Theatre company fumes as councillors try to can waterfront project

Auckland Theatre Company chiefs are spitting tacks at a last-minute political manoeuvre that may stop their waterfront theatre building from going ahead.

Eight Citizens and Ratepayers and Independent Auckland councillors have said they will move amendments at the council’s strategy and finance committee meeting today to jeopardise Auckland Council's stake in the new theatre, planned for the Wynyard Quarter, next door to the new ASB Bank headquarters.

But the theatre company says the move is unfair  and undemocratic.

The project is a private-public collaboration but the $10 million promised Auckland Council support is contingent on the company raising more funding.

So far ASB Bank has offered $6m of the $41m cost and the company has $5.7m pledged from corporate and individual donors.

Last year an Auckland Council independent report identified a 600-seat drama theatre as the most urgent priority for Auckland’s burgeoning arts sector.

The council approved the $10m contribution as part of the region's long-term plan, subject to the theatre company meeting certain conditions by 2014.

General manager Lester McGrath says the company has not been given a chance to report back on the significant progress made towards meeting the conditions set by the council when it made its commitment, “nor have councillors been given the opportunity to review the business case".

“Considerable progress has already been made on the Waterfront Theatre project, with detailed designs 90% complete, a  comprehensive and viable business plan [independently assessed by Price Waterhouse Cooper] and $21m of the $35m needed already secured.

"The company receives donations daily from people who are enthusiastic about the theatre and the contribution it will make to the transformation of Auckland's waterfront.

"If these councillors are successful in their underhand attempt to pull the council's support for this project without first considering the facts, the millions of dollars we have raised will simply be lost to Auckland," he says.

"We are deeply concerned and troubled that the arts are once again being kicked about for cheap political points in an attempt by these councillors to appeal to parochial opponents of regional infrastructure investment."