Columns

Dunedin delivers in the cultural sphere. It always has. Think Robbie Burns. Think New Zealand’s first University. James K Baxter. iD Fashion. The Dunedin Sound. Six60.

I think of the Dunedin books I stumbled across at University, like Dennis McEldowney’s Full of the Warm South or Archibald Baxter’s We Will Not Cease. Or I think of Archibald’s son James K “dipping his wick on Castle Street” in his Small Ode on Mixed Flatting, or the Bracken Memorial, or the Burns statue.

But Dunedin doesn’t attract its fair share of arts funding. It never has. Wellington receives considerably more per citizen than Dunedin does. Yet in a majority of areas, Dunedin has the history of larger contribution.

Otago Museum and Te Papa house New Zealand’s two most important collections. One receives considerably more generous funding than the other. I’ll leave you to guess which.

I’ll save further griping for a Wellington audience. I merely wish to observe that this unfair balance of support sits alongside the South’s ongoing and disproportionate cultural contribution.

What we should celebrate is the continued proliferation of all things cultural. Dunedin pumps out talent. And that talent pumps out challenging and valuable contributions that both reflect and shape New Zealand’s cultural identity.

We’re a city of learning. Our public library was New Zealand’s first free public library. It receives more than a million visits per year. But we’re a city of learning with an edge – and we must celebrate that.

I am excited about Dunedin’s recently launched bid to become a UNESCO City of Literature. It would bring more attention to the history and depth of literary talent in our city – our poets, publishing houses, our journals, Janet Frame, our Burns Fellows.

I want to live in a New Zealand I can be proud of. For the significant contribution they make to making our identity real, Dunedin’s musicians, filmmakers, writers, readers, and all other kinds of artists deserve our thanks.

Please support the Writers and Readers Festival through the second week of May. I promise you there will be plenty to write home about.