Our independent venues – small, grungy, and much-loved spaces tucked into the hearts of our cities – are the places where talent and audiences develop, grow, and are nurtured. They’re an essential part of our infrastructure, especially for local music, that run on the smell of oily rags and the loving labour of owners and others involved. There’s nothing new about small venues closing – many have been homes to certain eras, or rode particular waves of energy, and then come to a natural conclusion, but in recent years, it seems our cities have become increasingly hostile towards their existence and survival. They’ve struggled with the pandemic, gentrification, new inner city housing, and a live music market that is increasingly funnelling profits to huge multinational entities.
Over the past eight years, multinational entities like Live Nation/Ticketmaster, TEG/Ticketek and AEG/AXS have taken more ownership and more control in Aotearoa’s live music market. The result of this consolidation is a tilt in favour of the largest players, which erodes the viability of grassroots venues. Essentially, the big arena events take all the attention, and all the money. It hasn’t helped that the government’s $10 million Events Boost Fund, and $70 million major events fund were geared towards increasing international visitation – not supporting local infrastructure… but that’s a discussion for another day and possibly another government ministry.
Live Nation is the most established of these big players in New Zealand, and has been rapidly expanding its footprint – last year it bought Team Event (Electric Avenue, the South Island Wine & Food Festival, The Great Kiwi Beer Festival, and Nostalgia Festival) and it is quickly expanding its network of venues, which includes Auckland’s Spark Arena and The Turning Fork, Wellington’s San Fran, and Hamilton’s BNZ Theatre. But now there’s a good news, or good Samaritan, story, wherein this giant gives back to local music venues.
It was announced yesterday that The Spark Arena Community Events Fund is piloting a venue support initiative – one that sees more than $100,000 of equipment distributed to independent music and comedy venues across Auckland’s city centre. “Artists don’t start at Spark Arena; they start at places like Whammy and The Classic Comedy Club,” says Mark Kneebone, the managing director of Live Nation in the press release. “Live Nation acknowledges that the music community needs a healthy ecosystem of venues.”
So far five venues have been named as recipients, and the equipment they are to receive is very specific. Whammy is getting major acoustic and audio infrastructure upgrades across its three-stage complex, The Classic Comedy Club is getting a fixed digital broadcast and post-production system dedicated to live recording, Neck of the Woods is getting new industry-standard monitoring and lighting packages, The Mothership is getting professional-grade DJ mixers and sound reinforcements for electronic artists, and Ding Dong Lounge is getting new backline gear (amps and drum hardware).
Scott Blanks, from The Classic Comedy Club, says “The Classic has always been the training ground for New Zealand’s comedic talent, and keeping that engine running requires constant reinvestment”. He says the new tech will match the talent coming through the doors, and keep the city’s after-dark culture “vibrant and sustainable”. On the music side of things, Tom Anderson, from Whammy says that the support is “huge for us”. It means moving past “making do” and instead getting the gear that is deserved in these venues. “Whether it’s a local act learning how to be a touring musician or an international pro playing an intimate 1 a.m. set, we’re making sure the vibe is there. Everything we do is driven by love for the community, and this allows us to actually build on that.”
These upgrades mean that performers on these stages can sound decent, and that the venues can save some coin on technology, but there’s a lot they don’t mean. They don’t mean that tilt in favour of the big players is at all contested, they don’t mean structural change or on-going support for small venues, they don’t mean the venue’s rents and bills will stop increasing, nor that the venues will no longer struggle to stay afloat.
As Associate Professor Dave Carter pointed out last year, the situation our small venues find themselves in is not unique – and there are solutions. He pointed to data that showed spending on live music tickets from June 2023 to July 2024 was approximately NZ$385 million – a sizable pot of money. He proposed a sector-to-sector funding scheme where a small percentage from each ticket is put aside to reinvest in grassroots infrastructure, audience development, and talent and export pipelines. At 3.5% this would generate approximately $13.4 million. By comparison, the Spark Arena Community Events Fund’s $100,000 quickly pales.
💥News on the wire
Victor Rodger script featured in Canadian audience performance experience
A script by acclaimed Aotearoa playwright Victor Rodger features in Red Phone, a free installation by Canadian interdisciplinary theatre company Boca del Lupo at Aotea Centre this week. It’s a simple and unexpected format: two telephone booths, two audience members, and a teleprompter with a script (well, half the lines in each booth). The idea is that two people perform the lines to each other, and so a story unfolds through their phone conversation. Victor Rodger doesn't want to spoil his script by giving it away, but did say it's a “sibling piece”. His script is one of several by playwrights around the world.
The format of the piece meant that he could focus on the core of script writing. “I love dialogue and I love conflict, which is the art of drama,” he says. “I loved being asked to do this”. His script can be performed in the booths 11am–5pm daily until Sunday.
The Ockham shortlist is here
This is as much as we will know until the winners are announced at a public ceremony on 13 May during the Auckland Writers Festival. The biggest prize, at $65,000, is the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction. Each of the other main category winners will get $12,000, and the four Best First Book winners will be awarded $3,000. Here’s the shortlist:
Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction
All Her Lives by Ingrid Horrocks (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent (Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāpuhi) (Āporo Press)
How to Paint a Nude by Sam Mahon (Ugly Hill Press)
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry
Black Sugarcane by Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu) (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
No Good by Sophie van Waardenberg (Auckland University Press)
Sick Power Trip by Erik Kennedy (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts by Anna Jackson (Auckland University Press)
BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
Garrison World: Redcoat Soldiers in New Zealand and Across the British Empire by Charlotte Macdonald (Bridget Williams Books)
He Puāwai: A Natural History of New Zealand Flowers by Philip Garnock-Jones (Auckland University Press)
Mark Adams: A Survey – He Kohinga Whakaahua by Sarah Farrar (Massey University Press and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki)
Mr Ward's Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street by Elizabeth Cox (Massey University Press)
General Non-Fiction Award
A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, Penguin Random House)
Northbound: Four Seasons of Solitude on Te Araroa by Naomi Arnold (HarperCollins Aotearoa New Zealand)
The Hollows Boys: A Story of Three Brothers & the Fiordland Deer Recovery Era by Peta Carey (Potton & Burton)
This Compulsion in Us by Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
The Haka Party Incident documentary wins international prize
At the 23rd International Oceanian Documentary Film Festival (FIFO) in Tahiti last month, Katie Wolfe won the Second special jury prize for her documentary The Haka Party Incident. The film was adapted by Wolfe from the 2017 play, and uses archival footage, interviews, and re-enactments to provide an intimate, in-depth look at the 1979 event's lasting impact.
The Rebel Alliance turns 20
The independent Auckland-based theatre company is turning 20 this month – in that time they’ve presented many premieres of new New Zealand plays, like The Orderly, Grace, The Valentina, The Bomb, Watching Paint Dry and Back to Square One? Playmarket has archived founder Anders Falstie-Jensen’s canon of works here.
Roady for Roadies is back
On Friday 10 April, a walk from Onehunga to Auckland Central will honour those who load the trucks, rig the lights, and manage the sounds that define our concert experiences. Roadies and production crew are often independent contractors, and face significant hurdles when dealing with injuries, medical crises, or mental health distress. It is a ticketed fundraising event, organised by MusicHelps.
2026 Taite Music Prize finalists announced
The award recognises outstanding independent New Zealand albums released in the past year and will be presented on 29 April at the International Convention Centre, Auckland. The finalists are:
Dick Move: Dream, Believe, Achieve (1:12 Records & Flying Nun Records)
Geneva AM: PIKIPIKI
Jazmine Mary: I Want to Rock and Roll (Flying Nun Records)
MĀ: Blame It On The Weather
Marlon Williams: Te Whare Tīwekaweka (Marlon Williams Music)
Phoebe Rings: Aseurai (Carpark Records)
Reb Fountain: How Love Bends (Fountain Records Limited)
Ringlets: The Lord Is My German Shepherd (Time for Walkies) (Flying Nun Records)
Tom Scott: ANITYA (Years Gone By)
Womb: One Is Always Heading Somewhere (Flying Nun Records)
Jim Wilson, billsticker and arts champion, has passed away.
The founder of Phantom Billstickers and active member of Christchurch’s music scene since the 1960s passed away peacefully in his sleep. Jim Wilson is sometimes credited with creating the Christchurch live music scene that fostered the first wave of groups on the Flying Nun label, and was a prolific do-er, writer, traveller, and connector of people and ideas. AudioCulture has an oral history of his life, and Phantom Billstickers have set up a space where his writing lives on.
All in for Arts roadshow begins
The Arts Foundation annual roadshow is touring the motu this month, starting tomorrow in Ōtautahi. The events are free, but you must register!
New design festival in Whanganui announced
The Zealand Festival of Design will launch on 16 October. The 10-day festival will be anchored in Whanganui – Aotearoa's UNESCO City of Design – and extend across the wider region. The intention behind it is to showcase how design influences the way New Zealanders live, work and connect, presenting a curated programme of exhibitions, talks, workshops, installations and public activations.
Designers, makers, artists and innovators are invited to submit proposals for the inaugural programme.
👔 Human resources
David Coventry is University of Waikato’s 2026 writing resident
The award-winning author will spend 2026 on campus working on a new collection of short stories. The stories are set in and around 1981, during the Springbok tour, and take an oblique angle, focusing on the psychology of New Zealanders at the time and the atmosphere of the country. They centre on characters who would prefer to shut out the social and political unrest around them. “About 15 years ago, I wrote a short story set in 1981 that explored this idea,” says Coventry. “The story stayed with me for the past 15 years. So much so one day last year something clicked for me, that in fact the story was just a prelude to a bigger idea. That's what it has turned into, which is quite exciting”.
Michael Norris is the At the World’s Edge Festival’s 2026 Composer in Residence
Michael Norris is a composer, software developer, and music theorist. He teaches composition at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington and directs Stroma New Music Ensemble. Michael's audio software SoundMagic Spectral and Spindrift are widely used in both industry and academia worldwide, by artists such as Aphex Twin and Brian Eno. He has too many awards and accolades to list, including having won the prestigious SOUNZ Contemporary Award not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times! Being the AWE composer in residence
👀 Further reading
Genista Jurgens' second edition of Global Compass tracks big milestones for Aotearoa artists overseas, and has three enticing opportunities for artists (think Japan, Spain, and Portugal).
In this month's Talanoa with a Tusitala, Dani Kionasina speaks to Grace Iwashita-Taylor, the poet who never wants to stop becoming.
This week's Shameless Plug is a duo. Tane Te Pakeke-Patterson and Gisele Proud admit that their close collaboration has “scared some of our mates”.
📧 Say hi!
Let me know what you think about the Artswire and our other editorial coverage at editor@thebigidea.co.nz
