Support for Literature

Have you ever wondered what your local council spends on promoting/supporting writing/writers?

I asked mine.

These are the proposed expenditures of the Wellington City Council for 2014/15:

Purpose of Grant NZ$


Operating expenses of Randall Cottage Writers Trust 6,230
Katherine Mansfield Birthplace 72,303
Venue costs of Storylines Children’s Literature Trust free events 8,500
Writers In Schools 31 events in Wellington (NZ Book Council) 4,000
Litcrawl 6,000
NZ Script to Screen Short Film Workshop 3,240
Wellington Zinefest 4,000
Phoenix Science Fiction Society Inc creative writing project @ Te Papa 1,500
Cute Bruiser, Bruiser Buds Collective Zine, zine workshops with young people 1,700
Total 107,473

This works out as $1.41 for every rateable property in the city.

In addition the Council will make a contribution of $950,000 to the NZ Festival, which includes “Writers Week”.

Surprisingly, in providing me this information, Council did not mention the cost of running its public libraries, arguably Council’s greatest service to writing/writers.

Have you ever thought about:
1. The role of city councils in your part of New Zealand, or elsewhere in the world, in supporting writers/writing?
2. The best way for city councils to support writers/writing?
3. The amount per rateable property that city councils should spend on writers/writing? More or less than $1.41 per rateable property (excluding libraries)?

Maybe you’d like to share your views with readers of this blog...