Waikato University artist-in-residence programme

Te Waka Toi supports
artist-in-residence programme
at Waikato University

Te Waka Toi, the Mäori arts board of Creative New Zealand, has supported its first artist-in-residence programme in its latest funding round.

Waikato University’s Mäori Studies Department has been offered a grant of $26,000 towards its residency programme. The selected artist will be able to develop his or her own work, at the same time working with the students to provide theoretical and practical tuition.

Te Waka Toi Chair Elizabeth Ellis says the residency programme will have a number of positive spin-offs.

“Both the artist and the students will benefit,” she says. “This is something that should be encouraged and developed, not only in Aotearoa but in partnership with similar institutions internationally. It’s an excellent opportunity for an artform to be developed, exhibited, taught and learnt within the modern context of a university.”

The artist will assist in the teaching of a course started in 1999 with a traditional Mäori arts base, deliver a lecture and run workshops, as well as exhibiting his or her own work.

“While Te Waka Toi has contributed significantly to this project, we see it as a partnership with the university that will benefit Mäori arts and artists,” Ms Ellis says.

In this funding round, Te Waka Toi received 88 applications seeking more than $1.8 million. A total of $703,814 was offered to 56 projects.

Te Waka Toi has five funding programmes to which artists and art organisations can apply: Heritage Arts, Experiencing Mäori Arts, Te Reo, New Work and Indigenous Links.

Under the Heritage Arts funding programme, a series of wänanga for Moriori cultural development was supported. Te Waka Toi offered a grant of $30,000 to the Hokotehi Moriori Trust of the Chatham Islands to support wänanga with Moriori on the revitalisation of their culture and tikanga. These wänanga will be held throughout New Zealand in June 2002.
“These wänanga will be major steps for Moriori in their efforts to reconnect with their culture, heritage and tipuna,” Ms Ellis says.

Grants offered to other wänanga include:

 $3200 to the Ngati Tipa Tama Trust of the Franklin District to learn marae traditions through the making of korowai

 $15,000 to Te Tohu o Tu of Christchurch to run a series of wänanga on mau rakau.

Under the Heritage Arts funding programme, grants were offered to several marae supporting artworks. These include:

 $40,000 to Awataha Marae on Auckland’s North Shore to design and produce the barge boards and tekoteko for the exterior porch

 $43,000 to Te Kauhanga Marae Planning Committee of Kaitaia to assist with the completion of carvings for the marae.

Under the New Works funding programme, Taranaki-based artist Julie Kipa was offered a $4000 grant to create new work for a solo exhibition at the Portfolio Gallery in Auckland. Kipa’s first solo exhibition since graduating with a visual arts degree from Massey University last year, the work will look at the cultural intersection between the number of Mäori who smoke and those with ta moko.

“Julie has already made an impact as a ta moko artist, art critic and curator,” Elizabeth Ellis says. “The grant will enable her to pursue her chosen path.”

Other projects offered under the New Works funding programme include:

 $6147 to Waipawa glass artist Merryn Jones, who has been invited by the The Ebeltoft Museum in Denmark to create and donate new work to the institution and attend a symposium there next March

 $5000 to Digitaalis of Newtown, Wellington to create original compositions, record a CD and publish the music.

The closing date for the next project funding round is 26 July 2002. Anyone wishing to apply for a grant to Te Waka Toi should contact Muriwai Ihakara, Mäori Arts Advisor, Creative New Zealand, Wellington (04-498 0734) or Eynon Delamere, Mäori Arts Advisor, Auckland (09-373 3066).

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Reuben Wharawhara, Communications Advisor, Creative New Zealand
Tel: 04 498 0727 / Mobile: 025 534 174 / email: reubenw@creativenz.govt.nz

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