Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage welcomes a new report Te kaha o ā tātou mahi | The Power of our work which details the impact of multi-year funding of creative spaces across New Zealand.

As part of the COVID recovery programme, the Ministry invested $18 million into a network of creative spaces, in partnership with Arts Access Aotearoa, to support the growth and sustainability of creative spaces over three years.

"It’s fantastic to read about the positive impacts in the report," says Manatū Taonga Secretary for Culture and Heritage Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae.

"Funding allowed the spaces to increase services to meet the high demand, and had so many benefits for staff and participants - particularly on their mental health and wellbeing.

"Funding of creative spaces not only created more jobs, but provided career development opportunities and supported career pathways, including for artists who had previously been participants or volunteers. Many of the creative spaces have used those three years of investment to find new ways to support their long-term sustainability.

"The funding gave creative spaces greater capacity to build relationships to help expand the reach of their programmes, and support different groups in the community to access creative opportunities. Some spaces supported artists to sell their artworks, and even helped to develop their own small business enterprises.

"A big thank you to Arts Access Aotearoa for partnering with Manatū Taonga to monitor the investment and support creative spaces throughout this initiative," says Leauanae.

A total of 54 creative spaces received funding across the country.

Read the report, as well as individual stories of creative spaces, on the Creative Spaces Network website: https://creativespacesnetwork.org.nz/Impact-of-multi-year-investment-for-creative-spaces

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