PAGE 20 CRACCUM AUGUST 8 ; i ¥ l B □ i M M CAuckland University StudentI Newspaper/Volume t 5lA Number 20 September 5 1977/Registered at the P.O.H.Q. Wellington as a magazine. PI - $10,000 Deal / P3 - Letters / P4 - Letters, - Malcolm Walker / P 5 - N e w s - Barney Mokgatle / P6 - NZUSA Council - S its. V ac. - N e w s - B o o k s / P 7 - S p li t E n z / P8 - Tum blin' Down / P9 - Japanese Wonder the kind of people who might bring IP10- Headlines of D isco n ten t / P I 1 - such things about either did not see Mortgaging your Future / the Festival as a suitable outlet, or PI2 - B a s tio n P o in t B a c k ­ simply did not attend. In addition, ground / P I5 - Footlights it was noticeable that virtually every event in an under-attended festival was full to capacity. Those attend­ ing were obviously getting their LITTLE over a year money’s worth by going to every­ ago, the Student Arts thing possible. This is partly a sign Council decided that it of a change of attitude which Ahad had enough of touring emphasises their role as consumers medium-size, second-division rather than participants in the rock and roll bands for little Festival, and partly a result of the or no profit as it had been failure of spontaneous alterna­ doing over the preceding tives to the programmed events. year or two. It was felt that It should not be overlooked this kind of activity, however that the 1977 Festival was con­ good at it we were becoming, siderably better-attended than was not the real purpose of a any previous Student Arts student organisation, and that Festival and ran very smoothly the Council should concen­ to budget on the expenditure trate on campus-based activi­ side. Any organisational failings ties which would involve were not in the execution but students both as audiences and in the conception. It was con­ performers. ceded at the time that the As a consequence, possible whole idea of the Festival was tours by Split Enz and Jackson a gamble on the ability to Browne during last summer motivate students to go the were passed up, and the former Wellington in their August Director, Bruce Kirland resigned vacation. Now that the to go to Australia. Instead, it gamble has proven less than a was decided that the major act­ success financially, it remains ivity for the new-look Arts to be seen what will happen Council would be a national arts to the stake money. festival akin to those produced A number of the con­ by the old University Arts Coun­ stituents of NZSAC have cil in the late sixties and early given notice that they may seventies. Planning for the festi­ leave the organisation at the val was begun twelve months in end of this year. It is still advance, and the go-ahead was unclear to what extent the given in November of last year. decision to quit will be based on the issue of finan­ The final product of all that cial losses from the Festival work was laid before the student If the constituents who are consumer two weeks ago in wavering, do decide to Wellington, with the presentation take their money and run, of the National Festival of the Arts it would not only be a • more commonly referred to as the death-blow to Students’ ,$10 Deal. Arts Council, but also a As those of you who attended short-sighted evaluation the Festival, or even those who of the worth and poten­ simply read through the programme tial of the 1977 Festival. published in the last CRACCUM of There have been all last term will know, the Festival manner of post factum featured hundreds of different rationalisations about activities in virtually every area the Festival - that it imaginable. Student actors, musicians, could have cost $15 for dancers, film-makers, artists, video registration/without technologists, debaters, mooters, seriously deferring pur­ clowns, watchers and listeners were chasers; that a big- given the chance to present their work name attraction should or watch others do the same, or have been obtained to different. sell the event; that it All who attended the event agree might have been that it was organised with a precision better held in Auck­ that should have been impossible for land. All these the largely voluntary staff involved, and are worth consid­ that, judged by the enjoyment of the ering, but may participants, it was a success. The point simply remain that is likely to stick in the collective speculation if the gullets of the politicians on the var­ Festival is not ious constituents’ campuses is the d e a l repeated. Only size of the deficit incurred. new tradition of the When the Festival was being set up, Students Arts Festival has grown up can a large-scale it was decided that it would be nec­ event expect to make money. In the meantime, perhaps essary to have a cash underwriting of to more or less break even every year, the willing­ our aims should be different. some $10 ,0 0 0 from the constituents ness of a student audience to attend a major event like a of Arts Council to cover the possibility of a loss being festival had become more and more an unknown factor. incurred. This underwriting was divided up amongst the If the setting up of the Festival had not come in the To put it bluntly, in the four years since the last Arts members according to their size. Thus, Auckland, with middle of a long argument within NZUSA and NZSAC Festival in Christchurch, students have forgotten what a 10,000 students out of a total of around 45,000 members, about finance, it might have been possible to present the festival can be like. A whole generation of students has undertook to pay about 2 2 % of any loss up to $1 0 ,000. Festival as a legitimate cost rather than try to make it passed since that festival and the corresponding drop in break even in its first year of resuscitation. As it is, we word-of-mouth publicity obviously cost the 1977 Festival can only hope that organisations which blithely spend In the event, it seems that a great deal of that money dear. • • • thousands of dollars a year on providing under-utilised will have to be called up. Organisers of the Festival were eating facilities for their members will realise that an still very much in the dark, even on the last day, over now It was conceded at the time that the whole investment of hundreds (as it would be in most cases) the final reckoning would work out, but all were agreed idea of the Festival was a gamble on the ability to gives them the chance to create a meeting-place for that it would entail a considerable portion of the under­ motivate students to go to Wellington in their thousands of students in future years. writing being used. The chief reason for the shortfall was August vacation. Now that the gamble has proven the surprisingly small number of $ 1 0 registrations that less than a success financially, it remains to be The organisational, social, educational and artistic were sold. Where the budget had called for 3,000 in fact seen what will happen to the stake money. successes of this year’s Festival should themselves be 1,800 were purchased. This is the heart of the matter. • • • an adequate return for the investment. When possible future gains are taken into account, there seems little The Festival was designed to bring Students’ Arts This lack of a pattern also showed itself in the conduct doubt to me that we should deal ourselves another hand. Council back to the students who provided it with its of the Festival. Virtually all the activities undertaken were working funds and all those involved realised that this on the programme drawn up weeks or even months before­ FRANCIS STARK entailed considerable risks. While, over the last two or hand. Few spontaneous or unofficial events sprung up on three years, the rock and roll tour format had managed the fringe of the main programme, presumably because • Edited by CO mercury theatre Riemke Ensing, J trance street Afterword by Vincent O’Sullivan RETURN BY POPULAR DEMAND Roger Hall's hilarious comedy • Over 30 N Z. 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