14 May 2021
An overview of the latest Arts Grant results, including a link to who got funded. Find out what the strongest applications included, both generally (ie across all artforms and applications) and artform-specific.
About Arts Grants
Arts Grants offer short-term project funding for New Zealand artists, arts practitioners and arts organisations (including groups and collectives). This funding enables more sustainable careers, encourages innovation and the development of arts practice, and provides opportunities for diverse communities to access the arts.
More about the Arts Grant programme
Results of the latest round (round 7)
58 grants totalling $2,143,407 have been offered to support projects by New Zealand artists and practitioners in this funding round, across the three funding pools (General, Māori and Pacific).
We received 166 eligible applications, with a total of $5,729,800 requested.
This was broken down as follows:
- General Arts: 39 projects totalling $1,407,588 were supported. $4,492,305 was requested by 135 applicants.
- Ngā toi Māori: 12 projects totalling $453,246 were supported. $768,587 was requested by 21 applicants.
- Pacific Arts: 7 projects totalling $282,572 were supported. $468,906 was requested by 10 applicants.
Also:
- 34 of the funded projects supported the development of arts practice and the creation of new work.
- 12 supported projects enabling New Zealanders to experience high-quality arts.
- 6 supported projects enabling New Zealanders to participate in the arts.
- 4 supported New Zealand arts to gain international success.
- 2 supported building the resilience of the New Zealand arts sector.
See who got funded in Arts Grant round 7 – this includes artform and regional breakdowns
Overall comments
There were some common features in the strongest applications for this round. These comments apply to all artforms and applications for Arts Grants round 7.
In this Arts Grants round, the strongest applications tended to include:
- clear examples of how their arts practice was to be developed by doing the project
- concise support material directly relevant to the project
- support material didn’t assume too much background knowledge from the assessors about the applicant, the applicants’ values and ways of working
- a detailed description of:
- the proposed project and its goals
- a strong project plan and how it would be carried out
- clear and achievable timeframes.
- letters of support that were recent, relevant and specific to the application rather than generic letters
- thorough and accurate budgets, using the Creative New Zealand templates, that clearly show:
- fair and appropriate remuneration/payment for both artists and practitioners
- realistic revenue forecasting
- how any funding gaps will be funded with evidence of support from relevant parties.
General feedback for emerging artists and practitioners
- Assessors want to understand your voice as a practitioner, as well as your practice. Think about that when drafting your application.
- Many emerging practitioners enlist the support of established artists to support them in the development of work or their practice. It’s useful to understand why you have chosen your mentor, how they will help you and what this process will look like.
General feedback for established artists and practitioners
- When applying for the development and presentation of new work, assessors are interested in how this work fits in your future or previous body of work. How will this challenge, expand or deepen your practice? How does this manifest in workshops or rehearsals (if appropriate)? What is the feedback process to continue refining your practice?
- If your project includes emerging performers, what is the process you have put in place to help them develop as practitioners?
Additional artform-specific comments
Further to the comments above, which apply to all applications in this round, there were strengths found for some specific artforms. Not every round will have commentary for all artforms, and trends relating to specific artforms may vary between rounds. This is because each Arts Grants round receives a different range of applications.
For Ngā Toi Māori, the strongest applications also:
- showed clearly how Mātauranga Māori is used in the process and visible in the final result
- included budgets with a clear breakdown of costs, including fair remuneration/payment for the artists, kaumātua and/or tohunga
- clearly expressed the artistic aims of the project
- had letters of support that showed they were supported by pakeke or established artists.
For Pasifika Arts, the strongest applications also:
- showed an understanding of what it means to be ‘Pasifika-led and supported’
- were clear about how the benefits of the project were not just focused on the applicant, but emerging artists too.
For Dance, the strongest applications also:
- included a showreel of work (at least 2-3 minutes of footage per work, or rehearsal process).
For Literature, the strongest applications also included:
- a compelling outline and sample of work that revealed important elements of the work – such as:
- compelling characters or participants
- issues or themes that are addressed
- a sense of variety and/or cohesion.
Community Arts
No Community Arts projects were funded in this round. In previous Arts Grants rounds, successful Community Art applications have tended to:
- clearly identify:
- the community that would be involved
- what the community want from this creative project
- how the community had been consulted and/or would be involved in shaping and delivering the project
- what their artistic experience would be
- focus on the arts outcomes that the project would deliver and were clear about the artistic quality of the project and how it would deliver these outcomes
- demonstrate a strong understanding of best practice in working with communities (see Community Arts Toolkit tip sheets on what makes a strong Community Arts project).
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