03 Sep 2026
Earlier this year we launched Tū Mai Rā, Toi Aotearoa, our strategy for the future of arts development in Aotearoa. It reflects years of conversations with artists, arts organisations, communities and partners, but it also reflects a clear conclusion we've reached as an organisation.
If we want different outcomes for the arts, we need to be prepared to do things differently.
Across the motu, artists and organisations continue to create extraordinary work despite the growing pressures we find ourselves in. Costs continue to rise, demand for support remains high, and many organisations are facing difficult decisions about what they can sustain. We continue to see remarkable resilience from the sector, but resilience alone is not a strategy.
We’ve seen what maintaining the status quo delivers when investment struggles to keep pace with demand. We've also seen the pressure it places on artists, organisations and communities, and the difficult choices people are being forced to make.
Some people have understandably questioned whether the changes we're pursuing are simply shifting deckchairs around the Titanic, and I understand that scepticism. Whenever organisations talk about change, it's reasonable to ask whether the change is meaningful or simply administrative.
But we are pursuing change because we believe it is necessary if we want to achieve significant impact. If we want to increase investment in the arts, strengthen cultural infrastructure, expand opportunities for artists, elevate ngā toi Māori and Pacific arts, and improve access to creativity across Aotearoa, then incremental adjustments will not be enough.
Significant impact requires significant change.
That applies not only to how we support the sector, but to Creative New Zealand itself. Over the past months we've begun making changes to how we are organised and where we focus our effort. Some of those decisions have been difficult, and change is never entirely straightforward. But we're making these changes because we believe Creative New Zealand needs to be well positioned to deliver on the ambitions set out in Tū Mai Rā, which includes dedicated teams with an elevated focus on arts advocacy and increasing investment into the arts sector.
What hasn't changed is our purpose. We are here to support artists, ngā toi Māori, Pacific arts, arts organisations and communities across Aotearoa, and to help create the conditions where creativity can flourish. That includes being clearer about the role we need to play as the national arts development agency for Aotearoa. People want us to be a stronger advocate for the arts, a more visible voice, and a more active partner in growing investment and opportunity. I believe those expectations are both reasonable and necessary. To achieve these goals we, as an agency, need to make this a higher priority, put more emphasis on this work and ensure that we have strong teams in place to deliver on these focus areas.
Too often, arts investment is spoken about as though it were a hand-out. Arts funding is investment. It contributes to economic activity, education, tourism, wellbeing, innovation, cultural confidence and community connection. If we want greater investment in the arts, we need more people to understand the value that investment creates.
We are seeing continuing challenging times for the arts ahead with further funding cuts being signalled for public sector arts and cultural agencies, rates capping for Local Government, tax credit capping for charitable donations and a continuing tough economic outlook. The potential impact on our sector will not be met through increased collaboration, shared services or further demands placed on the already stretched philanthropic community alone. We are facing something that demands a far more systemic approach, radical change, and a nationwide conversation about how we value the arts and creativity.
Ultimately, Creative New Zealand’s success won't be measured by how many programmes we run or applications we process. It will be measured by whether more investment reaches artists and communities, whether organisations are stronger, whether more creative careers are possible, and whether more people have the opportunity to participate in and benefit from the arts.
This broader ambition is also why we're exploring different approaches to arts development through tuku rauemi. One of the most discussed aspects of this work has been the possibility of future regional partnerships, so I want to be very clear about where things currently stand.
No regional partners have been appointed, and no decisions have been made.
The Registration of Interest stage has now closed. Fifty-one organisations and collectives expressed interest, and organisations and collectives across 16 regions have been invited to develop proposals through the government's procurement process. Those proposals will soon be considered before any decisions are made by the Arts Council.
What remains clear to us is that local knowledge and local relationships matter. Communities understand their own strengths, opportunities and aspirations in ways that national organisations alone never can. The question we are exploring is whether there are better ways to support local leadership, strengthen regional ecosystems and create new opportunities for investment and development.
We believe that there is significant value in developing a strong, national network of entities that deliver directly to their communities. We also believe that the partnership approach gives us a stronger ability to keep other regional funding stakeholders ‘at the table’ and continuing to invest in their communities. We want to work more closely with each region, playing a stronger and more present role in strategic investment, utilising our role to contribute the national perspective including artform and practice overview.
At the same time, Creative New Zealand's role as the national arts development agency remains as important as ever. We will continue to advocate for greater investment, champion artists and creativity, strengthen international connections, and provide national leadership for arts development.
Regional leadership and national leadership are not competing concepts. In our view, they strengthen one another.
Ehara taku toa, he takitahi, he toa takitini.
My success is not mine alone, but comes from the many.
This whakataukī speaks to the reality of how progress happens in the arts; none of us can achieve meaningful change alone. The strength of our arts sector comes from artists, communities, iwi, organisations, funders, advocates and partners working together, each contributing their own expertise, experience and leadership. As we look to the future, that collective effort will be more important than ever.
We've asked the sector to adapt and evolve, and it's only right that we do the same.
The future we described in Tū Mai Rā will not be achieved through incremental change alone. It will require courage, partnership, sustained investment and a willingness to think differently about what is possible.
I believe the sector is ready for that kōrero, and I believe the future of the arts in Aotearoa is worth having it.