Results posted: 20 May 2026
27
Projects funded
$825,016
Total funding awarded
247
Eligible applications received
$10,729,419
Total funding requested
27 applications have been offered funding of $825,016 to make, share, and present work that enriches audiences and communities, encouraging understanding and participation. We received 247 eligible applications with $10,729,419 requested.
Funding type summary
- Ngā toi Māori: 4 applicants were offered funding totalling $200,000
$2,489,725.69 was requested by 51 applicants - Pacific arts: 2 applicants were offered funding totalling $75,000
$945,165.21 was requested by 17 applicants - General arts: 21 applicants were offered funding totalling $550,015.50
$7,294,528.07 was requested by 179 applicants
Artform summary
- 2 – Craft/Object
- 1 – Dance
- 6 – Literature
- 1 – Multidisciplinary arts
- 4 – Music
- 6 – Theatre
- 7 – Visual arts
Key themes and round observations
The Creative Impact Fund is focused on support for artists, practitioners, and groups of collaborators to make, share and present work that encourages knowledge sharing, enriches audiences and deepens understanding and participation in the arts.
In this round, we received the most applications from visual arts practitioners, followed by music and literature.
Assessment sought to ensure a spread of results across region, career stage and genre as much as possible, with consideration to Creative New Zealand’s investment through other funds and channels.
Strong applications in this round demonstrated these characteristics:
- They were timely and relevant to the arts sector and artform, and included the development of work and progression across career stages.
- They identified which communities were involved and how they would benefit.
- They showed how international opportunities would benefit arts practice, engage wider audiences, share learnings and benefit the Aotearoa arts sector, especially underserved communities or artforms.
- They were compelling and generated a strong sense of excitement.
- They were clearly articulated with relevant support material.
- Budgets were clear and accessible, revenue streams were diversified, and they aimed to reduce financial pressure on both artists and audiences.
- In collaborative artforms, budgets were allocated across production, accessibility, and people.
- They increased access to the arts for regional communities and audiences.
- They identified and responded to notable gaps in the arts ecosystem.
- They demonstrated impact not just for the practitioner but for the artform nationally or internationally.
- They demonstrated ongoing impact.
- They made a significant contribution to discourse, documentation or archiving of practice.
- They involved presentations with deep connections to people and place.
- They included authentic and meaningful engagement with community throughout the whole process, from creation to presentation.
- They had a strong creative concept, clear planning, and community buy-in.
- They supported career sustainability.
- They reflected Aotearoa's unique identity in the arts.
Funded projects
$15,000 - towards travel, accommodation and support costs to Taiwan and Japan for the Asian Playwright Exchange Project
This content is tagged as Theatre .
APPLICANT: Ahilan Karunaharan
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$25,000 - towards participating in the 2026 IWP Fall Residency (Iowa, USA) and representing Aotearoa in a literary cultural exchange
This content is tagged as Literature .
APPLICANT: Amber Esau
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$8,016 - towards a workshop and public viewing of the monodrama 'You! Who?' by Anthony Ritchie and Fiona Farrell
This content is tagged as Music .
APPLICANT: Anthony Ritchie
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$36,500 - towards exhibition making costs for The Highlander's Farewell at Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum
This content is tagged as Visual arts .
APPLICANT: Ayesha Green
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$12,000 - towards Writers Write - Actors Read, a series of live events where actors read short stories by Aotearoa writers, recorded for a podcast
This content is tagged as Literature .
APPLICANT: Bridget van der Zijpp
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$15,000 - towards the pre-production, production, and marketing of three new pukapuka for Āporo Press Books
This content is tagged as Literature .
APPLICANT: Damien Levi, Ruby Leonard
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$20,000 - towards an outdoor visual art project made with and for the community in the Queenstown Southern Lakes area
This content is tagged as Visual arts .
APPLICANT: Emma Deakin, Kemi Niko & Co.
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$25,000 - to develop and build a comprehensive and accessible working archive of work dating back to 1972
This content is tagged as Visual arts .
APPLICANT: Fiona Clark
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$35,663 - towards the 2026 programme of artform books on lens based artists from Aotearoa
This content is tagged as Visual arts .
APPLICANT: Haruhiko Sameshima
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$25,000 - towards the work in progress theatre show TUAKIRITEA by Reon and Huia Max Rose
This content is tagged as Theatre .
APPLICANT: Huia Zofia Max
FUNDING POOL: Ngā toi Māori fund
$18,500 - towards Sonic Entanglements
This content is tagged as Music .
APPLICANT: John Coulter
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$45,000 - towards a national festival tour of the children’s and family theatre work Motuhake by Jandel J and the Funky Friends
This content is tagged as Theatre .
APPLICANT: Justin Haiu, Mele Taeiloa
FUNDING POOL: Pacific arts fund
$35,000 - towards developing a survey exhibition featuring 1,000 rings for international tour
This content is tagged as Craft and Object art .
APPLICANT: Karl Fritsch
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$30,000 - towards Navigating the Moana, a collaborative sail and print workshop
This content is tagged as Multi-disciplinary .
APPLICANT: Michel Tuffery
FUNDING POOL: Pacific arts fund
$25,000 - towards Hand Pulled Collective 2026/27 season
This content is tagged as Theatre .
APPLICANT: Natalya Mandich-Dohnt
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$125,000 - to develop and present a new choreographic work to premiere at the Venice Biennale Danza 2026
This content is tagged as Dance .
APPLICANT: Oliver Mathiesen
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$13,500 - towards commissioning a new work for Ghost Trio
This content is tagged as Music .
APPLICANT: Philip Brownlee
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$10,000 - towards attending international literary festivals to present work and share knowledge
This content is tagged as Literature .
APPLICANT: Rachael King
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$20,000 - towards remounting a season of Grandad's Lucky Storm in Paekākāriki creating a tour ready show
This content is tagged as Theatre .
APPLICANT: Rachel Callinan, Julia Truscott
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$42,663 - towards fair pay for writers and contribution toward NZ printing for issues 03, 04 and 05 of Current
This content is tagged as Visual arts .
APPLICANT: Rebecca Hemus
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$50,000 - to research, write, and gather photographic images for the first ever book dedicated to the art of hāngi
This content is tagged as Literature .
APPLICANT: Rewi Spraggon
FUNDING POOL: Ngā toi Māori fund
$15,000 - towards the premiere production of new experimental naturalist work All You Had Was Fun
This content is tagged as Theatre .
APPLICANT: Sam Brooks
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$15,175 - towards a collaborative sculptural project and exhibition in December 2026
This content is tagged as Visual arts .
APPLICANT: Shelley Simpson
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$50,000 - to produce a 14-track album of waiata composed by Professor Te Kahautu Maxwell, for King Tūheitia
This content is tagged as Music .
APPLICANT: Te Kahautu Maxwell
FUNDING POOL: Ngā toi Māori fund
$75,000 - towards the creation of a multi sensory exhibition- He Wairua Toa | Taiaha as part of a wider He Wairua Toa project
This content is tagged as Visual arts .
APPLICANT: Te Rawhitiroa Bosch
FUNDING POOL: Ngā toi Māori fund
$25,000 - towards a richly illustrated art book that will recognise and document the work of 15 Māori, Pasifika and Pākehā women
This content is tagged as Craft and Object art .
APPLICANT: Tui Hobson
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund
$13,000 - towards compiling and editing an anthology of Aotearoa-South Asian writing
This content is tagged as Literature .
APPLICANT: Vasanti Unka
FUNDING POOL: General arts fund