Cheat Sheet: Why did Creative NZ cut its Shakespeare funding?
Tuesday, 18 October 2022
The cutting of funding for a renowned Shakespeare school programme has prompted one overarching question: Is the world’s most famous wordsmith being cancelled?
Claims from a Creative New Zealand assesor that the playwright is “locked within a canon of imperialism” and is not relevant to Aotearoa drew international headlines and condemnation.
The Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand’s Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival has hosted more than 140,000 teenagers over three decades – with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Hollywood actor Melanie Lynskey among those to have taken part.
Cutting the approximate $30,000 in funding per year prompted Ardern to say she does “not agree with all funding decisions” and that she hoped it was not the end of the matter.
**READ MORE:
* The politics of petrol – fuel excise cut just the start in wider inflation war
* Auckland City Hospital sexcapade gains global attention on Colbert's Late Show
* Clarke Gayford 'banished' Jacinda Ardern to 'the wild' so he could buy her a birthday present
**
On Tuesday the Government stepped in, with Ardern saying the Ministry of Education would foot the bill.
Within hours of that announcement, Creative NZ responded to the criticism it has faced, blasting the “racist rhetoric” directed at the agency in the last two days.
Why are people unhappy with the funding cut decision?
The decision drew strong backlash from many in the drama industry. Playwright Derek Doddington – who was honoured by the Queen for his services to local drama – called it a “travesty”. Others said it was taking away the already minimal opportunities for young budding actors in our country.
Actor and director Emmett Skilton rejected claims that Shakespeare was not relevant to Aotearoa and stressed that it gave teenagers a chance to identify how the 400-year-old writing fits within our culture.
Some of our most successful film stars, including actor Sam Neill, grew up performing Shakespeare’s plays.
Neill called the funding cut “utterly miserable, mean-spirited stupidity”.
So who made the decision?
Creative NZ has external assessors who provided feedback on the Shakespeare Globe Centre's application for funding.
Creative NZ is a government agency, but it operates independently of ministers.
It’s tasked with funding the arts, with a responsibility for fostering all forms of art from literature to dance, theatre, visual arts, Pacific arts and Ngā Toi Māori.
The agency did not respond to questions about who pulled the trigger on the Shakespeare funding cut and why.
How and why did the prime minister become involved?
As mentioned, Ardern took part in the festival herself as a budding drama enthusiast.
When initially asked about the funding cut, she said she did not agree with all funding decisions made by agencies but stressed they were independent and exempt from Government influence.
On Tuesday, the prime minister made a U-turn, announcing that the Ministry of Education would pick up the bill to save the festival.
Ardern spoke directly with Education Minister Chris Hipkins about how to ensure the programme would continue.
Hipkins said the ministry would iron out the details with the Shakespeare Globe Centre over the next week.
“It would be a real shame if those coming through their education today were to miss out on these opportunities for learning and performing,” he said.
The power of public backlash
Creative NZ was very quickly accused of “cancelling” the Bard after declining the $31,000 funding proposal from the Shakespeare Globe Centre.
The New Zealand drama industry and public’s distaste with the decision was clear, and international headlines certainly added fuel to that fire.
Media outlets across New Zealand also carried a strong range of stories speaking out against the cut.
The prime minister’s office appeared to recognise the public appetite for a financial saviour and quickly reconsidered its position on being “independent from decisions made by agencies”.
Which raises the question: Without the public backlash, would anything have been done?
Creative New Zealand’s response
Following Ardern’s announcement on Tuesday, Creative NZ chief executive Stephen Wainwright and Arts Council chairperson Caren Rangi said they were pleased the Ministry had stepped in to provide funding it could not, while also blasting the “racist rhetoric” directed at the agency.
“This is a great outcome for SGCNZ, but we’ve found some of the rhetoric over the last few weeks alarming, misleading and racist,” the pair said.
“Creative New Zealand does not hate Shakespeare. We support Shakespeare productions and we support Shakespeare being in schools. We simply can't meet the demand for our funding, and hard decisions need to be made.”
The statement said Creative NZ was facing a “unprecedented deluge” with “big issues around the sustainability of arts funding in Aotearoa.”
The Shakespeare programme funding application was unsuccessful due to the strength of competing applications, they said.
“Creative New Zealand has not ‘cancelled Shakespeare in schools’.”
Sixty-two organisations submitted proposals to its Kahikatea programme for funding from 2023 to 2025. Fifty-eight proposals were successful – among the four that were not was the Shakespeare application.
“Many people have taken exception with some of the comments made about SGCNZ’s proposal. These comments have been taken out of context; they were a small component of a thorough decision-making process,” Wainwright and Rangi said.
* CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said Creative NZ’s funding team was responsible for the oversight of the Shakespeare application. As it was an investment application and the funding team does not oversee investment applications, this was incorrect. Amended 9.26pm, October 18, 2022.