New Zealand pulls funding for school Shakespeare festival, citing ‘canon of imperialism’

Secondary school competition did not demonstrate the relevance to the contemporary art context of Aotearoa'

New Zealand's arts council has pulled funding for a Shakespeare festival that has been running in secondary schools for roughly three decades, after questioning its relevance to the country and because it focuses on a canon of imperialism".

Every year, the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand runs the Sheilah Winn Shakespeare festival - a secondary school competition where students perform excerpts from Shakespeare's plays.