For The Arts: New Programmes Deliver Tailored Support For The Arts Community

Creative New Zealand today announced its new programmes for 2024. The eight new funding and support opportunities are tailored to three distinct groups: early career artists, artists and practitioners, and arts groups and organisations, and will replace the existing contestable grants programme.

“We’ve listened to the arts community and heard the calls for fundamental change,” Gretchen La Roche, Senior Manager, Arts Development Services said.

“We’ve moved from a ‘one size fits all’ approach to accessible, focused, fairer support with broader opportunities for artists, arts organisations, and artists at an early stage of their career,” she said.

Creative New Zealand held 24 workshops between March and April this year and sought feedback from the sector.

“As a result of talking and listening to the sector, we’ve moved from a focus on investing in projects to investing in people. These changes have been made to support artists to be able to take more risks. We want to provide greater flexibility for artists who we know need different things at different times.”

The eight new programmes acknowledge the uncertainty that artists and arts organisations often operate within. The change in focus flows through the programmes, with an emphasis on vision and purpose, valuing artists’ time, supporting longer-term development and building relationships with artists and organisations outside of funding.

The new Creative Fellowship Fund is an example of valuing artists’ time. Artists can apply for funding for up to 18 months to focus on developing fresh ideas and approaches and to take risks in their work.

Stephen Wainwright, CEO, said the collaborative consultation process that Creative New Zealand undertook with the arts community has transformed its thinking.

“Over the past year we’ve looked carefully at our processes and systems and have acknowledged what hasn’t worked. This new approach represents an intentional shift to be more artist-centred. We want to be uplifting the arts and making it simpler for artists to have access to the kinds of support they need to succeed. The changes underway reflect our commitment to this,” he said.

All eight programmes will be offered for the first time in 2024, with the first opening in March, and the eighth in August. Creative New Zealand is holding online information sessions about the programmes for the sector, with follow-up Q+A sessions.

The programmes will account for about 20 percent of Creative New Zealand’s investment in the arts, in line with the allocation for the previous contestable Grants funding schemes.

The Investment programmes (Toi Tōtara Haemata and Toi Uru Kahikatea) and the Creative Communities Scheme are not affected by the new programmes.

All Creative New Zealand’s investment in the arts from July 2024 will be implemented in the context of a funding pool that has returned to pre-Covid funding levels. The for the arts programmes were designed with this mind.

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