New Appointments To Creative New Zealand
Cultural AffairsHon Marie Hasler, the Minister of Cultural Affairs, announced today the appointment of Aucklander Professor Karl Stead to the Council of Creative New Zealand and Ms Jennifer Shennan, Wellington, to the Arts Board.
"I am delighted these two high-calibre people have made themselves available to Creative New Zealand," says Ms Hasler.
"Karl Stead is a well-known New Zealand writer who has produced a significant body of original creative work in his own right.
"I wanted a person with creative experience to fill this important position.
"Professor Stead is also an insightful literary critic, as well as being a distinguished academic with a deep understanding of the New Zealand psyche.
"He is a person with an intellectual record of independent thought and the psychological strength to confront issues that are too often sidestepped at a time when I feel it is important for New Zealanders to be engaged in much more open debate about our culture."
Commenting on Ms Shennan's appointment Ms Hasler said Jennifer Shennan is a woman with a lifelong interest in dance in all its forms.
"Ms Shennan has taken an active interest in both the critical evaluation and promotion of art in this country.
"Dance, and choreographed movement, is easily the most prominent and practised arts activity in New Zealand, and in this sense operates as a base from which so many other forms of New Zealand cultural activities emanate.
"Ms Shennan has contributed critical assessments to many New Zealand publications over a long period of time, and is an ideal person to appreciate its centrality to New Zealand culture."
Both terms of office start immediately and expire on 30 June 2001.