Not a Holiday Home

There have also been changes in the administration since the Summer City programme. The dispute between the employees and authorities during Summer City effectively disrupted the status quo. The new Director, Darcy Nicholas [replacing Graeme Nesbitt who was sacked during Summer City because of conflicting opinions with the Wellington Community Arts Council (WCAC) and the WCC] says "After Summer City things were beginning to crumble." In his first few months as Director, Nicholas has been attempting to structure the crumbling edifice. He says this has involved The Centre changing direction so as to fit within the framework of the Labour Department. This has meant adhering more rigidly to the original concept of the PEP scheme (ie temporary employment for six months only). Nicholas says "In the past The Centre was treated too much like a holiday home where people could stay on the scheme indefinitely."

If artists stay at The Centre for longer than six months they are in effect preventing other artists from coming onto the scheme. This causes a build up of unemployed artists at the Labour Department. Nicholas means it when he says that artists cannot stay on the scheme longer than six months. The 'holiday home' attitude towards The Centre seems to be over. The Centre therefore has a constant turnover in staff. Fourteen artists completing their six month term, have left The Centre recently. All will be replaced.

Many of the changes in direction at The Centre can be attributed to the new Director and new Artistic Director. Both have been at The Centre for only a few months, and were initially attracted to it because of the wide possibilities and potential for innovation. Both are artists.

Darcy Nicholas, the Director, has had a long association with the Arts. For 8 years he was a full-time painter. In contrast he was also a policeman for 10 years. He is very active in the NZ arts scene. He is the Vice President of NZ Maori Artists and Writers as well as the National Projects Officer. In recent months he has been involved in running 'The Art of the Maori in the 1980's Festival' at the Pipitea Marae. Currently he is working on building up a collection for a series of overseas exhibitions.