Archive for the ‘Guest blogger - Judith Tizard’ Category

By Hon Judith Tizard, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture, and Heritage

In the last week I’ve been a part of two amazingly good cultural performances. Both events drew crowds of ordinary New Zealanders to watch groups of extraordinary New Zealanders push themselves to deliver truly extraordinary performances.

The first event involved a small crowd gathering in Auckland’s Maidment Theatre, dressed in layers of ubiquitous designer merino and more than a few stunning frocks. Anything flash really.

The occasion was an extraordinary performance by Touch Compass, to mark their being part of our cultural landscape for ten years now. Like many of our cultural institutions – one or two aging rockers aside – Touch Compass is clearly getting better with age. The fascinating thing about Touch Compass is that they are a dance troupe whose stars, nine in the latest performance, are performing despite a range of mental and physical disabilities. But you’re quickly spirited beyond this. They’re that good.

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by Hon Judith Tizard, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage

For the last seven years, May has been the month to celebrate, promote and enjoy New Zealand music.

Over that time, we have seen a real increase in the commercial success of New Zealand music. In May 2000 kiwi music made up 5.45% of sales; in May 2005 this figure had jumped to 28.71%.

It’s not just in May that we show our pride and support for New Zealand music: annual figures for local radio content have also continued to rise from 15% in 2002 to 19.29% in 2006. More good news, too, with the radio industry pledging to maintain the targeted level of kiwi music at 20% for the next five years. This will ensure that New Zealand audiences continue to hear a good amount of locally produced music, and that our musicians and bands continue to get valuable airplay throughout the year.

But it’s not just the success of New Zealand music that I want to talk about; it’s not only commercial music we are celebrating. It’s the shifting face of New Zealand music - a shift that reflects the changing and increasingly diverse face of New Zealand society.

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by Hon Judith Tizard, Associate Commerce Minister

Creativity is encouraged when the ownership rights of those who create that music, art and other endeavours are respected.

April 26 is World Intellectual Property Day, a day when member countries of the World Intellectual Property Organisation celebrate creativity. It is an excellent opportunity to honour those who create artistic works.

These people work hard to create, and their success depends very much on the level of respect we as consumers have for their intellectual property rights. New Zealand has good intellectual property rules, and this makes it a good place for creators and people who use creative works in their businesses.

If you have difficulty viewing this video clip in your browser, go directly to YouTube to watch it.

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by Hon Judith Tizard, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage

Collecting art has become a million dollar enterprise in New Zealand, but are too many of our visual artists getting only crumbs from the table?

Since it was released on Monday, a discussion paper on a possible resale royalty right scheme for artworks resold on the secondary market has already set off a lively debate.

As expected we are hearing strong views both for and against the introduction of this right.

At this stage, the government does not have a firm position one way or the other and is hoping the current publicity will help bring forward the full range of views by the 22 June deadline.  

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