Hon Carmel Sepuloni

Associate Minister Arts, Culture and Heritage

02 August 2018 PĀNUI PĀPĀHO

MEDIA STATEMENT

Over 200 people celebrated the role of Art in transforming lives and promoting inclusiveness at The Te Putanga Toi Awards at Parliament last night.

The Awards hosted by Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni and organised by Arts Access Aotearoa, recognise organisations that make it easy to access Art; and artists with a disability, sensory impairment and those experiencing mental illness.

“Congratulations to all the Award recipients and finalists. The work you do to make Art accessible for all, reflects this Government’s values; to increase inclusiveness and to make a positive difference for all New Zealanders,” Carmel Sepuloni said.

“The therapeutic and rehabilitative power of Art was a highlight of the Awards. It was great to recognise the people behind programmes in community art spaces, prisons, schools and workplaces that use art to heal, teach and empower.

“This Government is doing its part to increase inclusiveness and improve wellbeing for people with disabilities.

“We are increasing captioning and audio description across all media; exploring options for a companion card to enable disabled people to attend events with a companion on just one admission; and we are looking at how better to support creative spaces that have a positive impact on people’s mental wellbeing and grow social inclusion.

“Congratulations again to the recipients and to Arts Access Aotearoa for a successful event and thank you to all those promoting Arts programmes throughout New Zealand, improving the lives of many,” Carmel Sepuloni said.

L and bio of all the Award recipients can be found at this link https://artsaccess.org.nz/Arts+Media+Releases/Te+Putanga+Toi+Arts+Access+Awards%C2%A0celebrate+diversity+and+the+arts

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