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17 May 2012

Downstage funding plea

26/10/2011 10:45:00 a.m.

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A proposed investment fund to secure the future of significant regional events and attractions would put an end to groups such as Downstage coming to the council cap in hand each year.
Downstage will ask Wellington City Council this week for $90,000 to get the theatre through the next six months.
Last month the theatre suddenly cancelled shows for the rest of the year and said it was in serious financial trouble.
Chief executive and director Hilary Beaton says Downstage is asking council to support its long term plan to secure the theatre’s position in Wellington.
“We need more infrastructure funding and we’re calling on the Wellington City Council to come in as a partner,” Beaton says.
“It will enable us to stabilise the company and allow us to get on with the business of producing innovative theatre.”
Meanwhile, the Wellington Mayoral Forum is a proposing the establishment of a regional amenities fund to invest in events and attractions that contribute to the region’s quality of life and economy. The intention is to start with a $2 million fund in 2013-14, increasing by $250,000 each year until an agreed cap is reached. Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown says the amenities fund would create new attractions and safeguard the future of existing events and amenities.
“This fund is essential,” Wade-Brown says. “We can’t afford not to have it.”
A council spokesman said the fund could be used to secure the likes of Downstage. A similar fund in Auckland provides $1.4 million for theatres in that city while in Wellington the council currently only funds theatres to the tune of $33,000 each year.
The council has agreed to push ahead with the amenities fund proposal and the Mayoral Forum will consider feedback from all councils in the region next month before consulting with the public.
Despite recent setbacks Downstage is planning for the future and is expected to be back producing theatre in April. Hilary Beaton says Creative New Zealand had offered a contract with increased funding of $25,000 for 2012-2013, and the theatre had seen increasing audience numbers.
“Since 2008 we have increased our audience by 2,000 each year, we’ve diversified the demography of that audience, and we’ve doubled the number of freelance artists we employ.:
Beaton says the theatre had been hit by a series of events including reduced funding from Creative New Zealand, the world economic recession and the World Cup.
Other theatres in Wellington have reported lacklustre houses during the RWC failing to attract the expected tourist dollars.
Beaton says the building continues to be used as a venue for hire, as well as for dance classes, play readings, and as a rehearsal space by Bats Theatre.
“Then we have the New Zealand International Arts Festival coming up in February and our first new production in April.”
The theatre is also planning a major fundraising event next month with a big line up of artists, auctions and prizes.
“I’m optimistic about the future of Downstage. This is a good news story,” Beaton says

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Cover Story

Best of Wellington 2011

Briefs

  • A question of nutrition

    Controversial Washington-based nutritionist Sally Fallon-Morell is to speak in Wellington on March 29.
    Fallon-Morell is the co-founder of the American food lobby group the Weston A. Price Foundation and the author of Nourishing Traditions. She advocates for the consumption of nutritionally dense foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, stocks and broths, and whole raw dairy products.
    Fallon-Morell will speak at St Patrick’s College Hall on March 29.

  • Relay for cancer

    Organisers say Sunday’s Relay for Life is full to capacity with hundreds of Wellingtonians registered for the event.
    A total of 88 teams, made up of 10 to 500 members, plan to take part with a further 25 teams on the waiting list.
    The 24 hour relay, the Cancer Society’s biggest fundraising event of the year, takes place at Frank Kitts Park from 4pm on March 31.

  • Osteoarthritis awareness

    Arthritis New Zealand has launched a nationwide campaign raise awareness about osteoarthritis. 
    Arthritis is New Zealand’s leading cause of disability, affecting 305,000 adults, and osteoarthritis is its most common form.
    The campaign features television commercials and an interactive website.


  • Wild walk

    Take part in the Big Walk at Zealandia on March 31.
    Walkers can choose a two, five or 10 kilometre walk catering to all fitness levels.
    Money raised will go to the Foundation for Youth Development.

  • School pool

    The opening of the new Khandallah School pool this week means hundreds of children will be able to continue their swimming lessons.
    The pool was the first to receive a grant from Wellington City Council’s Schools Pools Partnership Fund, a fund set up in 2010 to help schools improve their pool facilities.
    Grants from the fund have also been made for pools at Wellington East Girls’ College, Barhampore School and Tawa School.

  • Easter bikers

    Motorcyclists are invited to get on their bikes and collect Easter eggs for families support from the Wellington City Mission.
    The charity run on April 1 is organised by motorcycle lobby group BONZ.
    Eggs can be donated at Red Baron Motorcylces in Alicetown. The registration fee for bikers is $10, plus the cost of Easter eggs.

  • Crafty

    Made on Marion opens on the site of the former Golding Handicrafts site in Marion St, from April 1.  They will continue to supply craft materials.

  • Ze upgrade

    Taranaki Street fuel users will notice that the Z Energy’s former Shell Service Station is closed.  Z are doing a “total revamp”.
    The job will take four weeks.

  • Newlands Moves

    Developer Ayal Aharoni has agreed to build only 90 instead of 220 houses on his six and a half hectares above Ngauranga Gorge in Newlands.  Only low density occupation will be allowed on the remaining 8.4 hectares.


  • Baring Head

    There's a new  draft plan out for what should happen at Baring Head.  It outlines how the Greater Wellington Regional council would like to manage the newest addition to its regional parks network. Grazing animals will go, motorised vehicles will be prohibited, predators will be controlled, and the lighthouse will be preserved. Submissions are invited.


  • It’s a wonder

    A new childcare centre in Newtown says it is dedicated to helping kids grow up healthy in mind, body and spirit. Little Wonders Childcare on Rintoul Street is an independent early childhood education and learning centre, the sixth centre to be opened by its Auckland-based owner. It caters to 100 children aged between three months and five years old and has been open for a little more than seven weeks.

  • Festival treats

    CHILDREN have not been forgotten by organisers of the New Zealand International Arts Festival.
    For a perfect first theatrical experience White tells the story of friends Cotton and Winkle who live in a world where there is no colour and everything is startlingly white. That is until a brightly coloured egg tumbles out of the sky and changes their world for ever.
    White plays at Capital E from March 7-11.
    The tale of Peter and the World also promises to be a magical night for all ages. Sergei Prokofiev’s classic children’s tale is told through film and live music from the NZ Symphony Orchestra at the Michael Fowler Centre on March 9.
    March 11 is Young Writers and Readers Day and readings from children’s writers and illustrators Lynley Dodd and Gavin Bishop.

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