August 1, 2008

MAPPING THE FUTURE of the Arts in Wellington  

You are invited to discuss the future of Wellington city’s arts sector in a series of sessions facilitated by Wellington City Council’s City Arts team.

You can:

• Feed into a shared of vision for the city’s arts for the next ten years
• Help identify how we can work together to get there
• Meet other people working in the arts in Wellington
• Talk with representatives of the Wellington City Council and learn about our existing support for arts activities
•  Hear about Creative New Zealand’s new funding programmes and the redevelopment of The Big Idea website.

The sessions are divided into:

Performing arts [including circus, theatre, dance, comedy, amateur, etc]: Friday 29 August, 10am to 4pm

Visual arts [including 2D and 3D art forms, etc]
Saturday 30 August, 10am to 4pm

Music [including classical, contemporary, pop, folk, jazz, etc]
Tuesday 2 September, 4pm to 10pm  [note this is an evening session]

Māori arts [including kapa haka, visual arts, literary arts, contemporary and traditional art forms]
Wednesday 3 September, 10am to 4pm

All art forms
Saturday 6 September, 10am to 4pm

Literary arts [including writers, publishers, promoters, etc]
Wednesday 10 September, 10am to 4pm

All sessions will take place in the large downstairs space at Capital E in Civic Square, Wellington. Lunch or supper will be served at each session.

The workshops are open to anyone working in the arts including individual practitioners, professional organisations, amateur/leisure groups, tertiary education providers, people starting out, art teachers/tutors/students, professional bodies, commercial operators and people on governing bodies. You may attend more than one session.

We encourage organisations to inform all staff members about these sessions, and to send more than one staff member to attend where possible. We also ask that you forward this information on to anyone you think may be interested.

For catering purposes, please rsvp to arts@wcc.govt.nz at least four working days before any session you wish to attend. Please see the  ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ (below) and if you would like more information feel free to contact Briar Monro on briar.monro@wcc.govt.nz or 04-803-8399.

Join us and make these sessions valuable for the development of the arts in the city.

Yours sincerely
Martin Rodgers
Manager – City Arts, Ngā Mahi Toi o Pōneke
Ph: (04) 803 8895
Email: martin.rodgers@wcc.govt.nz    

FAQs: Mapping the Future of the Arts in Wellington

What is "Mapping the Future of the Arts in Wellington"?

Mapping the Future of the Arts in Wellington is a series of arts sector hui aimed at building a shared vision of Wellington’s arts and identifying some key steps towards realising this vision. The sessions will be hosted by Wellington City Council’s City Arts unit. There will be six sessions each dedicated to specific art forms with one general session in recognition of the growing culture of cross-art form practice and for those unable to attend other sessions.

Who is it for? Why should I come?

Mapping the Future of the Arts in Wellington is for all people working in the arts in Wellington – from emerging artists to established practitioners, from teachers to producers, from arts organisations to amateur groups.

We are going through a time of rapid change.  The arts sector is facing new opportunities and challenges (demographic make up of the city, economic challenges etc.).  To ensure that the arts sector continues to make its important contribution to the city, we need to work together to address issues facing the sector and support each other to move forward.  These sessions will therefore focus on building clarity around what the key issues are, discussing what we want the future of the arts in Wellington to look like and mapping how we might all work together to achieve this vision.

We need all voices of the arts sector represented.

When are the sessions?

The dates are:

Performing arts [including theatre, dance, circus, comedy, amateur dramatics, etc]
Friday 29 August, 10am-4pm

Visual arts [including 2D and 3D art forms, etc]
Saturday 30 August, 10am-4pm

Music [including classical, contemporary, pop, folk, jazz, etc]
Tuesday 2 September, 4pm-10pm  
Note that this is an evening session

Māori arts [including kapa haka, visual arts, literary arts, contemporary and traditional art forms]
Wednesday 3 September, 10am-4pm

All art forms: Saturday 6 September, 10am-4pm

Literary arts [including writers, publishers, promoters, etc]
Wednesday 10 September, 10am-4pm

Where are the sessions? 

All sessions will take place at Capital E, Civic Square, Wellington City.

How much is it?

There is no cost for the sessions but it is important that you RSVP to arts@wcc.govt.nz so we can make sure there is lunch/supper for you. Please let  us know if you have particular dietary needs.

What will happen at the sessions? 

The sessions will be led by Lawrence Green, a facilitator who has been doing a lot of work within the arts sector nationally. Each session will include a combination of structured sessions – that have been informed by preliminary discussions with the arts sector – and open space to allow for fresh ideas to be explored. Our aim is to progress these ideas as far as possible before and during these sessions so that we avoid going over the ‘same old ground’.

There will also be presentations from Creative New Zealand about changes to their contestable funding programme and from The Big Idea on their soon-to-be-launched upgraded site, TBI 2.0.

I want to attend, so what do I need to do?   

You need to RSVP to arts@wcc.govt.nz letting us know which session/s you’d like to attend. Please do this 4 days before the session you’d like to attend.

Can I come to more than one session? 

Absolutely. We encourage you to attend as many as you feel will be of relevance to you. This is a great opportunity to get an insight into some of the issues present for art forms other than your own area of expertise or interest.

What will happen to the information that comes out of the sessions? 

Three things:

• The information from these sessions will be available to anyone. We will email this information out to all who attended the sessions automatically. If you are unable to attend but would like to be kept informed then please email arts@wcc.govt.nz to receive this information.
• Information, ideas and activity from the sessions will be taken away and put into action by organisations, artists and arts practitioners.
• The information from these sessions will also be fed into the current review of Wellington City Council’s Long Term Council Community Plan [LTCCP]. This plan outlines the Council’s intentions for the coming 10 years and is reviewed every three years. Specifically this information will inform the current review of the Cultural Wellbeing Strategy which is one of the seven strategic areas of the Council’s planning process. When the LTCCP is drafted, the Council will consult with Wellington residents before it is finalised.

If I can’t attend, will there be other ways that I can feed into this process? 

Yes. Once the notes from the sessions have been distributed you are welcome to respond to these. Or you can feed in at a later stage through the public consultation of the LTCCP.

Who do I contact for more information?

Please contact Briar Monro on arts@wcc.govt.nz