Photo: Supplied / Hannah Darroch
About the time Hannah Darroch started her new job as Chief Executive of SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, the country's Prime Minister was on talkback radio telling listeners music should be a lower priority in schools, behind maths and English.
Reading about that just a few days into a new job, the flute player, broadcaster and arts administrator couldn't have asked for a better motivational moment.
"I wonder if there are ways SOUNZ can be an advocate for music education, and provide a way of repackaging and re-presenting some of the amazing material we already have in way that can be given to youth."
"I would love to see arts being presented as an essential part of our lives rather than a nice-to-have."
Music has been an essential part of Darroch's world for most of her working life.
Darroch studied flute performance in the United States, came back to New Zealand to perform but also work as a producer for RNZ Concert, returned to North America to complete a doctorate in music performance at McGill University in Toronto, then came home to take up the role of Principal Flute with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.
But whatever her day job was, there were always side-hustles, either playing or helping organise performances by her musical peers.
For those who don't know, SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music is the kaitiaki, or guardian, of the taonga that is New Zealand classical music.
Go to the SOUNZ website and you will find information and recordings of New Zealand composers, musicians and perhaps most importantly, scores of thousands of New Zealand works, with notes on performances and information on the pieces themselves.
Beyond that, SOUNZ is also home to dozens of podcasts on Pakeha, Māori and Pasifika music.
When funding cuts in 2015 forced RNZ Concert to stop producing recorded documentaries, SOUNZ took up the slack and continues to fund work that tells the story of musical art in Aotearoa.
Darroch's move north to take up her CE role with SOUNZ in Wellington is a big loss for the Christchurch music scene, but the good news is she hasn't given up playing the flute.
In fact, she's about to begin a Chamber Music NZ tour with the percussionist Justin DeHart.
Being able to go on that tour was a condition of being able to sign up with SOUNZ, but Darroch says it won't be her last musical gig.
"Because I've juggled these things for the last sixteen years, believe it or not, I know what I need to do in order to maintain my flute playing to a level that allows me to go and do other things."
And maybe, if she's ever in the right place at the right time, a word in the Prime Minister's ear.
