With just a few voting days left, local election campaigns are in full swing. Yet few candidates mention the arts, even though councils contribute $500-600 million to the sector. An independent website for people to compare candidates and policies, Policy.nz, asks candidates for “recreation and culture” policies, but responses tend to focus on parks, stadiums and sports funding. For many candidates, the only arts policy they mention is to support music festivals. 

To fill in the gaps, The Big Idea has been on a mission to ask the mayoral front-runners in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin what their arts policies are. We tracked down emails and sent them a short list of questions:

• Should council funding for the arts go up, down, or stay the same?
• Do you see arts and culture as an essential council responsibility alongside infrastructure, housing, and transport? 
  Why or why not?
• Is there an arts initiative you personally champion?

Here’s what they said:

Auckland

Auckland’s two front-runners, Kerrin Leoni and Wayne Brown, did not respond.

Wellington

Andrew Little, the highest-profile mayoral candidate in Wellington, has a reasonably comprehensive creative policy, headlined around “festivals and events”. “Council is in a serious financial position but I’ll protect arts funding,” he said, in response to questions from The Big Idea. Little recognised the role council plays in making art happen, especially at small scales. “Council provides creative and community infrastructure, through physical spaces like halls and venues through to grants for local creative ventures,” he said. His policies include making it easier to host events by simplifying approval processes and supporting venues with noise plans to protect their ability to operate. 

Little was one of several candidates who linked supporting art to making communities more resilient. “Arts and culture brings people together, allows them to share ideas and experiences, and also strengthens bonds with our neighbours. Knowing your neighbours is critical in an emergency – you need to know how they can help you and how you’ll need to help them.”

“I don’t buy into the premise that Council should get ‘back to basics’ or that ‘the basics’ can be tightly defined as the things a small but vocal group of conservative voters want,” said Alex Baker, another Wellington mayor hopeful. Instead of big, expensive festivals, he wants to channel more council funding into day-to-day events, like Cuba Dupa, Newtown Fair, Gardens Magic or music sessions at Te Papa. “People don’t move to Wellington for the occasional big international gig, they move here because they like the day-to-day culture – which is what we should be focused on growing,” he said.

For candidate Karl Tiefenbacher, supporting arts is about how Wellington looks to others. “We should promote and ‘shout about’ it more to reignite our positive image and attract visitors and investment,” he said. He would like to see art stored in Te Papa put on public display, whether in Tākina, the council’s event centre, or in pop-up galleries located in empty shop fronts. 

Diane Calvert and Ray Chung are also running for mayor in Wellington but they did not respond to our requests. Ray Chung however, did send some photos of himself at the national Shakespeare competition.

Christchurch

Phil Mauger is Christchurch’s current mayor and is running for re-election. “Murals, sculptures, and other pieces you see as you walk around town really brighten the place up and make Christchurch feel vibrant.” He said that council funding for arts should stay at current levels, as did Sara Templeton, his main rival for the position. She named some physical venues as places she has been proud to champion as a city councillor: Toi Auaha, a heritage-listed building Christchurch City Council considered selling before a community outcry meant it was made into an arts hub instead, as well as the Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora and Ōtautahi Creative Spaces, which runs art programmes for people experiencing mental distress. 

“Arts bring people together, tell our stories, and make the city feel alive,” said Mauger, also focused on the vibe. But he had a caveat. “We just need to balance it all so ratepayers get value for money.” 

Dunedin

Some of the work of sustaining creativity is pretty dull. “We're in the middle of a grants review, which needs to ensure we're delivering funding that works for our arts communities. It's grown a bit piecemeal over the last years,” said Sophie Barker, a current Dunedin councillor running for mayor. “We also have an Arts and Creativity in Infrastructure policy – which I see needs a timely review.” That policy aims to make artwork part of infrastructure assets and upgrades, from big-scale town centre redevelopment to cycle stands and way-finding signage. 

Barker grew up in Larnach Castle, surrounded by extensive gardens. “I think gardens are under-appreciated artworks and I support Dunedin having a Festival of Gardens.” She describes Lan Yuan, the Dunedin Chinese garden, as one of the “core artistic institutions” the council funds, along with the Dunedin Art Gallery and Toitū Otago Settlers Museum. 

Given the broad swathe of areas where councils can impact artistic practitioners, it’s useful to understand what kind of art candidates personally champion or engage with. Have the people standing to represent their communities ever been on the other end of a funding form? Are there artworks or events they would miss if they were gone? 

There is at least one person running for mayor in New Zealand who has worked as an artist: Mandy Mayhem-Bullock, Dunedin councillor, one time circus ringmaster and current community theatre participant. Mayhem-Bullock has her community theatre, while Mickey Treadwell, running for the Greens in Dunedin, said “It is incumbent on local government to provide for the needs of its constituents, and that includes the need to express ourselves through art, and to participate in shared cultural practices”. He supports the game industry, which straddles the creative and tech worlds, and their respective funding environments. Treadwell teaches game design at Otago Polytechnic. He said that attending Wānaka Whare Karioi ā-Whenua, an event hosted by Dunedin’s Centre of Digital Excellence in partnership with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and Kotahi Mano Kāika was “the most significant hui I have attended, in terms of exploring the narrative and cultural potential of the medium.”

Jules Radich and Andrew Simms are also running for mayor in Dunedin but did not respond to requests for comment on their arts policies.

Shanti Mathias is a journalist, cyclist and zine-maker who lives in Ōtautahi. She likes writing about transport, cool plants, rivers and books. As part of her role editing Policy.nz, she's read the policies of more candidates from councils around the country than she can count.