The chief executive of the Christchurch Arts Centre is warning the Covid-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on its ability to delivery its programmes.

The centre, which is run by a charitable trust, has now launched a fundraising campaign to help it reopen (when the Alert Level drops sufficiently).

Chief Executive Philip Aldridge says the Arts Centre has experienced a major loss of revenue due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Our international visitor numbers plummeted before lockdown, and then almost every revenue source dried up, including tenants’ rent, venue hire, ticket sales for events. We’re very grateful for the temporary wage subsidy, and everyone on staff has taken a pay cut, but that alone won’t close the gap.”

“The reality is that we operate without any ongoing council or central government funding, and we’ve also had to recover from a devastating earthquake sequence, so the pandemic is quite a setback. In essence, we need to find money to keep the arts in The Arts Centre.”

 Mr Aldridge says that as the rebuild has progressed, The Arts Centre has gradually been able to focus more on its core purpose of providing for creative activity. Pre-Covid initiatives included public events spanning music, dance, and the visual arts, children’s holiday programming, Pūmanawa, the newly created community exhibition space, the reinstatement of the Sunday market, and relaunch of the creative residency programme to support creative practitioners.

“The Arts Centre forms part of the essential arts infrastructure in Christchurch,” Mr Aldridge says. “Creative practitioners have been very generous with their time and talent during the lockdown, making their work available for free to keep community spirits high. We support creatives through residencies, commissions, performance and exhibition opportunities, and advice. Right now that infrastructure is needed more than ever.”

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