Sam Snedden has an extensive background in the Aotearoa creative community. An actor, director and producer, Snedden spent six years helping run the Basement Theatre, helps funding organisations review their grant applications and is a former board member of The Big Idea.

Snedden is one of countless artists to have worked for organisations funded or supported by Sir James Wallace. As Wallace’s name suppression lifts and his sentencing for indecent assault becomes public, The Big Idea asks Snedden for his reaction. 

The missing stair is a metaphor a friend of mine introduced me to recently about a person in a social group that everyone knows is problematic. 

Imagine you have a stair that’s an issue in your house. You’re worried about what will happen when you try to replace that stair so you end up getting used to just stepping over it. 

Instead of confronting the problem or doing something about the stair, you just step over it - go around it because it’s easier and you worry about what structural damage it will do if you take that stair out.

I don’t know for a fact that any arts organisation knew what was going on, but I do know that everyone knew that feeling about James Wallace - he produced that feeling in people.

When you talk to somebody who has been to his house for a dinner or been alone with him - there’s a shrug of the shoulder, a downward glance, a feeling that you know something happened to make that person uncomfortable.

I remember a friend of mine went to Wallace’s place once as part of a show that was receiving support. He just ended up getting smashed because he felt so weirded out. He didn’t say that anything happened explicitly, it was just the implication, the comments he made and the atmosphere made it clear what he was after.

Looking back at it, I really have regrets. Even it was mostly scuttlebutt, those downwards glances, people failing to meet your eye, the offhand comments. I should have known, that should have been enough.

We should have known he shouldn’t be doing this.  It was about having access to people he potentially wouldn’t otherwise have access to. 

I feel really conflicted about it, I feel guilty about it.

I definitely justified things to myself by saying “Rumour isn’t fact. Until someone makes an actual  complaint, I can’t do anything about it.”

But actually, on reflection, that excuse I made wasn’t about giving him the benefit of the doubt, it was about me continuing to receive the benefits of that doubt. 

What’s happened in the past 3 or 4 years with Time’s Up, Me Too, Black Lives Matter -  all these social conscience movements that are based around the idea that everyone knows what’s happening and it’s time for people in positions of power to call out behaviour.

 It shouldn't be incumbent upon the person who has been victimised to always be the one to come forward.

I’m loath to blame any artist who took Wallace’s money.

Anyone who put themselves in a compromising situation most likely felt they didn’t have any other option because they were so desperate to have their voice heard, to get their project made. 

When you’re young and at the beginning of your career, I don’t think you’re in a position to pick and choose who supports you. You’re often going to take whatever you can get.

I’m sure it happens in all industries, but particularly prevalent in the arts is that mania to get something made. It leads people to make decisions that are not right, that compromise people’s  physical or emotional safety.

There's the famous saying that pain is temporary, film is forever - this idea that ‘if I can just get this thing up, it will last.’ 

If you are an artist and intimidated by the bureaucracy that surrounds arts funding, by the hoops you have to jump through and the fact you don’t have a track record - you’re incredibly vulnerable to someone saying “hey, I’ll give you some money for that project”.

Arts organisations are a different kettle of fish.

What they will say and do from this point on will be interesting - and important.

This is a man whose name is on half of the buildings in Auckland. Every arts organisation has his name on their website. He’s a gold standard patron of so many arts institutions. I wonder whether it will lead to the type of reckoning that we probably need it to.

What I hope is that there is a clear-eyed inventory, an exploration of whether or not people did turn a blind eye to these actions. 

What I hope doesn’t happen is everyone just removes his name from their website and calls it a day.

You can’t tear down Q Theatre or the ASB Waterfront, you can’t take Hunt for the Wilderpeople offline. Nor should we.

But what we can do is look hard at ourselves and ask ourselves the question - what could I have done? What did I miss? What can I look for next time?

I don’t have the answer - but we have to try. 

If you or someone you know would like more information or need support, below are a list of helpful and official resources:

Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand

1737, need to talk? Free call or text 1737 any time. 

Changing Minds | For better mental health in New Zealand

Lifeline - 0800 543 354 or text 4357