7 October 2016

$65,000 allocated to Wellington arts activities

Some 27 Wellington community arts projects have received a total of $65,155 in grants from the latest round of the Creative Communities Funding Scheme administered jointly by Wellington City Council and Creative New Zealand.

The Creative Communities Funding Scheme is a partnership between councils and Creative New Zealand. Every year Creative New Zealand provides money to councils to support local arts activities.

This year’s recipients included theatre practitioners, artists, photographers, comedians, musicians and many more.

Recipients are selected by Wellington City Council on the basis that they do one or more of the following: create participation opportunities for local communities, support diversity and engage young people.

Mark Farrar, the City Council’s Funding Team Leader, says it was fantastic to see a breadth and diversity of ideas in the applications.

He says: “This fund is about encouraging people to engage with the arts in whatever way suits them. This could be projects targeting young people, or particular traditional art forms or specific communities.

“We’re pleased that Creative New Zealand has committed to three more years of funding through this scheme.” He adds: “We’re very keen to hear from Māori and Pacific artists and groups who have ideas for projects during 2017.”

The Creative Communities Funding Scheme is helping Wellington artists bring some very exciting projects to life. One such example is Photival - Wellington’s first photography festival in over a decade. The festival will present a wide range of photos including work from students and local photographers.

Photival will tackle difficult subjects like economic inequality, environmental destruction, societal segregation and political instability and then give people information on charities, NGOs and activist groups with which they can get involved. A photo from Photival contributor Tamara Abdul Hadi is attached.

Another project to benefit from the fund is the Wellington edition of the Short+Sweet Festival, New Zealand, which is a series of 10 minute plays from talented theatre makers and creatives. BATS is hosting this year’s festival, which opens 19 October.

This is only the second time that Wellington has hosted Short+Sweet, but it has run successfully in Sydney and Melbourne for over 15 years and has expanded all over Australia and into Malaysia, Singapore, India and Manila, as well as Auckland.

The next Creative Communities Funding round closing date for Wellington City is at the end of February 2017 for projects starting from mid-April. Applications for the Council’s own Arts and Culture Fund close on 28 October.

Anyone with an idea for an arts project who is in need of funding support can contact the Council’s funding team on 04 803 8562 or atfunding@wcc.govt.nz.

To learn more about any of the Council’s funds and find out how you can apply, check out http://wellington.govt.nz/services/community-and-culture/funding/council-funds.

The full list of grants made:

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