Budgets

Use this template if you're applying for:

• multiple activities within one application through Annual Arts Grants
• a multidisciplinary arts festival involving multiple activities
• a publishing grant towards multiple publications (however, you can also use our publishing subsidy budget template for this activity)

Use the template to:

• list the individual activities involved
• indicate what types of activities they are
• provide statistics about the activities, and
• provide financial information about the activities.

>>Activity and Budget Template.xlsx

The Activity and Budget template has two parts:

1. Activity and budget summary

You must complete the table on the Activity & Budget Summary tab with the details of your proposed programme of activity.

This tab also includes information to help you decide what Activity type(s) to select and which projected activity statistics you need to enter for each Activity type.

2. Detailed activity budget(s)

In addition, you must provide detailed budget(s) for your programme of activities or project.

You can provide a separate budget for each activity/project OR combine similar activities/projects together.

You can choose to use the Detailed Activity Budget templates provided (recommended) OR use choose to use your own budget format as long as it meets the budget guidelines.

For publishing projects submitted under the Literature artform category in Arts Grants, you can provide your budget using the Individual Publishing Subsidy Budget Template.

In addition to financial information, it asks you to include information about the specifications and print run of the publication.

>> Individual publishing subsidy budget template.xls

If you are seeking support for an artform publication – i.e., a publication about an artform such as visual arts – use the standard project budget template.

If you're applying for support towards multiple publications, you can also use our Activity and Budget template for a programme of activity.

For instructions on how to upload an Excel template to your application, refer to ‘Add documents and support material’ in the Portal User Guide.

Your application must include a project budget that is detailed and accurate so our assessors can see your project is viable.

Your budget needs to:

• list all the costs to the project and show how those costs were calculated
• show which costs you’re asking the CNZ grant to cover
• list all the other sources of revenue, such as earned revenue, other cash support or in-kind support.

You can create your project budget either by:

• entering the figures into our online budget form, which is built into the ‘How Much’ tab of the application form, or
• downloading an Excel project budget template, filling it in and uploading it to the ‘Support material’ tab of the online application form.

>> CNZ-project-budget-template.xls

For instructions on how to create a budget using our online budget form, refer to ‘Create a project budget’ in the Portal User Guide.

For instructions on how to upload an Excel template to your application, refer to ‘Add documents and support material’ in the Portal User Guide.

Creative New Zealand grants, e.g. Arts Grants, can contribute to administration and overhead costs only for the duration of the project. Ongoing administration and infrastructure costs cannot be funded through Arts Grants. Applicants should provide a breakdown of costs for the period of the project, e.g. electricity, insurance, legal advice, license fees, office supplies, printing, rent, stationery, telephone and postage.

Allowances may be paid for travel, accommodation and touring. An allowance is a fixed amount paid in addition to wages or salaries, to compensate for expenses that cannot be claimed back.

Creative New Zealand grants cannot be used for capital expenditure.

Capital expenditure (or capex) is money spent for the purchase or improvement of long-term assets. Long-term assets can be physical, fixed and non-consumable assets such as equipment, fixtures and fittings, business vehicles, property or intangible assets such as software and licences. Capital items are the big-ticket items purchased to run a business. They have a useful life of more than one year. According to IRD, a capital item is valued at $500 or more.

A standard scale of fees compiled by the Composers Association of New Zealand (CANZ) can be downloaded from www.canz.net.nz. Budgets for applications for music compositions can be based on the CANZ scale or show a stipend.

Separate contingency lines should only be included where you are unable to predict actual costs. If you include a contingency then you must explain in the budget description what it will cover and why you are unable to predict the actual costs. Contingencies should not exceed 5% for the term of your budget.

Creative New Zealand grants can contribute to COVID-19 related costs up to a maximum of $500 per application. This includes costs of masks, PCR/RAT testing, and other sanitation costs. Quarantining or managed isolation costs are not eligible for our support. We only support Covid-19 related costs that are directly related to the activity for which you're seeking Creative New Zealand support.

We will review this guidance in December 2022.

Give a breakdown of costs for advertising, printed material, e.g. posters, exhibition catalogues, pamphlets and programmes, photography, promotional videos, marketing and audience-development initiatives. We expect that marketing costs will not exceed 25% of earned revenue for the project.

Give a breakdown of costs for:

• mounting a production, e.g. costumes, equipment hire, travel, freight, lighting and sound, rehearsal space hire, royalties, set design and construction and ticketing costs
• mounting an exhibition
• a conference, wānanga, seminar or workshop, e.g. insurance, speaker fees, venue or equipment hire, and launch costs, materials, touring, travel and freight commissions and royalties
• production or publishing, e.g. recording, manufacturing CDs, publishing books or journals.

Your budget should state whether wages are for full-time or part-time work. If part-time, show the hours they are based on.

The budget lines must clearly relate to the information you have provided in your application e.g. wages for the separate stages of the project (such as rehearsal and subsequent production or recording) may need to be identified if different rates are to be applied.

Check that your pay rates do not fall below the minimum wage for employees aged 16 years and over. 

For more information refer to the website of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

Creative New Zealand suggests a minimum of $4,800 a month for artists’ full-time wages, salaries and stipends.

Budgets for writing and illustrating grants need only show a stipend.

If you are employing people (as opposed to contracting them) you must pay them holiday pay. You may also have other obligations as an employer that will affect your budget.

Arts Grants remuneration guidance

The following guidance applies to Arts Grants and the other opportunities offered within Arts Grants e.g. Louis Johnson Writers Bursary.

Creative New Zealand is committed to supporting sustainable careers in the arts sector. We consider that a sustainable career is a pathway of paid work over the course of an individual’s working life that enables them to earn a viable living.

As part of the Arts Grants application process, we require artists, arts practitioners and arts organisations to provide detail of wages, salaries, fees and stipends in funding application budgets and we expect applications to include within their budgets fair remuneration levels for artists and arts practitioners.

‘Fair remuneration’ means pay rates for more experienced artists and arts practitioners should: 

• be at a level above or well above the minimum 
• be in line with their relative skills and experience 
• recognise the duration of the project and other work-related factors (i.e., the ‘contract’ nature of the work). 

At a minimum, we advise that applications include pay rates of at least $30 per hour for artists and arts practitioners. This can also be calculated as a percentage of fulltime work, for instance: Fulltime i.e. 1.0 (FTE) for one week = 37.5 hours x $30 per hour = $1,125 per week. 

Your detailed project budget must show the total cost of the project, not just the part for which you are requesting Creative New Zealand funding. Knowing the total cost helps us to understand the difference a grant will make.

Show how you have calculated the figures in your budget by providing an itemised breakdown for all items; not just totals. Where possible, get quotes and base any estimates on actual costs or figures from similar projects.

Provide a breakdown showing how you have worked out your earned income figures. Earned income can include:

• admission fees
• box office takings
• sales of publications or merchandise
• subscription fees
• contract or artist fees
• estimated sales for the first 12 months, e.g., of recordings, books or artworks and fees from workshops or conferences.

You must include the seating capacity of the venue (house size) and your projected box office percentage, e.g., a performance in a 200-seat venue with a projected box office of 40% equates to 80 people purchasing tickets to each performance. As part of the information required for projected box office, your budget description should include the ticket prices for the performance or presentation.

Possible other sources of funding include:

• cash support from other government agencies, grants, trusts or foundations,
• your own contribution, e.g., cash, or in-kind goods and services,
• in-kind support that offsets the project’s total costs, e.g., if the actual cost of your venue hire is $500 and you are getting a $100 discount on this you can demonstrate this as in-kind support; it is not cash support but it does reduce your costs. Ensure that you record the full cost in expenses ($500) and record the discount as in-kind income ($100). This will make the net cost for the venue $400,
• donations or discounts on services, materials or products. The value of this support should be reflected in your budget under both project costs (the un-discounted dollar value of the service, product or materials) and project revenue (the value of the discount on the service, product or materials).

The amount you are requesting from Creative New Zealand in your detailed project budget must be the same as the amount requested in your application form. Your detailed project budget needs to show:

• which part or parts of the proposed project you are seeking Creative New Zealand funding for,
• what will be funded from other sources, e.g., you may be buying equipment out of your own funds, while seeking funding towards wages and production costs.

It is unusual for Creative New Zealand to fund the full cost of a project. It is important that you show all sources of revenue, including earned revenue, your own financial contribution and in-kind support.

Your application will be ineligible if:

• you request funding towards items that are not eligible for Creative New Zealand support (for example, capital items) OR
• your project budget is not viable once the requested ineligible costs are removed OR
• your budget is incomplete

If the person or organisation the grant will be paid to (the payee) is registered for GST do not include GST in your budget figures. We will add GST to the grant amount.

If the payee is not registered for GST include GST in your budget figures.

Find out before you apply whether you need to be registered to pay GST. Visit www.ird.govt.nz and refer to Inland Revenue’s GST guide IR375, or consult a financial adviser.