A collective of Aotearoa New Zealand artists and arts
workers has responded to Creative New Zealand’s (CNZ)
public statement of 1 October, revealing that the
agency’s timeline defence is directly contradicted by its
own Official Information
Act (OIA) records.
CNZ’s
public statement claimed that the
collective had taken quoted material “out of
context.” In response, the
collective emphasised that it had
published all underlying OIA documents alongside
its 29 September open letter so that the public and
media could judge the context directly.
“We
published the Official
Information Act documents obtained to date, alongside
our letter precisely so that nothing rests on our
characterisation. Everyone can read the record and judge the
context for themselves.”
At the centre of
CNZ’s defence is its claim that
staff retained “their full rights of
freedom of expression in their personal
capacity,” including the right to join protest
action. However, official records show that the advice
CNZ relies on for that claim is dated 21 May 2026—thirteen
days after the 8 May strike took place, four days
after the Arts Council Chair’s
Radio New Zealand interview with Perlina Lau, and
eight days after a journalist
first questioned the organisation’s
position.
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During the strike itself, the directive
in place instructed representatives not
to “draw comparisons, comment on conflicts, or
endorse boycotts.”
CNZ’s 5 May advisory,
sent to patrons, Christchurch Art Gallery staff and the
artist’s dealer gallery, explicitly told
everyone associated with New Zealand not to visit the
Russian pavilion “even in their private
capacity” and to avoid it “including on
personal social media.” That same
advisory confirmed it was “prepared in
discussion with our Minister.”
“We are not asking
CNZ for an opinion. We are asking CNZ, the Arts
Council, and Minister Paul Goldsmith, to answer the
questions outlined in our letter, which the arts community
and public deserve answered,” said a spokesperson
for the collective writes. “CNZ’s own
advice says it was prepared in discussion with the Minister.
We want to know what that discussion was, and what it
affected.”
Questions Put to the Sector
Leadership
So far only Creative New Zealand
has issued a statement. Neither the Arts
Council nor the Minister have responded.
To
Creative New Zealand:
- Its position on the 8 May
strike, and on the exclusion of the Israeli Pavilion in
opposition to the genocide in Gaza. - Whether artists
and arts workers representing Aotearoa were discouraged
from, or instructed not to, take part in political action,
speech or protest, and whether the 5 May advice is
consistent with the Chair’s public statement that freedom of
expression is upheld “the same
everywhere.” - Why parts of that advice reached into
people’s private conduct and personal social media, and on
whose authority.
To the Arts Council of New
Zealand Toi Aotearoa:
- Whether it was aware
of the 5 May advice, and whether it is satisfied it did
enough, consistent with its statutory function to uphold and
promote the right of persons to freedom in the practice of
the arts, to ensure CNZ did not act to restrain the freedom
of artists and arts workers.
To Manatū Taonga
Ministry for Culture and Heritage and the Minister, Paul
Goldsmith:
- What role, if any, the Minister or the
Minister’s office had in advice CNZ describes
as “prepared in discussion with our Minister,” and
how that is reconciled with the arm’s-length independence
between Ministers and Crown entities provided by
law.
Call for Public
Signatures
“This is about whether the
people who represent Aotearoa on the world stage can trust
their own national arts body to defend their freedom rather
than quietly manage it, and to be honest about where its
instructions come from,” said a
spokesperson. “The thing people were kept quiet
about was a strike against the genocide in Gaza.”
As
part of its campaign for institutional transparency,
the collective has published its open letter online,
inviting members of the public and the arts community to
sign in support:
https://openletter.earth/open-letter-to-creative-new-zealand-the-arts-council-of-new-zealand-toi-aotearoa-and-the-minister-for-arts-culture-and-heritage-paul-goldsmith-6f47ca81
