair, says ‘‘our commitment is to make sure Te Atamira has deep roots and is completely sustainable, and we will not stop helping until it is’’.
‘‘We’ve had an amazing time here, we love the community and we wanted to leave something behind that was an enhancement, and it’s not going to go away.’’
Interestingly, he says Te Atamira’s the first project he and Abby — both in their mid-70s — have worked on together.
The couple, who’ve been together 40 years, each grew up in philanthropic families in the US.
Abby’s biggest role’s been helping found Chicago’s Harris Theatre for Music and Dance — she was also board chair for four years.
At its 20th anniversary in 2023, she and Carroll donated $US5 million to the centre, and the performance hall was named in her family’s honour.
‘‘I would say I learned from her how to be a really good board member,’’ Carroll says.
Educated in California, he was a professor of European history at the University of Chicago till he co-founded its cultural policy centre in 2001 — ‘‘I shifted gears’’.
One three-year project was studying the US’s 800-plus cultural facilities buildings, many of which had funding wobbles.
Carroll’s sat on various boards in the US such as an open-to-the-public private library in Chicago, the New-berry Library, and the Better Government Association.
‘‘Anyone who’s on a board has to make an annual contribution,’’ he notes.
For her part, Abby sits on a hospital board and on a nonprofit researching bipolar disorder.
Explaining their support for the arts, Abby’s stated: ‘‘The arts soothe our souls and add so much richness and vitality and dimension to our individual lives as well as to the community as a whole.
‘‘In these uncertain and challenging times, we need the arts more than ever.’’
As to how they discovered Queenstown, Carroll says ironically when he was just nine his family almost moved from California to Nelson.
Then, in the late ’90s, he and Abby visited Australia, however he took a side trip to Queenstown and undertook a day’s hike on the Routeburn, with chopper pilot Louisa ‘Choppy’ Patterson ferrying him each way.
‘‘I rang Abby and said ‘we visited the wrong country’.
‘‘She thought I was mad, then she came herself and said, ‘I get it’.’’
The couple had a large house built at Stonebridge Estate, off Domain Rd, which they moved into 20 years ago.
They’ve now just sold it, however they still intend returning each year, albeit they’ll probably rent a place.
Quirkily, despite their deep commitment to Queenstown and to NZ — they’re also big supporters of Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi, and specifically a programme for up-and-coming dancers — Carroll says they still only come here each year on a visitor’s visa.
They started applying for residency in 2020, but were declined — ‘‘we were sort of offended a little bit but we didn’t fit any category’’.
‘‘There’s no category for philanthropy — I mean, I’m a doctor, but not of the useful kind.’’
When they head back to the US in March, they’ll be helping the Central Otago-based At The World’s Edge chamber music festival stage five performances in Chicago.
‘‘This is an encouraging Chicago-Queenstown connection,’’ Carroll says.
But, as they keep reminding their local friends, they’ll still be back next summer despite selling their Queenstown digs.
‘‘We’re just not going to own and support a house year-round.’’
