Numbers

0   the number of artists living in the South Island who have won the Walters Prize

1   the number of current advertisements by Te Papa for a Head of Audience Insights #anditsgoodnighttoyoucurators

1   the number of shout outs The Minister of Arts, Culture & Heritage Maggie Barry gave to Simon Rees and the Govett-Brewster/LLC in her speech at the Walters Prize

2   the number of sculptures by British artist Antony Gormley now on permanent public display in Christchurch

2   the number of dealer galleries that got funding to attend art fairs in the last Creative NZ funding round

7   the average number in cents that the Govett-Brewster/LLC received from each of its 151,000 visitors in its previous financial year

11  the number of comments made on the last 20 EyeContact reviews

13  the number of themed permanent collection hangs currently on show as ‘exhibitions’ at Te Papa

50  the amount in thousands of dollars that Shannon Te Ao received for winning the Walters Prize

66  the average number in cents that the Govett-Brewster/LLC needs to get from each of its visitors this year (assuming that there are again 151,000 of them)

75  the percentage of Wellington’s City Gallery’s core staff that are women

By the numbers

0  the number of jobs currently being advertised by Te Papa to fill vacancies at Te Papa Press

0  the number of media releases by the Minister for Culture and Heritage on visual art-related topics so far in 2016

3.022 the difference in millions of dollars between what was applied for and what was granted in the latest Creative NZ Arts round

9 the number of media releases by the Minister for Culture and Heritage on war-related topics so far in 2016

12.9 the amount in cents per every rated dollar that goes toward arts and culture in Christchurch.

20 the number of art works purchased by The Chartwell Collection so far this year

26 the number of days before Jamie Hanton takes up his position as the new Director of The Physics Room

365 the number of days Te Papa is open ‘Te Papa is open 365 days a year (that’s every day!)’

366 the number of days in 2016

943 the number of ‘ideas’ thrown up by the Auckland Art Gallery’s website when you click on the ideas category in the ‘Art & Ideas’ section

BALLS

So what are thoughts of the Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Maggie Barry on the problem of diminishing funding available to the arts from Lotto gambling funds?

"the balls might just roll our way"

You can check out more of the Culture Minister’s profound interest in the arts on her home page. For example, watch the video of her 10 minute contribution to the Prime Minister’s debate - a few seconds praising the Government, 9.01 minutes on conservation, 16 seconds on Heritage and 33 seconds on senior citizens. Or you could follow up on the five highlighted news items (four on Conservation and one on senior citizens) and perhaps dip into her biography where the only mention of art is the fact that her partner is  ‘Grant Kerr, a consultant, lawyer and avid collector of contemporary New Zealand photography.’ Enjoy.

By the numbers

1   the average number of statements per month the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage has released relating to the arts so far this year

3  the amount in millions of dollars per year that Te Papa gets from the Government for ‘collection development’

6  the number of Billy Apple reviews in EyeContact since his survey exhibition opened at the Auckland Art Gallery

10  the number in thousands of visitors who attended the last Auckland Art Fair

12.5  the percentage of male exhibition attendants at the Simon Denny Venice Biennale exhibition

58   the percentage of women selected as finalists for the Waikato National Contemporary Art Award by Aaron Kreisler, Head of the Ilam School of Fine Arts in Christchurch

70  the percentage of Creative NZ funding that comes from money New Zealander's lose gambling

77.5  the amount in thousands of dollars that the Govett-Brewster paid Saatchi & Saatchi to deliver its new brand

143  the number in thousands of visitors to the exhibition Gottfried Lindauer. The Māori portraits at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin this year

700 the value in thousands of dollars of the sales and commissions disputed in the Bambury / Jensen court case

1585  the number of exhibitions held at the Auckland Art Gallery since it opened on 23 June, 1927

Beta

The Ministry for Culture & Heritage and Creative New Zealand have just published An economic profile of the arts in New Zealand. They say it's a working paper. That could mean they're looking for feedback (although we didn't find a specific request) but there's not a lot to go on. The question is, does it work as a stimulus to ideas and discussion? There are so many disclaimers and excuses, it’s hard to see how.

Apart from a don't-blame-us-for-any-mistakes clause from MC&H and CNZ, how about these four game-breakers that kick the project off:

“Government support for the arts (both central and local government) is difficult to quantify, as there are multiple funding streams and it’s not always possible to identify funding for specific arts-related activities within the broader ranges of activities supported.” i.e. it's hard to identify arts funding.
“Because the research is limited to secondary data analysis (that is, the data wasn’t collected specifically for the purpose of this analysis), the data and the way in which it was collected were not the most ideal for this analysis.”

“Creative design activities such as graphic design and fashion design were excluded from the research, as most of the output of this type of activity involves mass commercial production.”

“Most of the data used in this research is drawn from Statistics New Zealand datasets and is reported according to their coding classifications for occupations and industries. 
Under that classification system a significant proportion of arts activities are not captured with sufficient detail to allow them to be readily identified and analysed.”

So, at the very least, buyer beware and probably best to wait for V 2.0

Northern exposure

Happy anniversary. Today a year has gone by since the announcement that a mini Te Papa cunningly named Te Papa North would be built in South Auckland. You might remember the Minister Chris Finlayson expressed his determination to get on with the job. “We will develop a plan to consult with stakeholders over the coming months” and (as if that weren't enough to keep everyone busy) “a fully detailed and specified business case“ would be presented to cabinet in November 2013. Well that fell over. 

But help is at hand. The Dominion Post crowbarred some info out of Te Papa via the Official Information Act. Weirdly of the 183 pages, 100 were blacked out to withhold info from the public gaze. Oh, very CIA. And how do you line up such a mind-your-own-business response with an organization that calls itself a “cultural and intellectual leader” and claims to “signpost pathways to the future by initiating, hosting and engaging in debates that explore a wide range of contemporary issues”?

Still the DomPost did get something out of the exercise.  The budget for Te Papa North as at July this year is still set at $30 million with annual running costs estimated at $3 million. So no change there after a year but now have projected annual attendance figures. These have been put at 650,000. This is 30,000 more than the Auckland Art Gallery got the year it opened its new building and 200,000 more than it got last year. The Auckland Museum, a mega enterprise with 10 times the proposed budget of Te Papa North, attracts 847,000 a year. If that figure of 650,000 reported by the DomPost from the Te Papa papers is part of the business plan, given the Napier experience, you do have to ask who is running the business. So here we go again with a small idea saddled with hugely unrealistic expectations, that is if it even gets off the ground.

And what are the chances of that?

Well, when you look at the agreement written up between the Government and the rest (Te Papa, Auckland Regional Council, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland Museum and Otara rep) it was only ever to “explore the development of a proposal” or as former Te Papa CE Mike Houlihan put it “exploring the feasibility of a proposal ...” The latest Te Papa Statement of performance objectives describes it as a 'key priority.' So lots of wriggle room there.
 
Is there any real political will behind Te Papa North? There's no mention of it in the National Party arts and culture policy but then that’s because three weeks out from the election it hasn't published one yet (last election it came out 15 July). There was certainly no mention of Te Papa North when the Minister announced the latest round of museum building grants in June this year. Labour’s culture policy is supportive of the project and in a one upping gesture they have promised "a major presence in both South Auckland and Christchurch.”

Now that earthquake fever has subsided somewhat in Wellington and a new Chief Executive for Te Papa actually in the building is at least six months away, Te Papa North can probably be laid to rest for another year. Last words then to Douglas Adams, “'I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”

LATER: In July 2014 Te Papa advertised the position of Project Director, National Centre for Collections, Exhibitions and Learning in Manukau, Auckland. (Thanks R)

By the numbers

0         the number of speeches the Minister of Culture and Heritage has made so far this election year

1.6      the percentage of dealer galleries from New Zealand in the total number at Art Basel Hong Kong

3.5      the number of years since Te Papa last had a senior curator of art

6         the number in thousands of dollars of the average Boosted grant over the programme's first year

10       the number in millions of dollars the Government wants spent on new public art on the banks of the Avon River ,while simultaneously announcing it won't pay for it

15       the amount in dollars charged as the entry fee for adults visiting the MTG Hawkes Bay (formerly the Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery)

17       the number in millions of dollars that the Ministry of Culture and Heritage is spending on the celebration of World War One

21       the number of reviews John Hurrell has written for EyeContact in the last two months

47.43   the number in thousands of dollars being spent by the new director of the Govett-Brewster Simon Rees on his first submission of contemporary art acquisitions to the City Council

130      the average number of dollars donated by individual contributors to Boosted in its first year 

213      the number of days community leaders, museum and art experts and iwi and cultural representatives have left to prepare a business case for Te Papa North

Cutting the cake

So what does the latest budget mean for the arts? Not so much minus whatever the rate of inflation was last year. Most of the arts money comes via the Ministry of Culture and Heritage with Culture getting the biggest share because it includes Broadcasting and Sport. There’s also about 6 million for general stuff like admin and policy.

The big chunks go to broadcasting with $132 million and sport and recreation with $84 million. High performance sport gets just over 69% of that -- high performance art, not so much. Museums (including art museums) get a fair whack at $53 million. Then there's feeding our national war obsession that's going to cost us $21 million. Presumably this will include the salary of ex Te Papa CE now Special Adviser on Military Heritage Michael Houlihan. There’s also nearly $8 million to write about wars gone by and other history stuff.

OK we have finally arrived at the arts, well Performing Arts anyway. They get $20 million while something called Arts and Film gets $21. We assume these are the two halves of Creative NZ’s funding.

Then it’s Heritage NZ with $13.5 million, Gen Admin and Policy $6 million, Film $4.1 million, Maori $360,000 and Cultural Diplomacy $220,000. Of the last two, Maori took a 72 percent hit on Protecting Taonga and the art diplomacy people who brought you Te Papa's Oceania exhibition a few years ago were slashed 69 percent.

Meanwhile the Australia Council (their Creative NZ) has been cut $30.5 million over four years in their budget announcement. That’s $10.4 million for the first year and about $6.5 million for the following three.

Image: cake cutter 

Over the top

“He’s moving on to a really special national role…. He is doing something that is really, really important from a national point of view”

“We’re very glad to have someone with his skills and expertise involved in such an important project.”

Te Papa chairman Evan Williams (top) and Minister of Culture & Heritage Chris Findlayson (bottom) on the sudden announcement of CE Michael Houlihan's leaving Te Papa to take up the role of ‘special adviser on military heritage’.