Supercity: Arts Sector Update

The Working Group has:

• written a submission guide to the 3rd Bill and circulated to the sector
• written a submission to the 3rd Bill on behalf of the working party / wider sector
• presented verbally to the Select Committee for the 3rd Bill. Our submission was well received and the Select Committee members asked a few questions. We were told that the arts and culture sector had as a sector made a strong platform, and the number of submissions from the sector was high. We were told that the sector was consistent in: its desire for a regional arts strategy; its disappointment in the lack of articulation of Local Board's responsibilities; support for the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill; an anxiety around the creation of and subjugation to CCOs (both the Major Regional Facilities CCO and Economic Development, Tourism and Events CCO).
It is necessary to point out that the ATA's Discussion documents on Auckland Council Local Boards (26 Feb) and Council-controlled organizations of Auckland Council (1 March) were not available for consideration prior to the Select Committee and submission process.

There is growing interest and potential support at both local and central government for a regional arts and culture strategy. The Working Group members spoke to Nikki Kaye prior to the Select Committee hearing who asked us if we think strategies and advisory groups should be legislated.

Anne attended a meeting with Kerry Harvey (Ministry of Culture and Heritage), Elizabeth Beale (CNZ) and Jill McPherson (Auckland City Council and ATA Community Services Workstream) to talk about how a regional arts strategy could be accomplished. It was identified in this meeting that Heritage is to be included in the strategy.The Working Group took the ideas suggested in that meeting to the Auckland Arts and Culture Reference Group (that supports the Working Group) for their comment and feedback on Tuesday 18th March.

The Working Group met with Colin Dale and Jill McPherson for an update and an opportunity to ask questions on the two ATA Discussion Documents (on Local Boards, and on CCOs) earlier this week. Colin and Jill stated that arts and culture organisations should read and consider the discussion documents and take the opportunity to submit their feedback. Submissions close Friday 26 March, and the Working Group will be sending out a commentary/ guide to the documents to people on our mailing list shortly.

What the Working Group advises you to do:
• Read the local board and CCO discussion documents, and encourage others to do so. The documents can be found at www.discussiondocuments.co.nz
• Prepare and send in submissions to the documents (we'll be sending through some information shortly which may help you do this)
• Advise your board to revisit its trust deeds and constitutions (in light of CCO matters).
• Gear your board / your organisation's governing body up for lobbying candidates and influencers - make sure your key messages are current and that you can "tell your story" thoroughly but succinctly. you may wish to create, review and gather together documents, information and brochures etc that tell the history and stories of what your organisation does and has done, and make sure you have key messages about what you do, who you work with etc.Economic Impact and public delivery outcome information will be very important going forward
• Stay in touch with the Working Group and other arts organisations, and keep up to date with changes as they happen.
• Distribute information to your networks and let others know of what issues are arising, and how they can come forward.

What Working Group is doing next:
• Creating a submission guide on both discussion documents
• Writing and submitting a submission to both discussion documents by March 26 on behalf of the Working Group
• Working with the arts, culture and heritage reference group and the relevant local and central government agencies to assist them to form a group to feed into work on a regional art strategy
• Maintain communications between the arts, and culture and heritage sector and those working on a regional arts strategy
• Continue to work with the ATA to raise and discuss arts and culture sector issues
• Staying in touch with the arts and culture sector, and letting you know what is happening, and seeking your views and feedback
• Arranging an information, governance and strategy meeting for the sector
• Mapping the people we are in contact with, and getting feedback from, and filling in any gaps in the expertise that we currently draw from.

Auckland governance transition news
The senior management roles ( at tier 3) in the Auckland Council have been advertised and applications closed late last week. The ATA advise recruitment for these roles will be completed by mid-May

The Auckland Council structure including roles below tier three is not being publicly announced as yet. Rather, the ATA are entering into a process with existing staff of all the local authorities to map existing and new roles in the organisations and seeing what job areas and responsibilities will fit under each role. They will then see which existing staff would match each role, and by the end of March, advise each existing staff member whether there will be change in their role or not. The ATA are hoping to have the final structure determined by the end of April. They emphasise that the culture in the organisation is to seek wherever possible to minimize disruption for both staff and ratepayers, and aim for continuity of service and ‘business as usual' as much as is possible under the circumstances.

In response to Nikki Kaye's advocacy for arts and culture to be on a par with sport and community/social sectors, Mark Ford has responded that there are three 3rd tier core community service roles in the new Auckland Council:

Manager Parks, Sports and Recreation
Manager Libraries and Information
Manager Community Service, Arts and Culture
"The roles are not dissimilar in size and will all have significant fourth tier roles reporting to them."

The ATA has released two discussion papers as detailed above (on CCOs and Local Boards) and is seeking submissions to the documents by 26 March.

From the Auckland Arts and Culture Working Group

James Mc Carthy, Maggie Gresson, Candy Elsmore, Anne Rodda, Louise Evans