Building national pride and celebrating Kiwi culture

1 July 2019

Building national pride and celebrating Kiwi culture through Major Events

Expressions of Interest for the new look Major Events Fund are being welcomed from today, 1 July 2019. The Fund has a new direction that will see it prioritise events that build national pride and celebrate New Zealand culture, as well as having a greater focus on arts and cultural events.

Iain Cossar, General Manager Tourism at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment says the Fund’s new direction will see investment in events that help celebrate the culture we are proud of and build a strong foundation for such events to grow.

“Major events showcase New Zealand on the international stage, and help us to celebrate our culture and diversity, and who we are as a country,” Iain Cossar said.

“We have refreshed our focus for the events we support, demonstrated by the shift from prioritising immediate economic impact to also focusing on wider social and cultural benefits. This new focus will help to achieve all of our objectives and also increase the participation and engagement in sports, arts and culture.”

Changes include setting a Statement of Investment Priority to focus investment, simplification of the investment process and establishing a Creative and Cultural Events Incubator that will ensure arts and cultural events are supported alongside sporting events.

“The Creative and Cultural Events Incubator sees us taking a more proactive role in supporting emerging and developing creative and cultural events,” Iain Cossar said.

“This will encourage a vibrant and diverse pipeline of these of events that might not have otherwise had the opportunity to develop into major events.

“We’re very excited about the new focus for the Fund and we’re looking forward to expressions of interest for internationally significant events that add vibrancy to our communities and build national pride while supporting New Zealand’s prosperity.”

More information on the Major Event Fund’s new direction, and the application process can be found at on the Major Events website.

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