Dr. Shain Shapiro is a London-based cultural academic, recognised globally as a thought leader at the convergence of music, culture and urban policy. 

He is the founder and chairman of economics consultancy Sound Diplomacy, founder and director of the global nonprofit Center for Music Ecosystems and has pioneered the work of music cities and music ecosystem policy, where music is written into how cities and places plan and invest in their future.

He's been in New Zealand over the last week speaking out his book This Music Be The Place: How Music Can Make Your City Better, which is a global hit having been translated into over 40 languages.

His thoughts and opinions are frequently found in leading publications like Forbes Magazine, The Guardian and Business Day.

His time in Aotearoa has provoked him to pen this response to what he calls the New Zealand government's short-sighted strategy that is having a major impact on the arts.

This is something that frustrates me - the illusion of core service delivery. 

Here in New Zealand, I have learned that the conservative government that has followed the premiership of Jacinda Ardern has been directly communicating with its departments and New Zealand’s local authorities, telling them that they must focus solely on what it calls ‘the basics’ - taking the trash out, paving roads, providing health and social care and primary education, for example. Wellbeing is not ‘a basic’, according to the government.

Now, I don’t discount the importance of any of these core services. They are all, indeed, essential. Without paved roads, electrical grids, schools and hospitals, we’re all in trouble. But this is the basic principle of all government - use revenues derived from residents to keep them safe, warm, and protected. 

But I think that this is not solely about delivering core services. I believe this rhetoric, and that is what it is, is political, calculated, and wrong. What I’m learning from speaking to the creative sector here is that focusing on the basics actually means divesting from anything that this government believes is frivolous or not important. 

And it seems the first thing to get the axe, as it always does worldwide, is arts and culture.

Here’s part of a press release from the Local Government Minister:

The Government has announced measures to ensure councils are getting back to basics to reduce the cost of living, deliver core services and infrastructure, and improve the efficiency of decision making, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown says.

• Refocusing the purpose provisions in the Local Government Act.
• Investigating performance benchmarks for local councils.
• Investigating options to limit council expenditure on nice-to-haves.
• Reviewing transparency and accountability rules.

There are so many things wrong with this. 

First, we have created a society where we have been convinced that providing essential services - roads, schools, hospitals, and so on - is not a right but a privilege. Therefore, the focus needs to be provided to deliver these things because any focus on what is not those services are ‘nice to haves’, according to the government. We are made to believe that we should feel lucky - or privileged - that our core services are being provided for us rather than expect that they are because that’s the purpose of government.

Then, a false dichotomy is created, usually to ‘other’ someone or something - be it a type of job, a race, a class, etc.—to convince the electorate that anything they care about is no longer going to be supported is a ‘nice to have’ and, therefore, a luxury rather than a core service provision. 

As a result, arts and culture are the first to go.

Yet, this is incredibly shortsighted and, frankly, stupid. Making people happy, healthy, and feel supported should be a core service requirement, I’d argue. But even so, if we were all to think the arts were frivolous and not worthy of taxpayer support in one way or another, we would ignore how reliant we are on their output. 

We all rely on arts, culture, and design to ensure that these so-called core services that we shouldn’t take for granted are provided. We need signs to know where places are, things need to have brands and logos and so on. 

Second, there is this belief that providing services to support our hearts and minds is frivolous. For example, it is scientifically proven - and peer-reviewed - that investment in music and the arts can reduce the need for repeat prescriptions and the health service's costs. Providing health service infrastructure is required, but reducing the ability for the arts to interact with it can be.

Take any successful stadium concert or significant event. We celebrate them as essential when they show us at our best because showcasing what ‘New Zealand’ (or any other country or city) is requires creativity. But again, why should we invest in the development of this creativity when there are potholes that need to be filled?

This happens repeatedly, making us poorer and stupider and setting us all back. 

Sadly, it seems to be happening in real-time in a country that is, in many ways, experiencing a musical renaissance - from Aldous Harding to Marlon Williams and, of course, The Beths. And from my conversations here, we’re left with the result of this short-sightedness. New Zealand is experiencing significant emigration - creatives are going, and the population is aging.

I wish that this reactionary, ridiculous policy would be reversed. Speaking to audiences in Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington, I believe most New Zealanders also believe this. 

But the headwinds do not look good. Small countries must utilise and bet more on their culture and those who make it because it is one of the things unique to them. These policies will reduce opportunities, increase emigration, and make New Zealand poorer - fiscally and culturally. Let’s hope someone in government listens (including my interview on Radio NZ).

More of Dr Shapiro's thoughts and blogs can be found at his Substack, Making Places Better.