The Star: October 21, 2021

Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Thursday October 21 2021 The Star
NEWS 7
Wizard vows to continue without pay
after city council cancels contract
• By Devon Bolger
PERFORMER: The Wizard’s contract with the city council to
provide acts of wizardry had been in place since 1998.
PHOTO: GETTY
THE WIZARD will continue
to perform his duties in spite of
no longer being on the council
payroll.
It was announced last week the
city council had decided it will
no longer pay the 88-year-old
wizard – who was well-known
for preaching extravagantly in
Cathedral Square – the $16,000
he received annually.
City council assistant chief
executive Lynn McClelland said
it was a difficult decision to end
the contract.
She said the reason for the
decision was because the promotional
landscape in Christchurch
is changing.
“With new and different promotional
programmes that will
increasingly reflect our diverse
communities and showcase a
vibrant, diverse, modern city
that is attractive to residents,
domestic and international visitors,
new businesses, and skilled
migrant workers,” McClelland
said.
The Wizard, whose name is
Ian Brackenbury Channell but
prefers the name Jack, said he
plans to continue his position being
the Wizard of New Zealand
in spite of not being paid.
“It’s my decision to be a wizard
in the city. The fact that they’ve
told me to go away is in fact a
good way to make me even more
popular. This is a perfect time
for me, I’m very happy, this is
wonderful.”
He said he has never asked for
payment and after 24 years of
unpaid service, it was offered by
the city council in the form of
an honorarium similar to those
awarded to artists, writers and
composers.
The council’s contract with the
Wizard was to provide acts of
wizardry and other wizard-like
services in the city. It had been in
place since December 1998.
Said McClelland: “The council
is grateful for the valuable and
special contribution The Wizard
made to our city’s cultural life,
and he will forever be a part of
our history.”
International media, such as
The Times in London, are reporting
the Wizard’s contract was
cancelled because of comments
he made about women on New
Zealand Today, hosted by Guy
Williams, in April.
“I love women, I forgive them
all the time, I’ve never struck
one yet. Never strike a woman
because they bruise too easily is
the first thing, and they’ll tell the
neighbours and their friends . . .
and then you’re in big trouble,”
he said on the show.
The city council did not answer
specific questions about this.
The Wizard said he thinks it’s
“maybe” the reason the contract
was cancelled.
“The council is full of women
in their 30s and 40s. When you
go into the office there are all
these dead-eyed women.
“I don’t know any woman like
this, everywhere else I go, they
tease me, they make jokes, I
make jokes back . . . they are very
powerful and frightening people.
Maybe they’re doing it.”
He said if so, it was “very foolish”
as they have no evidence
he is sexist.
“This is a gift from heaven. For
20 years. The council has refused
to admit I exist. They’ve got
tourism authorities to say that
I no longer exist, that I’ve left
the city or retired. They will not
even admit there is a wizard here
because it upsets the bureaucrats
so much.
“When they stopped my honorarium,
it drew attention to me.
They’ve put a spotlight on me, it
was just what I wanted.”
Jack has had a vast career and
in 1990 Prime Minister Mike
Moore invited him to become
Wizard of New Zealand.
In 1982, the New Zealand Art
Gallery Directors Association
declared him a living work of art
and in 1988 he performed a rain
dance in the town of Waimate to
break a drought.
He helped to promote local
events and tourism, and welcome
dignitaries and delegations to
the city. In 2009, he received the
Queen’s Service Medal. After the
2011 Canterbury earthquakes,
he played a prominent role in
the wave of protest that greeted
the demolition of hundreds of
heritage buildings.
—NZ Herald
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