Tributes flow for Helen Clark on The Big Idea
Tributes for Helen Clark, former Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, have flowed into The Big Idea, from arts leaders and the creative community including:
New Zealand String Quartet manager and former Creative NZ Chief Executive Elizabeth Kerr, former Creative NZ chair Peter
Biggs, former New Zealand Film Commission Chief Executive Ruth Harley, musician Mike Chunn, musician Moana Maniapoto,
actor Bruce Hopkins, Auckland Festival Director David Malacari, Tempo director Mary Jane O’Reilly, Auckland Art Gallery
director Chris Saines, Diana Fenwick QSO, and author Rachael King.
The Big Idea – Te Aria Nui – is an online community for more than 17,000 creative practitioners, producers and
organisations. We provide fresh updates daily on everything you need to know to be a networked and informed member of
the creative industries in New Zealand today.
Read the tributes so far and add your own. www.thebigidea.co.nz/article.php?sid=6480
The tributes will be delivered to Helen Clark next week.
Summarised sample of quotes:
“Filmmaking is a notoriously risky business and Helen always trusted that the Commission and the sector would manage the
issues. She attended nearly all the premieres and always spoke passionately and humorously about her love of film. Helen
Clark has been an outstanding Prime Minister of New Zealand and certainly our most committed and successful Minister for
the Arts.” - Ruth Harley | former Chief Executive New Zealand Film Commission
“Your commitment to the arts was real leadership and contributed enormously to the growth in support for the arts from
other places, including the corporate sector and the public. As Prime Minister you led an increasingly inclusive
society. As Arts Minister you led an increasingly diverse and exciting arts sector, one able to carve out a unique place
on the world stage.”- Elizabeth Kerr | New Zealand String Quartet, former Chief Executive, Creative New Zealand
“I was Chair of the Arts Council for almost all of the years Helen was Prime Minister and Minister of Arts, Culture and
Heritage. It was a time of explosive confidence within the arts sector in New Zealand and a period when the country
championed, and embraced the value of, creativity. So much of this was due to Helen's personal advocacy for the arts and
her government's support through on-going and significant investment in the sector. For the arts, those were marvelous
years and we learned the trick of standing upright.” - Peter Biggs
“Our music tradition is very young. But it is now real and respected and that was kick-started by the Helen Clark
government that came to power in 1999. As Director of NZ Operations for APRA and then CEO of the Play It Strange Trust,
I was acutely aware of how Helen and her team focused on the vibrancy and proliferation of our own music.” – Mike Chunn
“Helen Clark, as Minister for Arts and Culture, has made the arts important, but more significantly perhaps, has helped
make them visible, to be able to stand up amongst the work from other countries. Thanks largely to Labour government,
people like me, and other members of my family, have been able to pursue a creative career.
One of the proudest moments of my life was watching my father Michael King receive one of the inaugural Prime Minister's
Awards for Literary achievement. I'm sure it was also one of his proudest moments as well. That award recognises the
importance of the work of people who have contributed so much to our country over the years for very little financial
reward.” - Rachael King
“The beating heart of any modern progressive society lies in its arts and culture. As a lens to translate the lessons of
the past, and to foresee the innovations and ideas to help shape our future, we use the arts. Arts and culture also
enables our diverse society to engage and build bridges to a more harmonious intercultural future. PM Helen Clark has
been a tireless supporter of the arts over the last decade, and with her help we have seen the door to NZ culture opened
to the Globe – for this, those of us in the arts community, are eternally grateful.” - Gareth Farry | British Council,
NZ Business Manager
“Helen, when you undertook the portfolio for arts, culture and heritage, the arts gained a wonderful advocate as well as
huge mana and respect. The sector moved off ‘the back pages’ of people’s consciousness to sit at the forefront of
contributing to the soul, identity and economy of the country.” - Helen Schamroth ONZM BSD FDINZ
“Why are we drawn to the arts and what do they provide us with? This is a much-debated topic of course, and the answers
range from providing tourist dollars through generating critical debate to creating spiritual uplift. It can be hard to
argue for support of the arts when the economic outlook is gloomy, but a country without them to me is truly bankrupt.
Personally, I want to thank the outgoing Government for making this country a much more interesting, vibrant and
liveable place over the last decade.” – Filmmaker Annie Goldson.
ENDS