31 Mar 2023
Today we announce that 81 applications have received support through Creative New Zealand’s February Arts Grant round, totalling an investment of $3.7 million.
This round received a $1.7 million top-up from the one-off $22 million of Covid Recovery Reprioritised Funds Creative New Zealand received earlier this year from the Government. The remaining funds will be distributed across programmes during the rest of this year and are a welcome boost to the arts.
“Our arts, creative and cultural communities are facing extremely challenging times” says Gretchen La Roche, Senior Manager, Arts Development Services.
“These additional funds have enabled us to support a significantly greater number of proposals than previous rounds, providing critical support for artists to continue to realise their work”.
The 81 projects announced, up from last round’s 63, represent a wide range of arts practice by artists, practitioners and organisations across all stages of their careers, taking place throughout the country.
“The diversity and strength of work supported in this round is outstanding, it is a reflection of just how dynamic our arts, cultural and creative sector is in our country.” Says Gretchen.
Ngā toi artist Matariki Bennett’s (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) proposal to produce a collection of poems in te reo Māori and te reo Pākehā exploring home, growing up, and finding one’s own voice was supported, as was Caitlin Donnelly (Kāi Tahu, Kati Māmoe, Pākehā), an emerging craft artist, to realise two projects about wāhine, kowhaea and Māori identity.
The Magnificent Weirdos theatre company has received support for five new plays that will be written and performed by the disability community.
“Unfortunately, there were a large number of incredible applications that we couldn’t support, and we appreciate that this will be disappointing for those concerned. We also know that with this round closing in 24 hours it caused great frustration for many, and we will be raising the cap substantially for the round next month and working to remove it entirely for the future”, Gretchen says.
Creative New Zealand will be sharing further information next week about how artists will be supported with the additional funding received earlier this year.
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