Put your best foot forward early for Creative New Zealand funding opportunities

21 Mar 2019

Make a quality application well ahead of the Friday 29 March deadline, is Creative New Zealand’s advice to artists and organisations seeking support through current funding opportunities.

As the national arts development agency, Creative New Zealand encourages, promotes and supports the arts for the benefit of all New Zealanders, through funding, capability building and arts advocacy. The focus of the various funding opportunities on offer is to help New Zealand artists, arts practitioners and arts organisations create and distribute their work, and for artists to develop their creative and professional practice.

“Our funding is highly contested, and applicants need to ensure they give themselves enough time to put together a quality application that articulates their ideas well,” said Cath Cardiff, Creative New Zealand Senior Manager, Arts Development Services.

The 12 funding programmes with a 29 March deadline provide opportunities across all artforms. They include three prestigious fellowships, each worth $100,000 over two years for choreography, craft/object and writing projects, and a three-month artist’s residency in Samoa.

In 2017/18, Creative New Zealand awarded 592 grants totalling $7.3 million across arts grants, special opportunities and our international programme.

Upcoming changes

Creative New Zealand recently signalled a change within its arts grants programme, specifically related to the Arts Grants and Quick Response Grants programmes. The change is a consolidation of the two programmes and, in order for Creative New Zealand to put the infrastructure in place for the combined programme to be offered later this year, the usual mid-year Quick Response round will not be offered in 2019.

Anyone planning to seek funding for a project to be delivered between June and October this year should consider applying to the Arts Grants round below, closing on 29 March. We anticipate this round will be hotly contested and encourage applicants to submit applications as early as possible given the likely demands on the online portal as the deadline date approaches.

Cath Cardiff explained the changes in an interview on Standing Room Only, Radio New Zealand

Available funding – deadline: 29 March 2019

In general, funded projects must directly benefit New Zealand arts, artists or practitioners. The specific criteria for each grant are outlined on our website and linked below:

Arts Grants – all artforms

Creative New Zealand Choreographic Fellowship 2019 - dance

Creative New Zealand Craft/Object Fellowship 2019 – object/art

Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer's Fellowship 2019 - literature

Louis Johnson New Writer's Bursary – literature, theatre

New Zealand/Aotearoa Music Scholarships 2019 - music

Jack McGill Music Scholarship 2019 - music

Edwin Carr Foundation Scholarship 2019 - music

Toi Ake – music, Ngā Toi Māori

Creative New Zealand Samoa Artist in Residence 2019 - Pacific Arts

International Indigenous Artform Exchange 2019 – Ngā Toi Māori

Kava New Leaders Grants – Pacific Arts