Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 44 No. 13. June 15 1981
Tour Cancellation
Tour Cancellation
Some controversy was caused this month when a nationwide tour by five New Zealand women poets/musicians was cancelled through a last minute lack of funds. Originally, the Gallery hoped that the Matariki tour would be mainly funded by the New Zealand Students' Arts Council (because of the tour's performance aspect) and the Literary Fund (for its literary aspect) as this had happened with similar tours in the past. By early May the tour was 75 percent set up throughout New Zealand, and incorporated visits to maraes, and schools with a high Maori representation. The Gallery wanted to present a programme of Maori and English oral literature and, with the help of the Students' Arts Council, it seemed that it was possible to plan an extensive and worthwhile tour efficiently.
However, the tour could not go ahead without funding, and when the Literary Fund refused to support the Gallery, the Arts Council (whose grant had depended on the decision of the Literary Fund) also withdrew its support.
The Women's Gallery disputed the reasoning behind the Literary Fund's decision, especially the criticisms about the literary value of the tour, the standard of the performers and the scale of the tour, but without success. In the Gallery's history this is the first tour to be cancelled because of a lack of confidence among the funding bodies, although NZSAC are still interested in working with the Gallery on a similar tour.