3.1 Financing of cultural activities

In its annual Budget the New Zealand government appropriates sums, known as Votes, to each government department.  These Votes are divided into output classes including which are linked to government outcomes.    In determining the total of Vote Arts, Culture and Heritage, for example, the government allocates portions to Creative New Zealand, the New Zealand Film Commission, and the other agencies for which the Ministry for Culture and Heritage is responsible. In the 2011/12 financial year, the total Vote for Arts, Culture and Heritage was $288.299 million (includes broadcasting) and $79.199 million for Vote Sport and Recreation.  Several other Votes also allocate money to cultural activities, including Vote Education, Defence and Conservation. 

The New Zealand Lottery Grants Board (LGB) also provides a proportion cultural funding (currently approximately 5%).  This is done under its  statutory role to distribute the profits of government-run national lotteries for charitable purposes. At the request of the government the Lottery Grants Board allocates fixed percentages of its income to Creative New Zealand, the New Zealand Film Commission, the New Zealand Film Archive and Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC).  

The following tables shows the total expenditure on the sector by central government  for the 10 years 1999/00 to 2008/09. (Source: Ministry for Culture and Heritage)  It includes both capital and operational funding.  Figures for Lottery Grants from 2004/05 onwards are estimates only. It should be noted that figures include expenditure on early childhood education, which is included in the New Zealand Framework for Cultural Statistics.  Expenditure on early childhood education typically dwarfs other cultural spending.  For example, in the 2008/09 year, $1044.064m of the total $1608.545m was spent on early childhood education, with the remaining $564m being spent on areas more traditionally associated with cultural activity (for example, visual and performing arts, heritage, and screen).  Government spending on the sector increased by 125% percent between 1999/00 and 2007/08.  Early childhood education is a major contributor to this growth.  In the years since 2004/05, early childhood education funding has grown by approximately 130 per cent, compared to around 40 per cent growth in other cultural spending in the same period.

Cultural Proportion of Value-added

Value-added is the amount added to goods and services by the contributions of capital and labour in the national economy (i.e. the costs of bought-in materials and services has been deducted from the total value of output).  2. The table below shows value added in the cultural industries, including the proportion of total industry value-added contributed by the cultural industries. 

The table shows that the value-added contributed by the cultural industries to the New Zealand economy has grown by 3.8 per cent over four years, although this obscures the fact that the most value was added in 2006, with its level declining in 2007 and 2008.  This contrasts with the steady increases in overall value-added in the economy for all industries in the same period.  This increased by 6.6 per cent over the four year period.  The only year in which the growth in cultural industry value-added was greater than for all industries was 2006, which is reflected by the growing proportion which the cultural industries contributed to overall value-added (3.14 per cent, compared to 3.02 per cent in 2005).  However, with the growth in all industries value-added and the decline in cultural industry value-added in 2007 and 2008, the proportion contributed by the cultural industries has also declined, to 2.94 per cent. 

Table 1: Value-added in Cultural Industries and all industries compared

Constant Prices (Base Year 2005) - 2005-2008

Total figures for local government spending on arts and culture are difficult to calculate exactly as local authorities do not report their expenditure in a standardised way.  In 2003/04 spending was estimated at $269 million.  Spending on cultural purposes by local authorities varies significantly, depending on the extent to which a local authority has a developed cultural programme and infrastructure.  However, most local authorities provide library services and, in the larger centres, own or support museums and galleries.  (There are over 400 museums and galleries in New Zealand.  See New Zealand Museums.)  Local authorities also support community cultural activities.  Statistics New Zealand collect some data for local government through the Local Authority Census.  At this time, however, it is not possible to sufficiently disaggregate the data to isolate cultural spending by local authorities, as it tends to be counted along with spending on recreation and sport. 

The Creative Communities Scheme is funded by Creative New Zealand and provides each of New Zealand’s 74 local authorities with a base grant of $5,000 and per capita funding at $0.60 per head to support arts and cultural activities at the community level.  In 2009/10 funding totalled $2,614,000 million.  The objective of the scheme is to increase participation in arts and cultural activities at the community level, increase the range and diversity of arts available to communities, and strengthen the local arts sector.

3.2 Legislation

There is no single piece of legislation relating to cultural policy.  The Ministry of Cultural Affairs (now the Ministry for Culture and Heritage) was established by Cabinet minute, rather than by legislation.  The following Acts of Parliament either have a general application to the sector or regulate aspects of the sector such as:

• Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975,
• Copyright Act 1994
• Bill of Rights Act  

while others establish the cultural agencies described in section 2.2.  The name of each Act includes the year of its original passing; several have had later amendments.

The Ministry has responsibilities in relation to the following Acts of Parliament:

• ANZAC Day Act 1966
• Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Act 1994
• Broadcasting Act 1989 (Parts I-IV and Section 81)
• Flags, Emblems and Names Protection Act 1981
• Historic Places Act 1993
• Massey Burial Ground Act 1925
• Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Act 1992
• National War Memorial Act 1992
• New Zealand Film Commission Act 1978
• New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Act 2004
• Protected Objects Act 1975
• Radio New Zealand Act 1995
• Seddon Family Burial Ground Act 1924
• Sovereign's Birthday Observance Act 1952
• Sport and Recreation Act  2002
• Television New Zealand Act 2003
• Waitangi Day Act 1976

These Acts can be viewed on the New Zealand Legislation website.