"If money go before, all ways do lie open."

Pōneke improv round up Monday 17 October

Oct 17, 2022

Phew, my twitter is blowing up with talk about CNZ funding decisions and a call for inquiry from an extremely dog-whistle-y, entitled-boomer-vibe open letter. My contributions to the discourse:

Spooky Jennifer Alice @jenthinksharder

When we talk about arts funding I would rather talk about things like CNZ being dependant on lotto money, and pub charities grants disproportionately going to Sports, and the general unease I feel about gambling funding arts, and the way artists must fight over scraps

Spooky Jennifer Alice @jenthinksharder

... instead of acknowledging that we are fighting for increasingly smaller slices of an increasingly smaller pie and maybe we need a bigger goddam pie

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have received CNZ funding for projects, specifically NZ Improv Fest and touring comedy shows. I’ve also received Creative Communities, (CNZ money distributed by local councils) and each time it is a relief to know you can pay your bills, and pay your people, and focus on the work instead of the bottom line. It does suck to miss out - but when you do, hopefully it’s another stoke of the fire within you to say ‘hey, why are we fighting over such paltry amounts to make work that is so valuable to the wellbeing and creativity of our community?’ and to vote/campaign accordingly. In related news, I’m pretty flipping thrilled to see Tory Whanau become Wellington Mayor, both for the arts but also for housing density and climate action.

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I’m teaching tonight! I’m very excited! Both my classes this week are reasonably small but I think that will just mean we become a super tight bunch.

Help me profile all the improv companies and ensembles in Pōneke!
Send me your group’s info and you’ll feature in a future post.

coming up this week…

Austin and Dylan, two young white men, sit on a deck with beers and camping equipment. THere is a copy of The Improv Handbook on the deck with them.

shows

Pudgy Mediocre White Men Solve Your Problems (Austin Harrison and Dylan Hutton). 18-22 October, 8pm at The Dome, BATS Theatre, tix from $15. They won Late Night Knife Fight and honestly, if you know improv, you will enjoy this “improvised self-satire” from two charming and self-aware improv dudes.

workshops

Last spruik: My two classes Improv Theatre 101 and Improv Theatre 203 start this week and there’s still space. Join us!

Regular spots: WIT Tuesdays, Java Dance improv jam. Check out earlier issues for more details.

let’s talk…

I already started my rant earlier but: if you could fund anything specific in the improv world, what would it be? Shows? Classes? Outreach? A venue?

Let's Talk Improv