By EUGENE BINGHAM political reporter
The showcase Heart of the National cultural strategy called for an overhaul, not a tune-up, of the arts sector. In the end, it was the report itself which had its engine ripped out.
Authors of the controversial $220,000 report saw their work published yesterday, before its key findings were rejected and it was condemned to life on a Government bookshelf.
Associate Minister for Arts and Culture Judith Tizard yesterday released the 450-page glossy document, but said she would sooner resign than implement the strategy's central call for restructuring of the arts.
"I personally am not prepared to put my time into restructuring.
"I reject as the first priority that the Government needs to be restructured in this area," she said. Ms Tizard and Prime Minister Helen Clark convened the Heart of the Nation group (known as HOT Nation) in March, calling on them to come up with a plan to boost arts and culture and make the sector capable of driving economic growth.
The panel of arts luminaries, led by Auckland consultant Hamish Keith, ran into trouble at the end of May when Helen Clark was shown a draft copy of part of the report and became alarmed at its theme.
Despite several rewrites, the final version emerged yesterday with the need for change a key recommendation.
It its preamble, Mr Keith wrote: "The Government's timely $87 million package of rescue and investment finance will stabilise and expand many components of the sector but it will not address the fragility of the whole.
"To transform that one-off opportunity into long-term growth will require an overhaul and not a tune-up."
Ms Tizard said she believed she had made it clear to Mr Keith before the project began that she was not interested in restructuring. She admitted that in hindsight the terms of reference should have been less general, or the group should have been given more time.
"I'm not disappointed ... this report is a good first step."
Public submissions will be called, helping to form another strategy document due in March or April next year.
Opposition Culture and Heritage spokesman Simon Upton said the report was a cross between a "stocktake and a philosophy thesis."
"This is what you get when you tell a group of people to go away and speculate on the future of the universe in just two months - and give them no clear brief on why they are reporting," said Mr Upton.
"It's clear that the Prime Minister and her associate failed to keep in touch with the team and were then surprised when the project went off the rails."
One of the project managers, Richard Miller of strategic planning firm McDermott Miller, said he feared the "proverbial baby would be thrown out with the bathwater."
"By dismissing all the suggested changes and initiatives in the area of governance, they are missing a lot of constructive suggestions that might well be pursued in a worthwhile way.
"All that was asked at any point was that [the group] be given an opportunity to articulate the strategy that it believed was sought through its consultation and research ... that there be a fair assessment of it by the Government and that there be widespread debate within the cultural sector to gauge the support - not that it be prejudged and then condemned to the ashcan of cultural history in New Zealand."
Minister rejects need to revamp the arts sector
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