Arts community fears Montana sponsorship programme hangover

Friday 16th February 2001

IN DOUBT: The Montana NZ Wearable Art Awards

By John Daly-Peoples

Arts organisations said yesterday they were bracing themselves in case ownership changes at Montana resulted in changes to the winemaker's multimillion dollar sponsorship programme.

Montana, one of the country's top five corporate arts sponsors, has an extensive portfolio including the Montana Book Awards and the Montana Wearable Art Festival.

The deal highlights the precarious nature of corporate sponsorship.

Alice Heather of the Booksellers Association, which co-ordinates the Montana Book Awards, admitted the association did not have a current contract with Montana but she was "confident" the company would back this year's awards.

Dance company Black Grace, which has been in discussions with Montana about sponsorship since the winemaker offered to sponsor it at the National Business Review Sponsorship of the Arts gala dinner last year, has not signed a contract either - and may now miss out.

Helen Bartle of Auckland Theatre Company was philosophical about potential changes, noting that it only ever had a year-by-year contract with Montana for the provision of goods and financial support and this could change at any time.

"It's difficult to tell what changes the takeover would have on the amount of sponsorship we receive it could go either way," Ms Bartle said.

Many of Montana's sponsorship deals involve providing alcohol for arts functions.

Montana managing director Peter Hubscher said as far he was concerned things had not altered. "There may be changes at board level but the company is still run by the executive and it is the executive which is making the sponsorship decisions."

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