Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Helen Clark today launched two reports which point to the development of a strong and vibrant cultural sector in New Zealand.

Helen Clark (right - looking striking in green) said the two reports showed substantial development across the cultural sector, including growth in employment and in investment by central and local government.Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Helen Clark today launched two reports which point to the development of a strong and vibrant cultural sector in New Zealand.

Helen Clark (right - looking striking in green) said the two reports showed substantial development across the cultural sector, including growth in employment and in investment by central and local government."The updated report, Government Spending on Culture 2000 - 2004, shows that central government spending on culture, when adjusted for inflation, has increased 73 per cent in the last fourteen years with spending of $388 million in the year 1990/91 rising to $675 million in 2003/04. In Labour's first four years spending rose 17 per cent, in real terms.

"Our Labour-led government invests in arts, culture and heritage because we believe it is important to both the economy and to the people of New Zealand. Culture delivers opportunities which not only generate wealth but also enrich our society.

"The second report, Employment in the Cultural Sector, based on census figures, shows the number of people in paid cultural employment rose by seventeen per cent from 1996 to 2001, almost three times the growth in total employment over the same period.

"Individuals making their living in the cultural sector, such as visual artists, performers, curators, film-makers, writers, publishers and gallery owners, know they are taken seriously as a vital component of our economy and our society.

"These are the latest reports in the Cultural Statistics Programme, and offer excellent trend data, and a substantial basis for comparing development across and within the sector.

"The data will be invaluable for central and local government, cultural agencies and organisations, corporate sponsors, educators, academics and researchers, which all interact with the sector." Helen Clark said.

The Cultural Statistics Programme is jointly run by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and Statistics New Zealand. The full reports can be found on www.stats.govt.nz and www.mch.govt.nz

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Rt. Hon Helen Clark: Address at Launch of Cultural Statistics Publications

Two new reports were published today under the Cultural Statistics Programme
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The Official Address

Tonight's event highlights two new reports published under the Cultural Statistics Programme run by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and Statistics New Zealand:
* Government Spending on Culture: 2000-2004; and
* Employment in the Cultural Sector.

The programme has been running since 1993. It aims to improve the quality and range of statistics available about the cultural sector, and to enable us to understand more about the sector's contribution to society and the economy.

The information gathered in these reports is useful for central government, local authorities, and cultural organisations; and for those in the corporate sector who are involved with arts and culture through sponsorship. It improves our collective ability to develop policy about, and plan for the sector.

The figures released in the Government Spending on Culture report provide an analysis of government funding of the sector, covering funding from both central and local government and the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board.

From the 1990/91 financial year to that 2003/4 central government spending on culture, adjusted for inflation, rose from $388 million to $675 million -- an increase of 73 per cent. The per capita measurements show that inflation-adjusted central government spending increased from $112 per person in 1990/91 to $165 per person in 2003/04 - an increase of 47 per cent. In this government's first four years, inflation adjusted spending on culture rose seventeen per cent.

The New Zealand Lottery Grants Board continues to provide significant support to the cultural sector, although it has declined over recent years. In 1999/2000, the Lottery Grants Board allocated $58 million to cultural projects, compared with $36 million in 2003/04.

Local government too is a significant funder of cultural activities. The new series of data shows that local authorities in New Zealand spent a total of $1.38 billion on culture over the five years from 1999/2000 to 2003/04, averaging $277 million per year. Given that common reporting methods have not yet been developed, these figures are provisional and
possibly an under-estimate.

Investment in the cultural sector is important to our government, for several reasons. The arts, our culture, and our heritage do help define and strengthen us as a nation, and as communities within a nation.

As well we wish to support talented and creative individuals, and to enable access to arts and cultural activities for all New Zealanders.

The cultural sector also contributes a great deal to New Zealand's economic growth and development. The report estimates that between 1997 and 2001, cultural activities were contributing around $3 billion a year on average to the New Zealand economy. That can only have increased since.

The second report, Employment in the Cultural Sector, tells us that in the 2001 census, 103,347 people were in paid cultural employment, either because they were in a cultural occupation, or because they were employed in a cultural industry. That was an increase of seventeen per cent on the
1996 census figures. This includes 54,123 people in paid employment in cultural occupations, and those numbers were up nineteen per cent on 1991.

Between 1996 and 2001:
* The number of actors in paid employment grew by 72 per cent, from 402 to 690.
* The number of artistic directors rose 31 per cent, from 753 to 984.
* The number of composers, arrangers, and/or conductors rose 82 per cent, from 99 to 180.
* The number of sculptors, painters, and related artists rose 50 per cent, from 1779 to 2667.

This report suggests that as the cultural sector grows, more talented New Zealanders are finding opportunities to find worthwhile employment in their creative field. It will be interesting to see how these trends have developed since 2001, when data from next year's census becomes available.

These publications are giving us a comprehensive overview of trends, changes, advances, and the nature of the remarkable growth in New Zealand's cultural sector.

With the publication of the latest statistical reports in the series, we are developing trend data, and a substantial basis for comparing development across and within the sector.

My congratulations go to all those from Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage who have had a hand in preparing the reports and the comprehensive data they present.

It is my great pleasure now to launch officially the publications, Government Spending on Culture 2000-2004, and Employment in the Cultural Sector.

Thank you.