February 2, 2025 • 32 mins
It's our first Business Panel of 2025 and there is one question on everyone's mind: will the capital's economy bounce back this year?
Whatever happens, today's guests say Wellington needs to remain positive and celebrate what makes the city great.
WellingtonNZ chief operating officer Heidi Morton and Capital Creative Arts Trust CEO Kim Bailey joined Nick Mills on the panel today.
The pair discussed the mood of the region, the apparent lack of big events, and the success of Wellington's arts industry, especially in film.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Said b.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Your inside word on all things business in the Capitol
with Quinovac, better systems, better reporting, better call, quinnobec oh
eight hundred, quinovec. Let's get down.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's get downs.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You monnight, monight, characters, you've had.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
A million million nights, just like first welcome back. Join
us for our first actually our first business panel for
twenty twenty five is Wellington in Zi chief operating officer.
What a mouthful ladder, Heidi Morton, morning Hide.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Good morning Nick.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
I'm great today on this sunny day.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Isn't it beautiful? I mean, haven't we had a great weekend?
It doesn't feel so relaxed and good.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
It makes people feel a lot better, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
You can't It's an old saying somewhere you can't beat
Wellington on a good day or something like that. I
can't really remember it, but something like that. And we
have also the chief executive of the Creative Capital Arts Trust.
It's a mouthful too, like you have simple positions and
simple jobs. That that is the group behind Cuba Duba
and Fringe Festivals. Kimbayley, Good morning.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Kim, good morning.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
You have a good weekend. Did you feel good about
Wellington on the weekend?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
I did. I was walking down Cuba Street and it
seemed very busy and lots of people going about business.
So love to see that.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
We all love to see that, don't we. Let's talk
was Let's start by talking about the mood of this
of the city. Last year, there was a hell of
a lot of narrative around Wellington was gloomy with mass
job losses and the slowing economy. Hei they tell us,
is Wellington feeling any better this year? We've already had
(01:48):
a couple of weeks into it. But we started at
the sort of end of last year of trying to
change the narrative, didn't we. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I think we really did try to start to change
the narrative as a city late last year and earlier
this year. I think a lot of people started to realize, actually,
you know, we can't look backwards forever. We've actually got
to start looking forward, and you know, the future does
have some sprouts of interest coming up. I think, you know,
the last Q four Business Opinion survey said that there
(02:15):
was a net seventeen percent people of businesses actually improved
economic conditions over the coming months, which we haven't seen
for a long time, and then once the weather finally
came right, I think that bought it as well. But
you know, if we can see an improving job market,
you know, lower interest rates and a sense of optimism,
(02:36):
then obviously risk taking returns and that's got to be
good for our city.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Do we celebrate Wellington's winds or do we celebrate Wellington enough?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
I think that's sometimes hard when it's a challenging time
for people. But I think we've got some really amazing
opportunities coming up, and I think we should look at
the ways that we can celebrate and the ways that
we can get better at celebrating individuals wins, businesses wins,
and just times that we can all come together and
(03:06):
celebrate our community.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
How do we change that, Heidi? How do we change
that narrative? How do we actually you know, I mean
I read an article the other day that said we
shouldn't be be cheering on things that don't need cheering on,
but celebrating the winds. How do we actually get that narrow?
I mean, change the narrative? How do we do it?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
We've got to really join together as a region in
a city really to actually start talking about the positives.
I think, you know, some of us that are old
enough to see other cycles of down that we've had
in the past, know that there's a there's always a
future that's slightly brighter that comes from it. So if
we all start rallying around that, I think we can
all start to you know, talk about that. And you
(03:48):
know there's other there's lots of you know, different groups
of people that are starting to do that, which is great,
and there's lots of building work starting, you know, happening
in the city. You know, to Anarco civic square. You
can really see you know what that may mean in
the future.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Now we also so, Kim. I mean, I think what
Heidie's alluding to is a couple of groups that are
trying to be set up these real positive things like
Vision for Wellington and Wellington Alive. Have you been reading
about them, seeing them and see what's going on with it.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I think when people take the initiative to try and
be positive about things, that's really exciting. I think if
things work, that's amazing, and I think we should celebrate
our learnings as well. And I think a big thing
for us for Cuba Dooper this year was to create
an opportunity for celebration and to really register that this
(04:41):
festival is an opportunity for our community to come together
and celebrate something that only happens in Wellington. Cuba Dooper
is specific to Cuba Street and to the Cuba Precinct,
and so we really decided that communal joy was going
to be our focus and this opportunity to come together
and celebrate who we are as Valentonians.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Heidi, do we do that enough? Do we come together?
I mean we'll talk about later in the show about
the fireworks that happened this weekend. You know where private enterprise,
not the city Council, not Wellington in z not anyone else.
Private enterprise says, let's celebrate a division. I mean it
was Chinese New Year, so they got behind, the Chow
family got behind and put it on. I mean that's
(05:22):
hugely positive. That doesn't cost rate payers any a dollar
and we have a big event. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I think you're actually right there, Nick, in terms of
when you know, the council with our increasing rates and
you know the difficult operating conditions that they have, particularly
financial is that we really do have to work out
how we will continue, but you know, double down on
how we actually work together and actually realize as a
city and region that it's not just up to a
city council or a council organization. You know, we need
(05:51):
to need to all come together to actually deliver some things.
I think, you know, the lunar New Year fireworks is
a wonderful example of that. And you know you could
see lots of people down in the city actually celebrating it,
and you know, in on Courtney Place on Friday night
and you seem to be you know, more people starting
to come out, you know, and the places that we
(06:14):
went to was starting to fill up again. So you know,
we need to work out what our product is for
Wellington and I'm sure we get the right people behind
us backing us to actually get on with it.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Kim, you more than anyone else, know how difficult it
is to bring money in and to promote things and
do things, because that's that's that's your em o. How
good mustn't be to sit back and watch something as
big as you know, the firework's been paid for by
a sponsor. Really it was like they sponsored it.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Yeah, I love it. I love it when anything exciting happens.
And I think it's all part of our same ecosystem
and it creates more opportunities for community events and for
other events to come to Wellington and showcase the talent
or the celebration that's important to them, and I think
that's really exciting and amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I want to finish off this little segment of the
mood of Wellington by asking you both, what are your
dreams or hopes for this year? I mean everyone said
survive till twenty five? What are your hopes and dreams
for this year? I'll start with you.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, I think, you know, changing that perception of Wellington
a little bit from it. It's something that you know
is particularly in the event space, that you know, events
only work for what Wellingtonian's like and I think, you know,
we've proven that that's not actually their case. But for
twenty twenty five, I think an improving job market, you know,
(07:36):
if we can get more of people back into roles
in the city and the region and particularly our young people.
You know, if to have people you know, nineteen to
twenty four not being able to get meaningful employment, you know,
risks being a generational thing if we can't improve that,
So getting people in, getting those interest rates obviously starting
to down and then continuing to go down, and then
(07:58):
that optimism will return and then hopefully, you know, we
can get to the end of twenty five.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Everyone talks about the end of twenty five. Now, I
mean last year it was it did survive till twenty five.
Now it's well, by the end of twenty five, that's
another twelve months away. We don't want that. Kim, what
are your hopes and dreams for twenty five.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
I've got a couple. I think I'd really like to
see throughout the year us celebrating each other and celebrating
each other's successes. And I think the festival and events
sector is working to do this, where we're coming together
and instead of seeing ourselves as competitors all the time,
seeing ourselves as part of the same ecosystem. We support
our artists, we support our audiences, and so supporting that
(08:41):
and celebrating that I think is really important. And I
also want to see us becoming a real hub for
emerging artists, the place to come to hone your skill,
and that there's opportunities for you to work and become
better at what you do within.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Where do people find those emerging people? I mean, I'm
asking this question because I had a family meal the
other day and we were saying, wouldn't it be good.
We've opened a restaurant up that's got a little back
area and we're looking for a little three piece band
that would play and be fun and be exciting young
university students or stuff like that. Where do you find
that stuff? Nowadays?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
We have so many of them. So they participate in
the New Zealand Fringe Festival because that's an open access festival,
so there's no curation, which means anyone can put on
a show and it can be their first opportunity to
do that. We have amazing talent coming out of the universities,
but we have to pick them up before they go away.
So I think we need to be able to pay them.
(09:38):
We need to give them opportunities to do what they
do for a fee. They're already really good. They've probably
been doing it since they were five years old. So
where we can find those opportunities to pay them? If
you come to us, we can definitely.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I'm coming to you I'm looking for that little tiny
duo or piano play that sings, or someone that's really
going to be a superstar. But it's nineteen or twenty
years old. China break on. Anyway, Let's talk about events, right.
Wellington had a fantastic community led events, events like Fringe
and Cuba Duba, but there is no concerts on the
(10:13):
horizon for sky Stadium. We are losing Homegrown, or apparently
lost Homegrown hasn't been announced where it's going, but I'm
pretty sure he knows where it's going. And it seems
like every time you turn the TV on or turn
the radio on or look, there's a huge event in Auckland.
I mean they're just one after another after another. Christ
Church is starting to really make ground that used to
(10:35):
be us, that used to be Wellington. I mean Auckland
used to think what can we do to get these
events off Wellington? Christ Church us to look at Wellington,
go oh, why has Wellington got all these events? Why
do you think? Can I want to start with you,
why do you think it's that that's happening? And what
is what do we go? What are we doing wrong?
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I think what we first with what we're doing right,
is our community events. Right, We've got some amazing events
that people can attend for free, like Kuba Duper, and
we've also got some amazing art that people go to
their venues all of the time. And so when we're
facing these bigger events, I think we really need to
have a positive mindset about commercial art. So commercial concerts
(11:18):
and festivals like Homegrown are really important to the ecosystem
to ensure that our emerging artists have somewhere to go.
And so as a dream, yeah, a dream to focus
on the goal to get to the reason for staying
up late and working really really hard and.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Your dad's garage, yeah, and.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Your dad's garage or wherever you can at this in
this economy. And so I think it's really important that
we celebrate the commercial opportunities as well, and we see
them as important. I think often Valentonian's you know, we
focus on the community and love that. I'm so here
for that, obviously, that's what I do. But I think
(11:56):
we also need to look at what those commercial opportunities.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
We need the big boys we do, we need the
big boys. I mean, as Wellington's New Zealand Wellington ends
It's chief OPERATII. Could we have done more? Should we
have done more to save Homegrown?
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Look, I think we did, you know, a lot to
try and save Homegrown. Obviously, Andrew and the Homegrown team
have been talking for a couple of years about how
they've outgrown outgrown that site, and you know that that's
really sad that we're actually, you know, extremely disappointing for
this city that we weren't able to keep it within
the city. I mean, it's got an amazing waterfront location.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
And can I just interrupt there a bit, because something
that can said earlier Cuba Duba can't be done anywhere
else at Cuba Street. It's a Wellington and it's an
event and it's great. Homegrown, to me is exactly the same.
Homegrown belongs on the waterfront. That's what the different stages
and the venue and water all around you. I get
a bit emotional even talking about it, the thought of
(12:56):
losing that that can't go anywhere else.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Yeah, well, you know, obviously it is an amazing location
for it, and it's particularly on a blue sky day,
it's absolutely fantastic stick you know, I know the Homegrown
team are really professional operators, so I'm sure that they
have got something else that they can replicate in another
city around New Zealand. It does open up an opportunity
(13:19):
for us though, in terms of, you know, something else,
not necessarily like homegrowing, but you know what can we
actually have in that area at Waitangi Park, et cetera,
or in the city that will you know, will help
that demographic see that we can do amazing events. I
think the comment around no concerts on the horizon at
(13:40):
Sky Stadium. You know, I can tell you that you
know working with the stadium that there are opportunities.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
But I mean you and I both we all know
everyone listening knows that when when something big comes to
the stadium, we know about it six or eight months
or twelve months before. There's nothing confirmed. So there's nothing
going to happen unless something falls out of the sky
this year, is it.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
No, Well, obviously, you know there's always a large pipeline,
and I know the Sky Stadium team are working really
really hard to make sure that we can land something
in the air. I think the events industries at that
size has really changed over the last few years.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
So but my argument to that, and I'm not trying
to pick a fight here, I mean, I think that
the people at sky Stadium are amazing and doing their best.
No one's questioning that. But there seems to be those
events in Auckland and a little bit in christ huge,
so that people are actually the international promoters are off Wellington.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
There's three sort of large stadia touring promoters that operate
in New Zealand. They all have their different sort of
way of doing it. I mean, Auckland obviously has a
much larger population and a much larger drive time population
as well in christ which is obviously rebuilding itself economically
after the earthquakes. You know, artist's choice is becoming more
(15:01):
and more predominant in that. So we do need to
change the perception of Wellington. But when an artist can
fly into an airport such as christ Church or Auckland
with all their gear and do two or three shows,
it's a better proposition for them than to moving it
all down to Wellington. So we need to work together
to work out, you know, how we're actually addressing those
barriers and how we can actually get that that those
(15:25):
events in the stadium and other parts of the city.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Is there anything exciting on the horizon you, I mean,
are you talking about something that's bigger than Ben Here
have we've got Paul McCartney coming out. Here have we
got I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
You know, I can't possibly tell you that, Nick, because
obviously commercial sensitivities. But absolutely there's stuff, there's stuff that's exciting,
and there's you know, we're talking not only in the
stadium but also you know, in the venues that we
operate on behalf of the city as well. You know,
we've got our biggest March April May coming up, and
(15:57):
we've got potential for a couple of new indoor type
festivals that we're working on.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
If you were a gambler, I'm sure you're not like
a little dabble okay, like little Dabel. Would you put
money that there was going to be a major event
concert event at Sky Stadium in twenty twenty five? Why
are you looking at the sky? Well, he's looking straight
out of the sky.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
I'm not going to be drawn into that, but I
definitely hope.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
So I think there is something Wellingtonians can do to
support that though, and that's buy ticket. Yeah, buy tickets
to events that are already happening in Wellington, so we
can show that these big artists can come here and
they're going to sell out really quickly. Like buy local
artists tickets and sell them out so that people want
them to open for their shows. Get out there and
(16:42):
buy your tickets early. So international acts aren't concerned that
they're going to come here and it's going to take
six months to sell out their show. They're going to
sell it out straight away and then they're going to
get to add more shows.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
We are terrible at that? Are we terrible at that?
I mean I think I look at the Phoenix. Phoenix
go down to Christs. They sell twice as many in Wellington.
I know it's one off of that, but it's a
Wellington team. They go to Auckland the same. We are
slack at buying tickets.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
And historically we have had a really late buying pattern.
That's that's changing the more that we sort of move
away from that from the COVID COVID times. You know,
we in the venues we just had five sold out
comedy shows in January, and you know, historically we often
would have no shows in January and those all sold out.
(17:28):
And we've got a concert coming up in the Tesbey
Arena later in the year. Which is on a Sunday,
which the promoter recently told me I was really worried,
hearty about having a concert on a Sunday in Wellington
that sold out really quickly. I think, you know, as
obviously you know where we're trying to compete for everyone's
(17:49):
discretionary income and and it is hard, but you know
they do come out for the right stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I just I've got to go, I've got I'm about
to do a quick one. I want to do a
quick one with you, Kim, because I want to know
how big both Cuba Duba and the Fringe are for
the Wellington spirit and and and economy. Are they as
good for Wellington as a concert at sky Stadium?
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Oh? I mean, I'm not sure I could necessarily speak
to that, but we do know that they have a
huge impact on our economy and on our artists. We're
really committed to paying artists fair for Cuba Doopa, while
the Fringe brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars for artists,
which is really exciting. And we are looking at doing
an economic impact this year across our suite of festivals.
(18:33):
So we're hoping that we'll have a better answer for that.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
I want to ask I'm going to start with you,
Kim on this one. I'm sure that you're not a
person that says no as much as what a lot
of people do. Why do we sort of I don't
know what we are in no country or city, aren't we?
How can we turn that into a yes?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Well?
Speaker 4 (18:53):
I think my experience since being back in New Zealand,
I came back when COVID hit from overseas, and I
find that New Zealanders really dig in and make things
happen in the community events. You know, we have had
funding cuts, we have had a lot of challenges through
in our way. Cuban Doopers had to reformat, it's had
(19:13):
to change, it's had to cancel, it's had to bounce back,
and I really feel like we try to make things happen.
I think sometimes you have to say no when the
funding's not there or when you can't make something happen,
and when the infrastructure is not there. That's also a
really challenging thing. You might want to make it happen,
(19:34):
you might spend a lot of time trying to make
it happen, but if you can't get people to the
venue because there's not public transport that's suitable, then that
becomes really difficult. Or if you don't have the funding
to put the correct health and safety procedures in place,
the fact that it's going to be an amazing event,
it doesn't make it possible.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
HII Morden. It's your position in willing to need Z
you would have to turn down some people that come
to you and want help and want support and want
money and want everything else. Are we a no city
or are we are trying to be a yes city
but we just don't have the financial power to do it.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Look in my role, you know, this was a great question,
Like I started twenty twenty five saying I've got to
say yes more often, but keeping a few nose in
the back pocket, And that was from a personal and
a work perspective. Yes, we do have limited funding, so
we've got to actually work out what makes the best
impact with the funding that we have. And sometimes that
(20:30):
does mean that, you know, people are disappointed that we
can't assist them, but you know, we are trying to
get that impact. But what I've really found, you know,
in working with Wellington is yed is that this city
is really full of innovative people who love to collaborate.
So we need to get together to work on that
together that everyone is willing to help out, particularly in
(20:52):
the events industry. I mean obviously my role only sort
of morphed into the event side of things last year
as well, and I've just been blown away by how
many people are willing to actually help out. I mean,
we are better together. And you know, there's other examples
of it, like the Tech hub up at Victoria Universe
done at Victoria University by the railway station and you know,
(21:12):
in conjunction with our tech strategy, but also with the university.
You know, there's some amazing things happening there. So people
need to get together and just get on with it.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
How do you take it when you get told? Can know?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
You know?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I mean you go and knock on doors. I mean,
I've done it in sport for forty years. You knock
on doors. You think you've got to lead, and you've
got a sponsor and that changes everything for you and
you can see a vision and then you get the
email a couple of days later saying sorry, we'd love
to help, but we don't have the financial funding to
do it. Do you How do you react to that.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Yeah, I mean we've had a year of that. To
be honest, it's been a lot and it's something it's
definitely been a challenge for me, and something that has
been a big focus is to be like, if I
know I'm on the right track and if I'm on
the right journey, and you know, we've got our strategy
and we're walking that path and there are people who
(22:10):
are coming along on that and we celebrate those and
the ones that can't we either say oh they can't
come right now, but they want to do it in
the future and that's really amazing. How can they be
part of the journey now? Or if people have a
different thing in mind, that's really exciting to if they're
putting their money towards something else, that's amazing. We want
things to be happening. But yeah, I definitely had to
(22:31):
get some thick skin around.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
I've got to ask you because for me and I've
done it, as I say all my life, is how
you stay positive when you get five or six nose,
when you think you've got five or six yes is coming.
What do you do to actually say, oh my god
and kickback.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
I think this is something I'm not very good at
I'm very much someone who takes the nose and forgets
the successes sometimes. And I have an amazing team who
reminds me of that. And you know, we have these
amazing artists that we can see the successes that they have,
and I try to pull that back into remind to
myself that, like, this might be a no right now,
(23:09):
it might be a no for this one specific thing,
but overall, the stuff that we're getting to do is
really exciting. And have people around you that remind you
of that, because it's very easy to get stuck in
the nose.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Making sure people are actually explaining the why of the no.
I think it's very easy just to walk away and go, oh,
they said no, But why did they say no? What
can we do?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Hate nose? Oh? Yeah, hate nose? I hate nose. It's
a terrible word.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
No.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I want to ask you. We've seen that Weather has
been nominated for three oscars. We learned last week they
employ thousands of people in Willington, but I feel that
they slip under the radar and aren't celebrated enough in
our city for what they do for our city. Do
you think that we actually celebrate Wetter enough. Do we
(23:54):
think that we are? You know, we just let them
do their thing, and we should celebrate it a bit more.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
I mean, I think we should celebrate it. I think
it's such an amazing thing. I know, when I was
choosing where to go to university, Wellington was on the
list because Wetter was here and getting some of their
artists to come in and critique our work was a
big reason for coming to Wellington, and so I think
we should celebrate it. And when they were at the
(24:21):
top of the game internationally, that should be something we really,
you know, I celebrate is to say that again. And
I think we should also be looking at who us
is coming up. I think we just need to get
better at celebrating all levels of success.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
We're seeing these little hubs of it companies that are
all starting and launching, which is great as well. But
I mean, Heidi, we don't celebrate Wetter enough, do we.
I mean, when I was interviewing a guy last week,
they said there was two thousand people working at Wetter right,
and there was professors of animation from university at Stanford
(24:58):
University on all these high end qualified people. That's great
for the diversity of Wellington absolutely.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I mean I think leg of mine describes it now
as cretech, so it's not just about the screen industry,
but that creative and digital sector as well, which is
huge in the Wellington region. Is over three thousand businesses
that work in that area and over eight thousand filled
jobs in that sector. I think it can get lost
(25:27):
in all that other noise as well. We over think
we need to be better at how we actually amplify
that for the general public rather than people that are
actually working in that area.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Oh for sure. But I think it's a classic example
of Kim of the tall poppy thing. You know, they
sold for billions of dollars. We know how successful Sir
Peter and Dame fran are and we just don't go
thank you, well done. Fabulous.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
I mean, I think they're about to go up for
some of the biggest awards in the world, and we
should be really really proud of that, and we should
shout that from the rooftops and congratulate evening when we
know that works there and we all know someone who
works there because it's Wellington, and I think it's really
important that we just make a really big show of that.
(26:13):
And how amazing it is for our community.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Can we do more Heidi to I mean, enhance it
so it makes our city feel so much better than
you know it is. It's it's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Yeah, we have to you know, we have to work
out how we can do that, you know, amongst the
noise of everything else. But I mean there's some amazing
people working in that sector and some you know, we've
got the Screen Wellington team that within Wellington and z
that do an amazing job. I guess we also need
to work out how we can have long term sustainable
opportunities for the whip workers in that sector because you know,
(26:45):
if it's project based on things like we go, they
come and go, So how can they actually how can
we actually have something in Wellington that's going to actually
keep them here for a long time. And that whole
industry is doing a great job of that and improving,
So that's what you know.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yes, great figures released last week from the Public Service
Commissions show that a quarter of public servants work from
home Fridays, well nearly half say they work from home
now and again, ah gosh, what impact Heidi does that
actually make on our city?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Yeah, I mean obviously it does have an impact on
the CBD. But what we historically saw when we could
get day by day spending data in various areas of
the city, was that spending in the suburbs actually increased.
You know, it's the new norm, right, you don't think
it's going to change, not in the near future. I think,
(27:37):
you know, the ways of working have changed, you know,
we you know, you need to have those days of
collaboration in the office, et cetera like that. But I
think going backwards to where we were pre COVID is
probably not going to happen. So how do we actually
embrace that? So as a city, you know, we need
to work out what other other opportunities you know, to
come into the city if it's not for work. So
(27:58):
what is our you know, our vibrant events happening that
people are actually going to travel in And as come said,
do we have the public transport to get them in here?
Do we have the parking available if they can't utilize
public transport in those things?
Speaker 4 (28:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Can.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
I've always felt that if we build it, they'll come.
So have you put a show on or you do
something the people will come? Do you think do you
think working from home is actually that big a deal.
And do you all start work.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
From hope our stuff When they need to, when they're
focused on something particular, they can, But most of the
time we do us them to work in the office.
We are a highly collaborative organization and we have emerging
artists work for us, and so the support and the
guidance and the encouragement that we can offer in the
(28:44):
office is different. We don't have the infrastructure like big
companies to do our work from home the same. I
think it is adapting to change, just like we did
video meetings, and at first that felt really weird, and
you know, at first you're going for a meeting in
a cafe or for a lunch meeting, and then all
of a sudden you're just on a screen. But I
(29:06):
think we can adapt, and I think we can look
at what opportunities exist within that.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Funny you say that, because all those things you said
at the beginning should be in every business, working collaboratively
and having your other ideas and all that which you
can't do working from home, you can do order zoom.
I get that, But just having that worker next to
you every morning, or working next to me gives me
an idea. Every day, someone working next to me or
around me gives me an idea, So that's got to
(29:30):
be good. Right. My guests, I've warmed them up. I've
told them that if someone really really special comes to Wellington,
haven't been to Wellington for years, might have ever been
to Wellington before, and it's very very special act him
or family member Heidi that you really want to impress.
(29:51):
Come on, Kim, tell me what you're going to, where
you're going to take them, what you're going to do
with them on their first or most current arrival in Wearrington.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Well my family have a habit of coming for Cuba Dooper,
so that always makes that question a bit easy when
other people come outside of that time, I take them
to the theater. That's my first love and my passion,
and there's always something really exciting happening at Bats or
Tiawaha or The Griffin or one of our many small theaters.
(30:20):
That is just an opportunity. My friends from smaller towns
don't get to have, you know, they might get some
big X, but they don't get that really exciting, cutting edge,
emerging theater coming straight out of the universities that I just.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Really, what's your favorite for the last twelve months you've
been to see what's something that you went and go, wow,
that's world class, that's impressive.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Oh my gosh, so much. We had a really excellent
show in Fringe Festival last year that then we turned
around called show Do Cafe that was emerging PACIFICA artists.
It was a beautiful show and it was just inspiring,
and so many amazing individual artists that came together for that,
(31:00):
and now some of them are coming back with their
own shows for this year and some exciting collaboration. So
I just think there's so many opportunities.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
HII Morton, tell me where you're going to take your
special person to impress the hell out of them and
show gosh, Byington's a beautiful place.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Yeah. Well, it's always going to start with a great
walk to show off our natural beauty that we have
and particularly love a walk back and you can see
the water, so you know, down the South Coast or
the Southern Walkway even into Tari Wilton's Bush is amazing
in there. Then I'm gonna sort of obviously need to
be get everyone caffeinated, so we'll head to swim suits
(31:39):
probably for a coffee and a scone and then a
sandwich at Threads, So we're actually hitting up Cuba Street there,
you know, head for a cocktail at Library or Hummingbird.
Obviously lots of wonderful shows on as well. If it's
World of Wearable Arts season, then you know that is
a world class, world class, world class event that people
(32:00):
are wild about when they go for the first time,
or any of the great sporting events that we see.
I mean, there's nothing than cricket at the Basin Reserve
in those things. We are very very lucky in Wellington
and I think we just need to celebrate what we
actually have.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah, wow, here, here, here, here, Yeah. Heidi Morton and
Kim Bailey, thank you very much for giving up your
time to come on the show this morning. Let's keep
it positive. Let's try our hardest to keep it positive.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news Talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Said b.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Your inside word on all things business in the Capitol
with Quinovac, better systems, better reporting, better call, quinnobec oh
eight hundred, quinovec. Let's get down.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's get downs.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You monnight, monight, characters, you've had.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
A million million nights, just like first welcome back. Join
us for our first actually our first business panel for
twenty twenty five is Wellington in Zi chief operating officer.
What a mouthful ladder, Heidi Morton, morning Hide.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Good morning Nick.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
I'm great today on this sunny day.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Isn't it beautiful? I mean, haven't we had a great weekend?
It doesn't feel so relaxed and good.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
It makes people feel a lot better, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
You can't It's an old saying somewhere you can't beat
Wellington on a good day or something like that. I
can't really remember it, but something like that. And we
have also the chief executive of the Creative Capital Arts Trust.
It's a mouthful too, like you have simple positions and
simple jobs. That that is the group behind Cuba Duba
and Fringe Festivals. Kimbayley, Good morning.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Kim, good morning.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
You have a good weekend. Did you feel good about
Wellington on the weekend?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
I did. I was walking down Cuba Street and it
seemed very busy and lots of people going about business.
So love to see that.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
We all love to see that, don't we. Let's talk
was Let's start by talking about the mood of this
of the city. Last year, there was a hell of
a lot of narrative around Wellington was gloomy with mass
job losses and the slowing economy. Hei they tell us,
is Wellington feeling any better this year? We've already had
(01:48):
a couple of weeks into it. But we started at
the sort of end of last year of trying to
change the narrative, didn't we. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I think we really did try to start to change
the narrative as a city late last year and earlier
this year. I think a lot of people started to realize, actually,
you know, we can't look backwards forever. We've actually got
to start looking forward, and you know, the future does
have some sprouts of interest coming up. I think, you know,
the last Q four Business Opinion survey said that there
(02:15):
was a net seventeen percent people of businesses actually improved
economic conditions over the coming months, which we haven't seen
for a long time, and then once the weather finally
came right, I think that bought it as well. But
you know, if we can see an improving job market,
you know, lower interest rates and a sense of optimism,
(02:36):
then obviously risk taking returns and that's got to be
good for our city.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Do we celebrate Wellington's winds or do we celebrate Wellington enough?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
I think that's sometimes hard when it's a challenging time
for people. But I think we've got some really amazing
opportunities coming up, and I think we should look at
the ways that we can celebrate and the ways that
we can get better at celebrating individuals wins, businesses wins,
and just times that we can all come together and
(03:06):
celebrate our community.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
How do we change that, Heidi? How do we change
that narrative? How do we actually you know, I mean
I read an article the other day that said we
shouldn't be be cheering on things that don't need cheering on,
but celebrating the winds. How do we actually get that narrow?
I mean, change the narrative? How do we do it?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
We've got to really join together as a region in
a city really to actually start talking about the positives.
I think, you know, some of us that are old
enough to see other cycles of down that we've had
in the past, know that there's a there's always a
future that's slightly brighter that comes from it. So if
we all start rallying around that, I think we can
all start to you know, talk about that. And you
(03:48):
know there's other there's lots of you know, different groups
of people that are starting to do that, which is great,
and there's lots of building work starting, you know, happening
in the city. You know, to Anarco civic square. You
can really see you know what that may mean in
the future.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Now we also so, Kim. I mean, I think what
Heidie's alluding to is a couple of groups that are
trying to be set up these real positive things like
Vision for Wellington and Wellington Alive. Have you been reading
about them, seeing them and see what's going on with it.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I think when people take the initiative to try and
be positive about things, that's really exciting. I think if
things work, that's amazing, and I think we should celebrate
our learnings as well. And I think a big thing
for us for Cuba Dooper this year was to create
an opportunity for celebration and to really register that this
(04:41):
festival is an opportunity for our community to come together
and celebrate something that only happens in Wellington. Cuba Dooper
is specific to Cuba Street and to the Cuba Precinct,
and so we really decided that communal joy was going
to be our focus and this opportunity to come together
and celebrate who we are as Valentonians.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Heidi, do we do that enough? Do we come together?
I mean we'll talk about later in the show about
the fireworks that happened this weekend. You know where private enterprise,
not the city Council, not Wellington in z not anyone else.
Private enterprise says, let's celebrate a division. I mean it
was Chinese New Year, so they got behind, the Chow
family got behind and put it on. I mean that's
(05:22):
hugely positive. That doesn't cost rate payers any a dollar
and we have a big event. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I think you're actually right there, Nick, in terms of
when you know, the council with our increasing rates and
you know the difficult operating conditions that they have, particularly
financial is that we really do have to work out
how we will continue, but you know, double down on
how we actually work together and actually realize as a
city and region that it's not just up to a
city council or a council organization. You know, we need
(05:51):
to need to all come together to actually deliver some things.
I think, you know, the lunar New Year fireworks is
a wonderful example of that. And you know you could
see lots of people down in the city actually celebrating it,
and you know, in on Courtney Place on Friday night
and you seem to be you know, more people starting
to come out, you know, and the places that we
(06:14):
went to was starting to fill up again. So you know,
we need to work out what our product is for
Wellington and I'm sure we get the right people behind
us backing us to actually get on with it.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Kim, you more than anyone else, know how difficult it
is to bring money in and to promote things and
do things, because that's that's that's your em o. How
good mustn't be to sit back and watch something as
big as you know, the firework's been paid for by
a sponsor. Really it was like they sponsored it.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Yeah, I love it. I love it when anything exciting happens.
And I think it's all part of our same ecosystem
and it creates more opportunities for community events and for
other events to come to Wellington and showcase the talent
or the celebration that's important to them, and I think
that's really exciting and amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I want to finish off this little segment of the
mood of Wellington by asking you both, what are your
dreams or hopes for this year? I mean everyone said
survive till twenty five? What are your hopes and dreams
for this year? I'll start with you.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, I think, you know, changing that perception of Wellington
a little bit from it. It's something that you know
is particularly in the event space, that you know, events
only work for what Wellingtonian's like and I think, you know,
we've proven that that's not actually their case. But for
twenty twenty five, I think an improving job market, you know,
(07:36):
if we can get more of people back into roles
in the city and the region and particularly our young people.
You know, if to have people you know, nineteen to
twenty four not being able to get meaningful employment, you know,
risks being a generational thing if we can't improve that,
So getting people in, getting those interest rates obviously starting
to down and then continuing to go down, and then
(07:58):
that optimism will return and then hopefully, you know, we
can get to the end of twenty five.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Everyone talks about the end of twenty five. Now, I
mean last year it was it did survive till twenty five.
Now it's well, by the end of twenty five, that's
another twelve months away. We don't want that. Kim, what
are your hopes and dreams for twenty five.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
I've got a couple. I think I'd really like to
see throughout the year us celebrating each other and celebrating
each other's successes. And I think the festival and events
sector is working to do this, where we're coming together
and instead of seeing ourselves as competitors all the time,
seeing ourselves as part of the same ecosystem. We support
our artists, we support our audiences, and so supporting that
(08:41):
and celebrating that I think is really important. And I
also want to see us becoming a real hub for
emerging artists, the place to come to hone your skill,
and that there's opportunities for you to work and become
better at what you do within.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Where do people find those emerging people? I mean, I'm
asking this question because I had a family meal the
other day and we were saying, wouldn't it be good.
We've opened a restaurant up that's got a little back
area and we're looking for a little three piece band
that would play and be fun and be exciting young
university students or stuff like that. Where do you find
that stuff? Nowadays?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
We have so many of them. So they participate in
the New Zealand Fringe Festival because that's an open access festival,
so there's no curation, which means anyone can put on
a show and it can be their first opportunity to
do that. We have amazing talent coming out of the universities,
but we have to pick them up before they go away.
So I think we need to be able to pay them.
(09:38):
We need to give them opportunities to do what they
do for a fee. They're already really good. They've probably
been doing it since they were five years old. So
where we can find those opportunities to pay them? If
you come to us, we can definitely.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I'm coming to you I'm looking for that little tiny
duo or piano play that sings, or someone that's really
going to be a superstar. But it's nineteen or twenty
years old. China break on. Anyway, Let's talk about events, right.
Wellington had a fantastic community led events, events like Fringe
and Cuba Duba, but there is no concerts on the
(10:13):
horizon for sky Stadium. We are losing Homegrown, or apparently
lost Homegrown hasn't been announced where it's going, but I'm
pretty sure he knows where it's going. And it seems
like every time you turn the TV on or turn
the radio on or look, there's a huge event in Auckland.
I mean they're just one after another after another. Christ
Church is starting to really make ground that used to
(10:35):
be us, that used to be Wellington. I mean Auckland
used to think what can we do to get these
events off Wellington? Christ Church us to look at Wellington,
go oh, why has Wellington got all these events? Why
do you think? Can I want to start with you,
why do you think it's that that's happening? And what
is what do we go? What are we doing wrong?
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I think what we first with what we're doing right,
is our community events. Right, We've got some amazing events
that people can attend for free, like Kuba Duper, and
we've also got some amazing art that people go to
their venues all of the time. And so when we're
facing these bigger events, I think we really need to
have a positive mindset about commercial art. So commercial concerts
(11:18):
and festivals like Homegrown are really important to the ecosystem
to ensure that our emerging artists have somewhere to go.
And so as a dream, yeah, a dream to focus
on the goal to get to the reason for staying
up late and working really really hard and.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Your dad's garage, yeah, and.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Your dad's garage or wherever you can at this in
this economy. And so I think it's really important that
we celebrate the commercial opportunities as well, and we see
them as important. I think often Valentonian's you know, we
focus on the community and love that. I'm so here
for that, obviously, that's what I do. But I think
(11:56):
we also need to look at what those commercial opportunities.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
We need the big boys we do, we need the
big boys. I mean, as Wellington's New Zealand Wellington ends
It's chief OPERATII. Could we have done more? Should we
have done more to save Homegrown?
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Look, I think we did, you know, a lot to
try and save Homegrown. Obviously, Andrew and the Homegrown team
have been talking for a couple of years about how
they've outgrown outgrown that site, and you know that that's
really sad that we're actually, you know, extremely disappointing for
this city that we weren't able to keep it within
the city. I mean, it's got an amazing waterfront location.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
And can I just interrupt there a bit, because something
that can said earlier Cuba Duba can't be done anywhere
else at Cuba Street. It's a Wellington and it's an
event and it's great. Homegrown, to me is exactly the same.
Homegrown belongs on the waterfront. That's what the different stages
and the venue and water all around you. I get
a bit emotional even talking about it, the thought of
(12:56):
losing that that can't go anywhere else.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Yeah, well, you know, obviously it is an amazing location
for it, and it's particularly on a blue sky day,
it's absolutely fantastic stick you know, I know the Homegrown
team are really professional operators, so I'm sure that they
have got something else that they can replicate in another
city around New Zealand. It does open up an opportunity
(13:19):
for us though, in terms of, you know, something else,
not necessarily like homegrowing, but you know what can we
actually have in that area at Waitangi Park, et cetera,
or in the city that will you know, will help
that demographic see that we can do amazing events. I
think the comment around no concerts on the horizon at
(13:40):
Sky Stadium. You know, I can tell you that you
know working with the stadium that there are opportunities.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
But I mean you and I both we all know
everyone listening knows that when when something big comes to
the stadium, we know about it six or eight months
or twelve months before. There's nothing confirmed. So there's nothing
going to happen unless something falls out of the sky
this year, is it.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
No, Well, obviously, you know there's always a large pipeline,
and I know the Sky Stadium team are working really
really hard to make sure that we can land something
in the air. I think the events industries at that
size has really changed over the last few years.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
So but my argument to that, and I'm not trying
to pick a fight here, I mean, I think that
the people at sky Stadium are amazing and doing their best.
No one's questioning that. But there seems to be those
events in Auckland and a little bit in christ huge,
so that people are actually the international promoters are off Wellington.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
There's three sort of large stadia touring promoters that operate
in New Zealand. They all have their different sort of
way of doing it. I mean, Auckland obviously has a
much larger population and a much larger drive time population
as well in christ which is obviously rebuilding itself economically
after the earthquakes. You know, artist's choice is becoming more
(15:01):
and more predominant in that. So we do need to
change the perception of Wellington. But when an artist can
fly into an airport such as christ Church or Auckland
with all their gear and do two or three shows,
it's a better proposition for them than to moving it
all down to Wellington. So we need to work together
to work out, you know, how we're actually addressing those
barriers and how we can actually get that that those
(15:25):
events in the stadium and other parts of the city.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Is there anything exciting on the horizon you, I mean,
are you talking about something that's bigger than Ben Here
have we've got Paul McCartney coming out. Here have we
got I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
You know, I can't possibly tell you that, Nick, because
obviously commercial sensitivities. But absolutely there's stuff, there's stuff that's exciting,
and there's you know, we're talking not only in the
stadium but also you know, in the venues that we
operate on behalf of the city as well. You know,
we've got our biggest March April May coming up, and
(15:57):
we've got potential for a couple of new indoor type
festivals that we're working on.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
If you were a gambler, I'm sure you're not like
a little dabble okay, like little Dabel. Would you put
money that there was going to be a major event
concert event at Sky Stadium in twenty twenty five? Why
are you looking at the sky? Well, he's looking straight
out of the sky.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
I'm not going to be drawn into that, but I
definitely hope.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
So I think there is something Wellingtonians can do to
support that though, and that's buy ticket. Yeah, buy tickets
to events that are already happening in Wellington, so we
can show that these big artists can come here and
they're going to sell out really quickly. Like buy local
artists tickets and sell them out so that people want
them to open for their shows. Get out there and
(16:42):
buy your tickets early. So international acts aren't concerned that
they're going to come here and it's going to take
six months to sell out their show. They're going to
sell it out straight away and then they're going to
get to add more shows.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
We are terrible at that? Are we terrible at that?
I mean I think I look at the Phoenix. Phoenix
go down to Christs. They sell twice as many in Wellington.
I know it's one off of that, but it's a
Wellington team. They go to Auckland the same. We are
slack at buying tickets.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
And historically we have had a really late buying pattern.
That's that's changing the more that we sort of move
away from that from the COVID COVID times. You know,
we in the venues we just had five sold out
comedy shows in January, and you know, historically we often
would have no shows in January and those all sold out.
(17:28):
And we've got a concert coming up in the Tesbey
Arena later in the year. Which is on a Sunday,
which the promoter recently told me I was really worried,
hearty about having a concert on a Sunday in Wellington
that sold out really quickly. I think, you know, as
obviously you know where we're trying to compete for everyone's
(17:49):
discretionary income and and it is hard, but you know
they do come out for the right stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I just I've got to go, I've got I'm about
to do a quick one. I want to do a
quick one with you, Kim, because I want to know
how big both Cuba Duba and the Fringe are for
the Wellington spirit and and and economy. Are they as
good for Wellington as a concert at sky Stadium?
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Oh? I mean, I'm not sure I could necessarily speak
to that, but we do know that they have a
huge impact on our economy and on our artists. We're
really committed to paying artists fair for Cuba Doopa, while
the Fringe brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars for artists,
which is really exciting. And we are looking at doing
an economic impact this year across our suite of festivals.
(18:33):
So we're hoping that we'll have a better answer for that.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
I want to ask I'm going to start with you,
Kim on this one. I'm sure that you're not a
person that says no as much as what a lot
of people do. Why do we sort of I don't
know what we are in no country or city, aren't we?
How can we turn that into a yes?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Well?
Speaker 4 (18:53):
I think my experience since being back in New Zealand,
I came back when COVID hit from overseas, and I
find that New Zealanders really dig in and make things
happen in the community events. You know, we have had
funding cuts, we have had a lot of challenges through
in our way. Cuban Doopers had to reformat, it's had
(19:13):
to change, it's had to cancel, it's had to bounce back,
and I really feel like we try to make things happen.
I think sometimes you have to say no when the
funding's not there or when you can't make something happen,
and when the infrastructure is not there. That's also a
really challenging thing. You might want to make it happen,
(19:34):
you might spend a lot of time trying to make
it happen, but if you can't get people to the
venue because there's not public transport that's suitable, then that
becomes really difficult. Or if you don't have the funding
to put the correct health and safety procedures in place,
the fact that it's going to be an amazing event,
it doesn't make it possible.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
HII Morden. It's your position in willing to need Z
you would have to turn down some people that come
to you and want help and want support and want
money and want everything else. Are we a no city
or are we are trying to be a yes city
but we just don't have the financial power to do it.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Look in my role, you know, this was a great question,
Like I started twenty twenty five saying I've got to
say yes more often, but keeping a few nose in
the back pocket, And that was from a personal and
a work perspective. Yes, we do have limited funding, so
we've got to actually work out what makes the best
impact with the funding that we have. And sometimes that
(20:30):
does mean that, you know, people are disappointed that we
can't assist them, but you know, we are trying to
get that impact. But what I've really found, you know,
in working with Wellington is yed is that this city
is really full of innovative people who love to collaborate.
So we need to get together to work on that
together that everyone is willing to help out, particularly in
(20:52):
the events industry. I mean obviously my role only sort
of morphed into the event side of things last year
as well, and I've just been blown away by how
many people are willing to actually help out. I mean,
we are better together. And you know, there's other examples
of it, like the Tech hub up at Victoria Universe
done at Victoria University by the railway station and you know,
(21:12):
in conjunction with our tech strategy, but also with the university.
You know, there's some amazing things happening there. So people
need to get together and just get on with it.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
How do you take it when you get told? Can know?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
You know?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I mean you go and knock on doors. I mean,
I've done it in sport for forty years. You knock
on doors. You think you've got to lead, and you've
got a sponsor and that changes everything for you and
you can see a vision and then you get the
email a couple of days later saying sorry, we'd love
to help, but we don't have the financial funding to
do it. Do you How do you react to that.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Yeah, I mean we've had a year of that. To
be honest, it's been a lot and it's something it's
definitely been a challenge for me, and something that has
been a big focus is to be like, if I
know I'm on the right track and if I'm on
the right journey, and you know, we've got our strategy
and we're walking that path and there are people who
(22:10):
are coming along on that and we celebrate those and
the ones that can't we either say oh they can't
come right now, but they want to do it in
the future and that's really amazing. How can they be
part of the journey now? Or if people have a
different thing in mind, that's really exciting to if they're
putting their money towards something else, that's amazing. We want
things to be happening. But yeah, I definitely had to
(22:31):
get some thick skin around.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
I've got to ask you because for me and I've
done it, as I say all my life, is how
you stay positive when you get five or six nose,
when you think you've got five or six yes is coming.
What do you do to actually say, oh my god
and kickback.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
I think this is something I'm not very good at
I'm very much someone who takes the nose and forgets
the successes sometimes. And I have an amazing team who
reminds me of that. And you know, we have these
amazing artists that we can see the successes that they have,
and I try to pull that back into remind to
myself that, like, this might be a no right now,
(23:09):
it might be a no for this one specific thing,
but overall, the stuff that we're getting to do is
really exciting. And have people around you that remind you
of that, because it's very easy to get stuck in
the nose.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Making sure people are actually explaining the why of the no.
I think it's very easy just to walk away and go, oh,
they said no, But why did they say no? What
can we do?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Hate nose? Oh? Yeah, hate nose? I hate nose. It's
a terrible word.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
No.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I want to ask you. We've seen that Weather has
been nominated for three oscars. We learned last week they
employ thousands of people in Willington, but I feel that
they slip under the radar and aren't celebrated enough in
our city for what they do for our city. Do
you think that we actually celebrate Wetter enough. Do we
(23:54):
think that we are? You know, we just let them
do their thing, and we should celebrate it a bit more.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
I mean, I think we should celebrate it. I think
it's such an amazing thing. I know, when I was
choosing where to go to university, Wellington was on the
list because Wetter was here and getting some of their
artists to come in and critique our work was a
big reason for coming to Wellington, and so I think
we should celebrate it. And when they were at the
(24:21):
top of the game internationally, that should be something we really,
you know, I celebrate is to say that again. And
I think we should also be looking at who us
is coming up. I think we just need to get
better at celebrating all levels of success.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
We're seeing these little hubs of it companies that are
all starting and launching, which is great as well. But
I mean, Heidi, we don't celebrate Wetter enough, do we.
I mean, when I was interviewing a guy last week,
they said there was two thousand people working at Wetter right,
and there was professors of animation from university at Stanford
(24:58):
University on all these high end qualified people. That's great
for the diversity of Wellington absolutely.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I mean I think leg of mine describes it now
as cretech, so it's not just about the screen industry,
but that creative and digital sector as well, which is
huge in the Wellington region. Is over three thousand businesses
that work in that area and over eight thousand filled
jobs in that sector. I think it can get lost
(25:27):
in all that other noise as well. We over think
we need to be better at how we actually amplify
that for the general public rather than people that are
actually working in that area.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Oh for sure. But I think it's a classic example
of Kim of the tall poppy thing. You know, they
sold for billions of dollars. We know how successful Sir
Peter and Dame fran are and we just don't go
thank you, well done. Fabulous.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
I mean, I think they're about to go up for
some of the biggest awards in the world, and we
should be really really proud of that, and we should
shout that from the rooftops and congratulate evening when we
know that works there and we all know someone who
works there because it's Wellington, and I think it's really
important that we just make a really big show of that.
(26:13):
And how amazing it is for our community.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Can we do more Heidi to I mean, enhance it
so it makes our city feel so much better than
you know it is. It's it's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Yeah, we have to you know, we have to work
out how we can do that, you know, amongst the
noise of everything else. But I mean there's some amazing
people working in that sector and some you know, we've
got the Screen Wellington team that within Wellington and z
that do an amazing job. I guess we also need
to work out how we can have long term sustainable
opportunities for the whip workers in that sector because you know,
(26:45):
if it's project based on things like we go, they
come and go, So how can they actually how can
we actually have something in Wellington that's going to actually
keep them here for a long time. And that whole
industry is doing a great job of that and improving,
So that's what you know.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yes, great figures released last week from the Public Service
Commissions show that a quarter of public servants work from
home Fridays, well nearly half say they work from home
now and again, ah gosh, what impact Heidi does that
actually make on our city?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Yeah, I mean obviously it does have an impact on
the CBD. But what we historically saw when we could
get day by day spending data in various areas of
the city, was that spending in the suburbs actually increased.
You know, it's the new norm, right, you don't think
it's going to change, not in the near future. I think,
(27:37):
you know, the ways of working have changed, you know,
we you know, you need to have those days of
collaboration in the office, et cetera like that. But I
think going backwards to where we were pre COVID is
probably not going to happen. So how do we actually
embrace that? So as a city, you know, we need
to work out what other other opportunities you know, to
come into the city if it's not for work. So
(27:58):
what is our you know, our vibrant events happening that
people are actually going to travel in And as come said,
do we have the public transport to get them in here?
Do we have the parking available if they can't utilize
public transport in those things?
Speaker 4 (28:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Can.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
I've always felt that if we build it, they'll come.
So have you put a show on or you do
something the people will come? Do you think do you
think working from home is actually that big a deal.
And do you all start work.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
From hope our stuff When they need to, when they're
focused on something particular, they can, But most of the
time we do us them to work in the office.
We are a highly collaborative organization and we have emerging
artists work for us, and so the support and the
guidance and the encouragement that we can offer in the
(28:44):
office is different. We don't have the infrastructure like big
companies to do our work from home the same. I
think it is adapting to change, just like we did
video meetings, and at first that felt really weird, and
you know, at first you're going for a meeting in
a cafe or for a lunch meeting, and then all
of a sudden you're just on a screen. But I
(29:06):
think we can adapt, and I think we can look
at what opportunities exist within that.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Funny you say that, because all those things you said
at the beginning should be in every business, working collaboratively
and having your other ideas and all that which you
can't do working from home, you can do order zoom.
I get that, But just having that worker next to
you every morning, or working next to me gives me
an idea. Every day, someone working next to me or
around me gives me an idea, So that's got to
(29:30):
be good. Right. My guests, I've warmed them up. I've
told them that if someone really really special comes to Wellington,
haven't been to Wellington for years, might have ever been
to Wellington before, and it's very very special act him
or family member Heidi that you really want to impress.
(29:51):
Come on, Kim, tell me what you're going to, where
you're going to take them, what you're going to do
with them on their first or most current arrival in Wearrington.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Well my family have a habit of coming for Cuba Dooper,
so that always makes that question a bit easy when
other people come outside of that time, I take them
to the theater. That's my first love and my passion,
and there's always something really exciting happening at Bats or
Tiawaha or The Griffin or one of our many small theaters.
(30:20):
That is just an opportunity. My friends from smaller towns
don't get to have, you know, they might get some
big X, but they don't get that really exciting, cutting edge,
emerging theater coming straight out of the universities that I just.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Really, what's your favorite for the last twelve months you've
been to see what's something that you went and go, wow,
that's world class, that's impressive.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Oh my gosh, so much. We had a really excellent
show in Fringe Festival last year that then we turned
around called show Do Cafe that was emerging PACIFICA artists.
It was a beautiful show and it was just inspiring,
and so many amazing individual artists that came together for that,
(31:00):
and now some of them are coming back with their
own shows for this year and some exciting collaboration. So
I just think there's so many opportunities.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
HII Morton, tell me where you're going to take your
special person to impress the hell out of them and
show gosh, Byington's a beautiful place.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Yeah. Well, it's always going to start with a great
walk to show off our natural beauty that we have
and particularly love a walk back and you can see
the water, so you know, down the South Coast or
the Southern Walkway even into Tari Wilton's Bush is amazing
in there. Then I'm gonna sort of obviously need to
be get everyone caffeinated, so we'll head to swim suits
(31:39):
probably for a coffee and a scone and then a
sandwich at Threads, So we're actually hitting up Cuba Street there,
you know, head for a cocktail at Library or Hummingbird.
Obviously lots of wonderful shows on as well. If it's
World of Wearable Arts season, then you know that is
a world class, world class, world class event that people
(32:00):
are wild about when they go for the first time,
or any of the great sporting events that we see.
I mean, there's nothing than cricket at the Basin Reserve
in those things. We are very very lucky in Wellington
and I think we just need to celebrate what we
actually have.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah, wow, here, here, here, here, Yeah. Heidi Morton and
Kim Bailey, thank you very much for giving up your
time to come on the show this morning. Let's keep
it positive. Let's try our hardest to keep it positive.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news Talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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