National School of Music Alive and Well!

An advertisement in The Press (20 July 2009) poses the question: Isn't there already a National School of Music in Wellington? Dr Carr responds that the " joint venture between Massey and Victoria universities has been deferred until 2013, with the cost of its proposed building estimated to be about $60 million.  Our proposal is nowhere near as expensive and represents an opportunity for Canterbury to become a national leader in music education." What are we to make of the National School of Music website (www.nzsm.ac.nz) in that case? This  site (updated as recently as 10 July 2009) states that the National School of Music is a joint venture between Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington.  The list of staff reveals that the programme has an academic staff of 41,  a classical performance staff of 46 and a jazz performance staff of 25.  Contrast this with the 1o academic staff and 23 part-time staff at Canterbury (plus 11 associated jazz staff based at CPIT). The National School of Music has a very active programme of events which take place at one of the 10 regular performance venues on either the Massey or Victoria campuses as  well as in other parts of the city.  Clearly a single inner city performance venue has not been essential to the success of the school. 

It is obvious, then, that the answer in the advertisement is more than a little misleading.  The National School of Music has certainly run into difficulties with shifting to a new site on the Wellington waterfront.  One of the reasons has been public opposition to use of an important urban greenspace for the building. There is surely a warning for Canterbury University here, having opted for an even more sensitive and publicly loved site for its proposed building.   But can it seriously be argued that the delay in a new building for the National School of Music   represents an opportunity for Canterbury to become a national leader in music.  It would appear that it has well and truly missed the boat, with a national school in place and thriving, with the almost as strongly staffed school of Music at Auckland University already waiting in the wings as part of the National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries.

Could the real reason why the university is seeking funding for its building from the Council be because it knows it could never hope to establish the need for funding a National Conservatorium of Music with the Tertiary Education Commission?