14 Aug 2024
Creative New Zealand today announces the results of the new Arts Organisations and Groups Fund.
Eighty-three organisations and groups have been supported through the round, with 39 receiving funding for one year and 44 receiving funding for two years. The funding is to deliver a programme of work.
Creative New Zealand’s Chief Executive, Stephen Wainwright, says the funding decisions were weighed carefully to support a broad and diverse range of Aotearoa organisations and groups and as many as possible.
“Creative New Zealand received strong applications from organisations and groups who have a dynamic vision and make a positive impact in their communities. We’re pleased to have been able to offer the stability and certainty of two-year funding to more than half of the successful applicants. Previously grant funding was available for a maximum of one year,” Stephen says.
“We know the sector values longer-term support and it is critical to planning and financial sustainability. We’ve also eased the application burden as organisations supported for two years will not need to apply for support next year,” he says.
The fund has increased support for organisations in centres outside of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, alongside strong support for organisations focused on youth. Operational and organisational costs have been funded to build sector resilience.
“Our strategic focus is to develop New Zealand’s arts infrastructure. In this round we’ve supported excellent organisations whose work strengthens the sector and the communities around them,” Stephen says.
The Arts Organisations and Groups Fund received nearly 400 applications with requests totalling $40 million. The fund offers two tiers of support, up to $50,000 per annum and up to $125,000 per annum. The fund is one of eight For the arts programmes being rolled out in 2024.
Key themes and round observations – Arts Organisations & Groups
Results are in for the first round of our Arts Organisations and Groups funds as part of our Arts funding programmes implemented in 2024.
Eighty-three organisations and groups have been supported through the round, with 39 receiving funding for one year and 44 receiving funding for two years. The funding is to deliver a programme of work.
There were many very strong applications in this round and our panel faced some very difficult decisions with the resource that we had available.
We received a diverse range of applications within each artforms’ ecosystem, with an even spread of requests for operational and delivery support. There was strong representation in Community Arts within both Visual Arts and Multidisciplinary Arts. We also received a substantial number of requests for multi-year funding and first-time organisations and groups applying to Creative New Zealand.
The fund has increased support for organisations in centres outside of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, alongside strong support for organisations focused on youth. Operational and organisational costs have been funded to build sector resilience.
Here we provide key themes and observations of the results for the Arts Organisations and Groups, supporting organisations and groups to deliver a programme of work for up to two years.
Key themes and observations:
Supported applications were able to clearly identify the community(ies) they serve and how this funding would meaningfully benefit and impact those communities. These applications were also able to articulate a strong and impactful vision that demonstrated how their programme and activities impact their artform/s, artists and ecosystem. Strong applications were thorough and articulate with detailed budgets, and in the case of higher requests, demonstrated sound financial management. This included evidence of previous successful programme delivery. They demonstrated strong alignment with Creative New Zealand’s Interim Investment Intention, delivering to two or more Investment Features, and complemented our existing investment in serving a range of practice and communities.
Strong applications under the Arts Organisations and Groups Fund tended to:
- clearly articulate dynamic visions for their organisation or group that demonstrated strong alignment to Creative New Zealand’s Interim Investment Intentions
- demonstrate a strong focus on strategic development and resilience including governance, people, capability and succession planning.
- provide a clear positioning of their organisation within the community(ies) they serve and how this contributes to the growth and development of artists and arts ecology in Aotearoa.
- clearly identify the community(ies) they serve and were specific in their design of annual programmes to deliver to the needs/opportunities of that community(ies).
- provide financial plans that demonstrate sound financial management and organisational capacity, indicating a sustainable financial approach.
- demonstrate innovative approaches to addressing sector wide challenges for their artform, with adequate consideration, detail and engagement in their programme design.
- articulate and demonstrate intentional and responsive programme design and delivery that is inclusive of communities that are historically underserved.
- provide strong and engaging evidence of past and current activities to support their viability to deliver on proposed planned activities.
Q&A's from webinar
When you say this fund will re-open next year, same timings? May deadline/August results? and also same amounts ( $50k - up to $125k at max)?
We are likely to offer this fund around the same time, but we haven’t confirmed the 2025 funding calendar yet. This will be published on our website by the end of 2024. We will review funding as our budget requires, but we expect sums to stay largely at their current levels.
Were any salaries for particular roles funded?
The Arts Orgs and Groups Fund was to support operational and artistic costs.
A range of role specific salaries were supported as part of operation costs that organisations and groups are eligible to apply for.
Can we expect a dedicated Festival Fund in the near future?
Festival Grants were offered in 2024 as a one-off opportunity as a result of COVID-19 recovery funding.
Festivals can now apply for support through our Arts Organisations & Group Funds.
What is Creative NZ doing to address the investment made to Creative Communities Scheme?
There is no current review underway for the Creative Communities Scheme and we acknowledge the significant value this programme provides the regions.
Each council sets their own rules in relation to maximum amounts, so we encourage you to talk to your local council about any changes.
Could you please provide a breakdown of funding allocation per region and districts?
The following is broadly a breakdown of the funding per region across the two years. This is a funding allocation only and it does not reflect that many organisations will deliver activity across more than one region.
Auckland City : $2,449,134.00
Central Hawkes Bay District: $40,000.00
Christchurch City: $1,173,695.00
Dunedin City: $285,000.00
Far North District: $160,000.00
Gisborne: $40,000.00
Hamilton City: $200,000.00
Hastings District: $299,960.00
Kapiti Coast : $85,000.00
Napier City: $50,000.00
National: $401,000.00
Nelson City: $300,000.00
New Plymouth District: $100,000.00
Northland: $66,000.00
Online: $160,000.00
Opotiki District: $196,686.00
Porirua City: $50,000.00
Queenstown-Lakes District: $100,000.00
Rotorua District: $175,000.00
Southland District: $95,000.00
Tauranga District: $360,000.00
Upper Hutt City: $80,000.00
Waikato District: $25,000.00
Wellington City: $1,236,924.00
Whanganui District: $19,450.00
Whangarei: $223,800.00
Without knowing who received the funding it is difficult to ask a meaningful question but it does seem a small number of organisations received a large amount of funding. Wouldn't it be better if less was given to more organisations?
We felt it was necessary to support organisations and groups at amounts that were viable for what they wanted to achieve. On average we have funded successful applications to 80% of their request (in line with the maximum available for this fund of $50-125K) and this has enabled us to fund more organisations/groups across the board.
This is the first time we have offered this fund. We will review the fund and make any necessary changes before it is offered again in 2025.
I noticed a lot of presenter/venue orgs in this fund along with arts makers (companies). Could those categories be in different funds so they aren’t competing with each other?
The changes made in 2024 are intended to make the offerings more streamlined and easier for Arts Organisations to apply for. This is the first time we have offered this fund. We will be review and make any necessary changes before we offer it again in 2025.
Can you supply us with Written feedback? It is essential
This year we changed our assessment process so that all assessors assessed all applications in their artform and funding pool. This allowed for richer discussion at panels and more robust decision making by consensus. This change meant assessors did not write individual feedback for applicants. We understand this is a change, in response we’ve focused on providing high-level feedback on what we prioritised for the round looking at artform, community, audience and ecosystem needs. We adopted a similar model to other national arts agencies including Australia and Canada.
Creative New Zealand dropped the category 'community arts' from its Arts Organisations Fund. Now relegated to Creative Communities only. As a community of professional practice, we are now disadvantaged through this when applying. Please clarify reasons for this change, and how professional community arts practice is addressed in the application criteria?
In 2024 Community Arts as a stand-alone artform is no longer. Community arts organisations need to select their most appropriate artform – for the most part this is ‘multi-disciplinary’.
Within the design and implementation of the new programme, delivery to community and practice is key. Applications to AOG were assessed on how they demonstrated an impact/benefit on their communities.
We think that these changes will overall benefit organisations that contribute to their communities and practice.
I tried several times before the funding round closed to speak to an advisor and was unable to get through. I made 2 online appointments for the advisor to call me and didn’t receive a call. I’m not sure what went wrong, but it would be great to be able to talk to an advisor?
We’re sorry the system didn’t work for you. Our advisers have continued to experience a high volume of requests for meetings to discuss the new funding opportunities. While we aim to respond in a timely manner, we expect that there will be times when an adviser is unavailable. We encourage you to continue to use our booking system here, or email funding@creativenz.govt.nz if you are unsure who the best person to talk to.
Could you also please provide list of alternative funding sources and contact of your advisors?
Please see our resources
Can you show us a regional breakdown?
Of the 83 organisations being supported; 57 organisations are either based outside of Auckland and Wellington or delivering activity outside of Auckland & Wellington. (includes National delivery;excludes online)
Can you please clarify current investment in Creative Communities scheme nationally?
The CCS Annual Allocation for 2024/25 is $ $4,035,243.60
Are there lobby groups that are actively searching for more funding? It is obvious that the balance towards availability and funding is lost
Creative New Zealand does not lobby, but we do advocate for the arts by promoting the public value of art, culture, creativity and ngā toi Māori, and by supporting the arts and creative sector to make the case for the arts. Find out more about our advocacy work on our website, along with tools and resources to encourage strong collective advocacy.
There was a strong focus on communities in this new fund. How was this best evidenced and how was it assessed?
Applications submitted to this fund were assessed against the following (based on what was included in the application):
- there is a clear need in their communities, or audience, for the activities proposed
- there is potential for meaningful and positive impact in their communities/audience
Applications supported in this round were generally able to evidence this through letters of support from their community/audience, evidence of a long standing relationship and/or involvement of the community in the design or delivery of the programme.
My question is whether you have a preference for funding art created for audiences, or providing art for participation?
Creative New Zealand does not have a preference – you can see the areas that Creative New Zealand seeks to invest through our Interim Investment Intentions. Both creation of art and participation are included in these outcomes.
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