We’re building support for a future where arts, culture, and creativity thrive, so all New Zealanders flourish.
Our advocacy work focuses on two things:
- Promoting the value of arts, culture and creativity in all our lives
- Supporting the arts sector to make the case for the arts
We do this by:
- Creating tools and research for arts advocates
- Delivering public campaigns about the value of arts, culture and creativity
- Making regular submissions on issues affecting the sector
- Working with others, like local government, to increase understanding about the value of the arts
- Delivering to our advocacy strategy with advice and insights from sector advisory group Te Rōpū Mana Toi
Many of our Creative New Zealand whānau and teams advocate for the arts as part of their work. The work of our dedicated Advocacy team, guided by our Advocacy Strategy, works towards four advocacy pou (pillars).
Our four pou
Public campaigns & engagement
- We run national public-facing advocacy campaigns and events that build greater awareness and appreciation of the arts’ contribution to our lives.
- We work with media to create storytelling about artists and the value of the arts.
- We support and amplify research that demonstrates the value of art, culture and creativity to New Zealanders.
Local government
We advocate for improving communities’ social and cultural wellbeing through art, culture, and creativity by:
- Fostering close engagement with local councils, Local Government New Zealand and Taituarā
- Encouraging investment in arts and culture by engaging with annual plans, long-term plans, and other consultations
- Supporting the arts sector to undertake their own advocacy with local government.
Wellbeing
Wellbeing is a theme woven through our advocacy work. We promote the wellbeing benefits of arts and culture by:
- Collating and sharing evidence about how arts, culture, and creativity are good for us, our families, and communities
- Supporting research into the impact of arts and culture
- Building partnerships to bring wellbeing initiatives to life
Te Rōpū Mana Toi
We convene a group of arts sector leaders who inform and guide our advocacy work and advance arts advocacy at the national level.
Art Work
A storytelling series on the working lives of artists, created by The Spinoff and shared on Stuff.co.nz, and timed for the release of research into the careers of creative professionals. Find out more about the campaign or read the stories on The Spinoff.
The Creative Wellbeing Series
For this storytelling series, we partnered with with Ensemble Magazine and All Right?, and worked with a range of established and emerging writers on stories about the intrinsic wellbeing benefits of creativity.
All in for Arts
All in for Arts He waka toi e eke noa nei tātou is an annual regional advocacy tour in partnership with The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi. Together we travel around Aotearoa to reveal, gather and share stories from New Zealanders about the value and impact that arts, culture and creativity has on their lives and communities.
Thankful for Art
Thankful for Art (#TFA) was a public advocacy campaign we ran during New Zealand’s initial nationwide lockdown (March – May 2020). We worked with well-known artists and arts supporters from across Aotearoa to celebrate the ways that the arts helped get us through lockdown, and shared how New Zealanders could engage with, support and participate in the arts during an uncertain time.
That's why | Ngā taku kaingākau ki
This social media advocacy campaign launched in November 2021 amplifying voices from the arts community to encourage vaccination. The campaign featured well-known voices from the arts community sharing their ‘why’: why they do what they do, why they love their creative practice, and why they choose to be vaccinated. The campaign aimed to support the arts and culture sector to gather, present and delivery work safely again.
Local Government Advocacy
The LGNZ Conference 2021 included a cultural wellbeing session supported by Creative New Zealand, which focused on creativity as a driver for community wellbeing. Arts Council Chair Caren Rangi spoke alongside Rangi Kipa, Meg Williams, Elisapeta Heta and Sandra Hazlehurst. We also continued our support of the annual Creative New Zealand EXCELLENCE Award, to celebrate the leadership role of local councils and their work to promote the wellbeing of our communities.
Our Advocacy Team
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Tracey Monastra, Advocacy Manager (Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington)
Tracey is a former arts and cultural programme manager and audience engagement specialist, with over twenty years' experience in arts sector including many years as a set designer for some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading theatre companies.
Cara Paterson, Senior Advisor (Ōtepoti, Dunedin)
Cara brings deep local government experience to her role, with twenty years as an arts advisor at Dunedin City Council. She’s focussed on building relationships and support for arts and culture within local government across the country.
Ed Watson, Senior Advisor (Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington)
Ed is a creative communications all-rounder and a former theatre maker. He brings experience from communications roles at BATS Theatre and the Ākina Foundation.
Kerryanne Nelson, Advocacy Communications (Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland)
Kerryanne Nelson has an extensive background in strategic communications and marketing, both within Aotearoa and abroad. She’s an experienced creative producer and the former General Manager of the Spinoff.
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