Funding for the arts sector has been a hot topic for a while now, and another sector that's been struggling to maintain funding is tertiary education.
Dr Dugal McKinnon, Deputy Director of Victoria University of Wellington’s Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music Photo: Supplied
Combining the two, a lot of people are worried our tertiary music schools are under threat.
In the past decade, music schools at the universities of Auckland, Waikato and Otago have gone through significant restructuring, and there are fears Massey and Victoria University may be next.
Dr Dugal McKinnon is the Deputy Director of the New Zealand School of Music, and he's authored a piece for The Conversation on this very topic titled 'NZ music schools under threat: we need a better measure of their worth than money'.
Dr Dugal McKinnon discusses the risks presented by current funding models
In The Conversation article he says: "The social and economic benefits of music are well established, and were substantiated in the key findings of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s 2022 Valuing the Arts report.
"The rewards are both social and individual. Educators, psychologists and employers are well aware of music’s cognitive, intellectual and behavioural benefits – including how group music making develops teamwork, empathy and grit, all components of resilience....
"Cuts to the New Zealand School of Music, and other similar programmes across the country, will have broad repercussions, diminishing the depth and breadth of music education. The creative industries will be starved of young talent (echoing labour shortages in other sectors).
"Theatre faces the same destructive spiral. In a larger society, some damage might be absorbed. In a country of five million it becomes palpable."
Auckland School of Music Photo: Patrick Reynolds