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Tuesday 9 November 2004
Arts Promotion Trust (Northland)
Annual Report
For the Year Ended 31 March 2004
The Trust went through a considerable change with Chris Neill electing not to renew his contract. As people are aware I stepped up to caretake the role while the Trust decided on its future. At the end of March there was no change to this situation. Alex Hannam was contracted to assist as Office Administrator/Project Support and still sits in that role.
There has been a marked increase in the profile of the Trust through various projects which have gained considerable media interest. We have also increased the volume of support and assistance we give to artists and arts projects in Northland. We hope to engage in further partnerships with agencies both in and outside of the “Arts Sector”.
Once again, critical to the Trust is the need to secure independent funding. Programmes to facilitate this need to be initiated so the Trust is not so vulnerable. Fortunately it now appears we will be successful in a 3 year funding contract with the Whangarei District Council, which will certainly allow us strength of certainty in our project pursuits.
A summary of the Trust activities for the year is as follows:
Art of Northland Exhibition – Wellington
We approached Advance Whangarei Limited, Enterprise Northland, Destination Northland, Kaipara Development Agency and the Far North District Council to try and develop a combined “Northland Expo” to Wellington. Luit Beiringa a highly respected Arts Consultant came to the meeting, as a potential facilitator for such a project. However the idea was not taken up by the other agencies and in the interim the idea of such an exhibition has been postponed. The potential is still there and we hope to be able to take an exhibition of Northland artists to Wellington in 2005 – subject to sourcing appropriate funding.
www.artofnorthland.co.nz
The website www.artofnorthland.co.nz is a highly professional tool for presenting Northland’s arts locally, nationally and internationally. Using advanced programming technology, the website allows artists and galleries to present their work as they want, with links to their personal site and the highly regarded artfind.co.nz. The quality of presentation and efficiency of operation for all users is attracting considerable positive comment. The medium and long term strategy of the site is to promote and sell art by a wide range of Northland artists. The resource to grow this site has been very limited. However those people who do use it have met with considerable success. This has included international commissions. We hope to be able to update and improve the site during the next financial year to ensure it stays ‘new’.
Performance Venues inventory
This inventory will enjoy further enhancement when improvements are made to Art of Northland. We maintain it with an annual update.
Regional Strengths Strategy
Following the 2 years of the Regional Strength Strategy, the programme has been discontinued. Creative New Zealand have formed a new partnership with the Community Employment Group to deliver a new programme called Regional Strengths Maurangi Toi.
Regional Strengths Maurangi Toi
We were invited to apply for funding from this programme. We have applied for partnership investigation funding to ascertain what initiatives would be appropriate for the Trust to work on, and for which we will be able to apply for initiative funding from the above programme.
Twin Coast Discovery Highway Art TrailThe Trail has been developed and published in conjunction with Destination Northland. The 2004 Edition of the Visitors Guide saw an increase in participants as well as a growing recognition of the trail. To avoid a huge jump in costs for registrants we have agreed with Destination Northland to publish again in the Visitors Guide for the 2005 publication. We do aim to evolve the Trail into a significant publication, which could potentially combine the Arts, Food & Beverage as well as niche businesses in the region. However establishing the Trail in the region first will take at least one more year of publication in the Visitors Guide.
The overall value of the Art Trail as a networking tool for the Trust and for the arts agencies in Northland has been invaluable.
From 2006 there will no longer be a subsidy for the Art Trail which will necessitate an increase in charges.
Northland Arts Visual Augmentation Network (NVANA)Arts Promotion Trust, with the support of Creative NZ Regional Strengths Strategy has developed three marketing strategies which promote the diversity of Northland artists with their different culture, disciplines, experience and talent. NVANA is the process of engaging Northland visual artists and galleries in a strategy to promote Northland as a source of quality art. It will use www.artofnorthland.co.nz, Art of Northland – Exhibitions and the Twin Coast Discovery Highway Art Trail as the trident for a regional arts marketing package. These initiatives complement the individual efforts of artists and galleries, to create a greater market impact. This strategy fits with the Regional Economic Strategy managed by Enterprise Northland and it is intended that they be convinced to support this package as an ongoing programme.
- We await completion of the Arts Sector Strategy to continue with this project.
Theatre Troupe
Term 2: 2003
A successful tour of Northland schools was conducted during the term. The Great Firewise Show took an interactive play around primary schools, educating children about Fire Safety in the home. 52 schools saw the production throughout the 6 week tour. Feedback indicated the method of delivery and the content of the play were well received.
Term 3: 2003
The second stage of the Theatre Troupe Project for 2003 saw a highly demanding but extremely successful theatre in education project completed in the North Hokianga, finishing in September 2003. 7 schools participated in the production of Te Ihi o Te Ahi, staged at both Panguru and Broadwood Area Schools. Over 100 children appeared on stage in a production which was impressive in its quality especially in light of the environment it was developed in. Director Robert Pollock and Designer Heather Needham worked exhaustively to complete the project.
Following the success of these two ventures, we negotiated a further contract with the Ministry of Education, supported by the NZ Fire Service to repeat the project in 2004. This time the contract will cover 4 schools in the Whangarei region, over 2 terms.
At the end of 2003 we discussed other potential projects with the Fire Service and ACC. We are continuing the discussion and investigation of these.
Art Beat
Art Beat again exceeded expectations with the response from the community. Mel Miller was contracted as coordinator for the event and with APT’s support organised an excellent day. We hope to see more multi-cultural attractions on the stage for 2004 and look forward to seeing even more people appear.
Of note is the amount of visitors who come into the town for the Festival as well as the appreciation of the locals.
Heat in the Street Festival
With our move away from major events in 2003/04, no Fringe or Heat in the Street Festival was held. Instead the Tall Puppet Parade went ahead in conjunction with the Endless Summer Festival.
There was plenty of comment arising from the community who noticed the lack of the festival & the street theatre etc.
Tall Puppet Parade
The puppet parade enjoyed its largest crowd to date. Organised by Bryan Divers and Alex Hannam, who experienced the difficulty of getting this show on the road, we nevertheless had a great day out. With fantastic support from The Radioworks we managed a great crowd. Several new puppets were created, which increased the family of puppets in Whangarei.
The difficulty of getting willing participants for the parade will have to be assessed & a new approach planned, ie; a competition, to make the day more attractive for those people who are prepared to give up so much of their time in creating these puppets.
Department of Work & Income: Contract for PACE A shorter term contract has been entered into, while Work & Income assess their new budgets and plans for the forthcoming year. Shonah Scott has continued to facilitate this process. There has been some very constructive help provided to previously unemployed artists. We hope to negotiate for delivery of this scheme, although it will not be in the format used up until now.
The Grand Hotel
The Grand Hotel became subject to an agreement to purchase, by Trustee Ian Reeves. Arts Promotion Trust had been approached by local community youth organisations; Northland Youth Theatre and Whangarei Youth Music to see if the building could become a new home for them.
APT held a public meeting in February which was extremely well attended and from which APT received a large number of indications of support for turning the Grand in to a Youth Performing Arts Facility.
An approach to Council to receive an indication of their support was made early in this Financial Year, after which a funding campaign was mounted.
Creative Industries Northland Arts Sector Strategy Arts Promotion Trust approached Enterprise Northland to partner in a Arts Sector Strategy for the whole region. The development of a strategy had also been identified by the Strategy for the Sustainable Economic Development of Northland, completed in 2002. New Zealand Trade & Enterprise set aside funding for the strategy, which will be is due for completion in 2005.
A list of the steering group for this strategy is attached.
New Zealand Trade & Enterprise : Enterprise Culture & Skills Activity FundThe Trust has been asked by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise to take on a contract to utilise a grant from the above mentioned fund. The contract is still under negotiation, as we develop a programme which will help artists fill the gap between “Graduation to Sustainability”. This has been identified as a problem for many emerging artists, and through evolving a 52 week programme we hope to be able to have many more of our artists achieve a sustainable arts business, which will in turn contribute to the economy of the region.
Theatre Troupe: P Project
Bryan Divers and Alan Palmer approached APT to assist in the production of a Theatre in Education project on the effects of P or methamphetamine. We received support from local health agencies who recognise the need to fight the damage this drug is causing, particularly to our Youth.
Bryan wrote a play targeting Senior High School students, combined with a workshop to further raise awareness of the dangers of the drug.
A long and drawn out funding campaign saw a short tour take place July/August 2004.
www.apt.org.nz
Our home website has become an Arts Calendar for Northland. On this are listed arts and cultural events in Northland. We use it as a forecast calendar for events taking place, so that event organisers can schedule their events with clashing.
We also use it to mention news of note in the sector and alert people to opportunities taking place in the arts, such as grants and competitions.
A fortnightly electronic newsletter entitled ‘Whatever’s Clever’, created by Alex, informs people of new listings on the site.
With the tremendous response to these activities we are looking to further improve the site during the next year, so as to be better able to deliver information to artists and patrons alike.
Support Resource
One of the almost intangible areas of work we undertake is the advice, support and facilitation role we undertake. This sees us as a point of contact for a large numbers of artists and patrons. The volume of people we assist, whether it be a phone conversation, or help in putting applications together, continues to increase.
-Artists Database.
We have done extensive work in building a database of The Arts in Northland. At present this sits as ‘raw data’, which we use to supply people information and contacts. We will be sourcing funding which will develop this into an online facility for use by all.
Film Support
New Zealander Reina Webster, who is a student of the New York Film School, chose to make her short film ‘Small Things’ in Whangarei during the year. APT supported the project in various ways, lending them office space, and facilitating information and people to help them. The economic contribution a film makes to a community is significant, as are the opportunities for artists to work on such films. We hope to be able to further develop film opportunities for Northland in the near future.
Matariki
Tai Tokerau Maori & Cultural Tourism approached us to work alongside them in developing a celebration of the Maori New Year to be Northland wide for the month of June.
Cultural Tourism
Northland was one of 5 regions in New Zealand granted $100,000 to strengthen cultural tourism ‘products’. This has meant we have been part of a steering group investigating how to best utilise the resources so it benefits the region.
Other projects under investigation:
1. Pouto Development with Kaipara District Council
2. Kawakawa Arts Outlet with Far North District Council
Hilary Sumpter
Director
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