26 May 2014
Creative New Zealand’s new Arts Council will make major funding and strategic decisions while delegating other decision-making to senior management.
At its inaugural meeting on 7 May the Council decided it would make decisions on Creative New Zealand’s investment programmes and significant initiatives, which account for 70 percent of the total arts funding budget.
With the exception of Quick Response Grants, all funding decisions, whether by the Council or senior management, will continue to be informed by external assessment.
What will be new?
The new Arts Council will make funding decisions on:
- our multi-year investment programmes – Toi Uru Kahikatea (Arts Development) and Toi Tōtara Haemata (Arts Leadership). These programmes account for more than half of Creative New Zealand’s funding of the arts
- major initiatives such as New Zealand’s presence at the Venice Biennale, the NZatEdinburgh 2014 season, Prime Minister’s Awards for Literature and the Festival of Pacific Arts
- any grants or initiatives with budget implications of more than $250,000
- any initiative which, in the opinion of the chief executive, should only be funded with the agreement of the Arts Council
Funding decisions which have a budget effect of less than $100,000 will be made by the relevant senior manager, however Arts Grants will be ratified by the chief executive.
Funding decisions of more than $100,000 and less than $250,000 will be made by the chief executive on the recommendation of the relevant senior manager. Other than our major initiatives and investment programmes, there are very few funding decisions over $100,000.
What stays the same?
External peer assessment remains integral to decision-making through both assessments of applications by individual assessors and assessment panels.
External assessment will continue to be used for:
- Arts Grants
- our investment programmes
- opportunities like fellowships and residencies
- capability building programmes and international initiatives.
The only exception is Quick Response Grants, which have a maximum value of $7,500, where decisions will continue to be made by the Senior Manager on the recommendation of staff.
There will continue to be funding streams for Māori, Pacific or general arts. Applicants can choose to have their proposals reviewed by staff and external assessors with the relevant expertise.
Māori will continue to be involved in any assessment of Māori arts and Pasifika people in any assessment of Pacific Arts including through specific Māori and Pacific assessment panels.
Our new legislation establishes a Committee of the Council made up of the four Māori members. The role and functions of the new committee will be discussed at the Council’s next meeting in July.
As the governing board Council members are responsible for setting Creative New Zealand’s strategic direction and monitoring Creative New Zealand’s performance against its strategic objectives. The Arts Council will also make major funding decisions and continue to set all funding policies, establish funding programmes and set their budgets.
Our aim is to maintain consistency while also ensuring decisions are made efficiently by the people best placed to make them.
You can find more information about the members of our Council and our new legislation on our website.
CATEGORIES: Community arts, Fellowships awards and residencies, Funding for organisations, Funding for individuals, International, Legislation and governance Latest news and blog
Share this
