For the first time in 10 years, Creative NZ declined a funding proposal for $31,000 to go towards an annual School Shakespeare festival. It was defunded for the following reasons:
the Creative NZ board raised worries the festival “did not demonstrate the relevance to the contemporary art context of Aotearoa in this time and place and landscape”.
It also said Shakespeare was “located within a canon of imperialism and missed the opportunity to create a living curriculum and show relevance”.
[…] the application forced them to “question whether a singular focus on an Elizabethan playwright is most relevant for a decolonising Aotearoa in the 2020s and beyond”.
NZ Herald
The decision has sparked controversy in New Zealand and overseas:
A top Auckland University English Professor has written a highly-critical letter to the chief executive of a government agency that cut funding
The decision by Creative NZ made headlines in major metropolitan English newspapers the Guardian and Daily Telegraph, along with the Irish Times.
NZ Herald
Dawn Sanders, CEO of Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand, said Creative NZ was trying to “cancel” Shakespeare and said the funding assessment comments couldn’t be “further from the truth.”
One News
Read more here. Discuss it on The BFD.