New Zealand Government announces $120 million to support arts and culture recover from Omicron

The New Zealand Government has announced that an extra $120 million from its Covid Response and Recovery Fund will be used to support the arts and culture sectors.

With Covid-variant Omicron having crippled the nation’s events and entertainment calendar, New Zealand Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni last week announced an additional $70.7 million in funding for the Arts and Culture Event Support Scheme, originally set at $22.5 million.

The scheme will be extended by 10 months until 31st January 2023, to include events planned before the whole country moved to the red traffic light setting.

In addition, the Screen Production Recovery Fund has been boosted by $15 million - $7.9 million to the New Zealand Film Commission and $7.1 million to New Zealand on Air - to enable an extension of the fund through to 31st December 2022 while the Cultural Sector Emergency Relief Fund has been given an extra $35.5 million.

Entertainment Technology NZ President Vicki Cooksley said this funding plugged some of the gaps that had become apparent after the scheme was first announced, such as the need to support contractors and self-employed traders.

Minister Sepuloni announced a one-off grant of $5000 would be available to eligible self-employed individuals and traders who had lost income or work opportunities.

Within the sector, just over 32,500 people are self-employed - a third of the total sector and double the national self-employment rate.

Cooksley told the Stuff news website “we don’t want to come out the other side and have lost our skilled workers.”

Cooksley also welcomed the extension to the support scheme, highlighting how organisers need to be confident in order to plan events, noting “events don’t just start the day we move to a lower alert level.”

However, concerns exist that the funding does not reach entertainment and event venues.