The Heart of the Nation was a project initiated and resourced by the government to develop and enunciate a strategy for the cultural sector of Aotearoa New Zealand.

McDermott Miller was the project manager and was responsible for the research underpinning the strategy.

Past talking to the future – schooltime Tony Fomison - 1986

The final Heart of the Nation report gives an overview of the sector (including its market potential and the level of investment in it) and examines the issues facing the sector. Finally, it presents a strategy for the sector and a means of implementing it.

The final report was completed in June 2000, but was not released for another month by the government. Directly prior to and following its release the Heart of the Nation project has provoked much debate and indeed criticism, in the main led by the Associate Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage, Hon. Judith Tizard, and Peter Biggs of Creative New Zealand.

Dr Michael Volkerling, McDermott Miller’s Director of Leisure and Cultural Management, has responded to this criticism in the form of an article on the Heart of the Nation from an international perspective. Dr Volkerling is presently on study leave to investigate current international trends in cultural policy and has spent the last two months in Europe and the United States.

An International Perspective
by
Dr Michael Volkerling
Director Leisure and Cultural Management
McDermott Miller Limited
August 2000

Heart of Nation -- Report Summary

Full report is available upon request

Heart of the Nation Cultural Governance

Revisions to machinery of Government required to meet legitimate Mäori and Pakeha aspirations and to drive the development process envisaged for the cultural sector.