A Shakespeare festival in NZ won’t receive any funding for promoting ‘imperialism’

W hat happened: The long-running Shakespeare festival in New Zealand won’t be receiving financing this year due to the school program’s reliance on a genre that is “centred within a canon of imperialism” and lack of relevance to the “current art environment,” according to the national art council. Details: More than 120,000 children have taken part in the programme since its beginning, according to Dawn Sanders, chief executive of the Shakespeare Globe Centre, New Zealand. The facility has been organising student-focused Shakespeare events since years now.. The effort, according to Sanders, will still go forward despite the financial reduction, but it will need to identify new sources of funding. The PM’s statement: Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, also spoke out against the decision, “I was a participant in Shakespeare in Schools. I thought it was a great program.” The supremo believes that this is a fruitful opportunity for children who enjoy speech, debate, and drama, “I used to be one of those kids. I want other children to continue to have those opportunities.”