Screenrights Announces $300k Cultural Funding Including Support For Two Aotearoa Projects

Wednesday, 27 August 2025, 11:27 am
Press Release: Screenrights

Screenrights has announced six projects will be supported by the 2025 round of its annual Cultural Fund, with a total $299,750 in funding for this year’s focus of Creative Intelligence. Among them are two Aotearoa New Zealand initiatives: Jack Media’s Te Piringa: A Programme for Indigenous Wellbeing in Screen Storytelling and Script to Screen’s Script Development Workshops for Deaf, Disabled and Neuro Diverse creatives. Each will receive $50,000, alongside four Australian projects also selected for funding this year.

GARUWA will run ‘Ngaluwi: Documentary Storytelling Incubator’, a 12-month initiative designed to support First Nations documentary practitioners and teams, with a grant of $49,750. Milk Crate Theatre’s ‘MCT ScreenLab: Unearthing New Voices for the Screen’ will receive $50,000 for their 20-week program providing accessible, professional screen-based training for individuals with diverse lived experiences, including those experiencing homelessness, disability, and mental health challenges. And Aotearoa New Zealand’s Jack Media will receive $50,000 for ‘Te Piringa: A Programme for Indigenous Wellbeing in Screen Storytelling’, a six-month Indigenous-led pilot program designed to support the health and wellbeing of Māori and Indigenous screen practitioners, both on-screen participants and crew.

A ‘Residency+ Producing Skills Program’ aims to develop culturally diverse and First Nations screen producers through a three-phase capacity building initiative from Cinespace supported by a $50,000 grant. ‘AI for Women in Screen’ will see Jessie Hughes deliver masterclasses designed to upskill women screen practitioners in AI* tools, enabling them to lead creative teams through technological transformation in the screen industry, with $50,000 in funding from the Screenrights Cultural Fund. And Aotearoa New Zealand’s Te Tari Tuhi Kupu A Whakaahua Script to Screen will receive $50,000 for their ‘Script Development Workshops for Deaf, Disabled and Neuro Diverse creatives’ program designed to upskill Deaf, Disabled, and Neuro Diverse (DDN) creatives in innovative screen storytelling.

“We were once again so impressed with the calibre of applications and the breadth of the potential positive impact for the screen sectors in both Aotearoa-NZ and Australia,” says Screenrights Board Director and Cultural Fund Working Group Chair Rachel Antony. “My thanks, too, to our panel of external assessors for their thoughtful consideration and recommendations of this final six.”

The Screenrights Cultural Fund makes a difference by supporting people with exciting and innovative new initiatives that foster the creation and appreciation of screen content in Australia and New Zealand. Including this year’s funding round, the Cultural Fund has now provided almost $2 million in funding for projects since it was launched in 2018. Applications were assessed by a panel of professionals with both local and international expertise in screen, media and education.

*Screenrights recognises the benefits that generative AI can offer the screen industry, while advocating for the legal use of copyright materials through licensing. Upholding copyright is vital for maintaining a viable creative sector that can contribute to and benefit from the use of generative AI. Further information about our position can be found here.

ABOUT THE SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS

Ngaluwi: Documentary Storytelling Incubator
Activity: A 12-month initiative by GARUWA, a First Nations-owned and led production enterprise, Ngaluwi is designed to support First Nations documentary practitioners. The program offers tailored mentorship and strategic guidance for projects at various stages (development, production, or impact design), prioritising cultural safety, creative sovereignty, and First Nations values. It aims to support and amplify First Nations storytellers making positive social, environmental and political change. The incubator will select three First Nations-led documentary projects via a national call-out, providing up to nine hours of bespoke support per team from a network of producers and impact experts. This initiative seeks to build a replicable model for a sustainable and culturally safe ecosystem for First Nations impact storytelling.
Location: online across Australia
Amount Funded: $49,750
Recipient Quote: “With Ngaluwi, we’re creating a space where First Nations storytellers can be supported in ways that honour cultural integrity and our responsibilities to future generations. GARUWA is deeply committed to nurturing this next wave of documentary filmmakers, and Screenrights’ support allows us to build an incubator that meets projects where they are, strengthening an ecosystem where First Nations voices lead the way in shaping stories of justice, healing and change.” – Genevieve Grieves, Worimi, Co-founder & Creative Director, GARUWA

MCT ScreenLab: Unearthing New Voices for the Screen
Activity: The MCT ScreenLab aims to provide accessible, professional screen-based training for individuals with diverse lived experiences, including those experiencing homelessness, disability, and mental health challenges. This 20-week program expands Milk Crate Theatre's Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) practice into film and digital storytelling. It includes intensive learning led by professional screen artists covering story development, concept planning, production, post-production, and funding, followed by a hands-on creative production phase where participants create original screen content. Delivered in accessible community spaces in the City of Sydney, the initiative seeks to unearth new talent, champion diverse narratives, and build pathways into the screen sector for underrepresented voices in Australia.
Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia
Amount Funded: $50,000
Recipient Quote: “Milk Crate Theatre is delighted to receive the support of Screenrights Cultural Fund to bring our ScreenLab project to life. We can’t wait to bring an amazing range of new and diverse stories and talent from our community to new audiences through screen.” – Jodie Wainwright, CEO, Milk Crate Theatre

Te Piringa: A Programme for Indigenous Wellbeing in Screen Storytelling
Activity: A six-month Indigenous-led pilot program designed to support the health and wellbeing of Māori and Indigenous screen practitioners, both on-screen participants and crew. The program addresses the emotional labour, cultural responsibility, and potential for retraumatisation involved in Indigenous storytelling, especially concerning topics of colonisation and intergenerational trauma. Te Piringa will offer culturally grounded wānanga (gatherings), therapeutic and peer support, and trauma-informed practices. It will also develop Indigenous-led resources such as mana-enhancing talent agreements, guidelines for working with sensitive material, and trauma-led protocols for interviewing, consent, and participant aftercare. These tools aim to embed Indigenous wellbeing and safety into the screen sector, serving as a template for other Indigenous cultures and minority groups. The pilot will directly support 10-15 participants through three regional wānanga and an online resource hub, with an evaluation to inform future scalability and systemic change within the screen industry.
Location: regional areas and online across New Zealand
Amount Funded: $50,000
Recipient Quote: “I’m incredibly grateful to receive this funding to bring Te Piringa to life. This kaupapa has the potential to become a significant cultural resource for Indigenous storytellers and creatives, one that uplifts our people, honours our ways of healing, and embeds care at the heart of how we work. It’s a step toward a safer, stronger future for our industry.” – Nicola Smith, Jack Media

Residency+ Producing Skills Program
Activity: The Residency+ Producing Skills Program is a capacity-building initiative designed to develop culturally diverse and First Nations screen producers. It focuses on strategic planning, pitching, market access, and business development, addressing identified gaps in project development, financing, marketing, and distribution skills among emerging creatives. The program, based in Footscray, Victoria, will run in three phases in 2026: Packaging & Pitching; Production Management; and Marketing & Distribution. It aims to foster diverse leadership, create sustainable pathways for underrepresented creatives, and ensure their projects are strategically positioned within the Australian screen industry.
Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Amount Funded: $50,000
Recipient Quote: “This program will build the capacity of culturally diverse producers and creatives to lead their own projects and careers. By investing in skills like development, packaging, and distribution, and teaching adaptability and resilience in a fast changing industry, we’re not only increasing the visibility of underrepresented voices—we’re creating lasting pathways for our community to thrive in the screen industry.” – Steve RE Pereira, President, Cinespace Inc.

AI for Women in Screen
Activity: A generative AI Masterclass designed to upskill women screen practitioners in AI tools, enabling them to lead creative teams through technological transformation in the screen industry. Delivered in partnership with Screen Producers Australia, the program employs a "train the trainer" model, providing participants with hands-on experience in creating AI-enhanced visual treatments and equipping them to deliver similar workshops to others across Australia. The program will be offered as a 2-day in-person Masterclass in Sydney for 30 selected women and a 1-day online Masterclass for 50+ national participants. Led by Jessie Hughes, an awarded creative technologist and screenwriter, the initiative aims to increase women's visibility and value in the industry by adding graduates to a national database of hireable AI-literate screen practitioners, addressing the underrepresentation of women in AI fields. The project is designed for scalability and long-term impact through continued resource sharing and future program iterations.
Location: Sydney, NSW and online across Australia
Amount Funded: $50,000
Recipient Quote: “This initiative is about giving Australian women leaders a crucial headstart in shaping the future of our industry. As we navigate a profound technological shift, I am committed to seeing women lead the charge in our screen industry's adoption of AI. I’ve seen the transformative power of this approach firsthand; creators from a previous Forbes-featured program have gone on to attain university lectureships and step into senior screen roles. The success of these women is a testament to what happens when we intentionally create opportunities for creatives who previously weren't made to feel like tech was a space for them. This is about more than upskilling; it’s about shifting power, expanding opportunity, and shaping the future of the Australian screen sector with diverse creative intelligence.” Jessie Hughes

Script Development Workshops for Deaf, Disabled and Neuro Diverse creatives
Activity: A programme designed to upskill Deaf, Disabled, and Neuro Diverse (DDN) creatives in innovative screen storytelling. Co-created with DDN artists and organisations, the programme supports participants in utilising their unique perspectives in story development, aiming to break down barriers for their progression in the New Zealand screen sector. The programme will feature script development workshops for emerging DDN creatives held in various centres across NZ. These workshops will cover fundamentals of screen storytelling, including character development, conflict creation, scripting, dialogue writing, and genre exploration, and are open to those developing short films, TV, digital series, and feature films (excluding documentaries). A key objective is to reduce barriers to progression, with a final online pitch session, for those participants who want to, to invited New Zealand screen industry decision-makers. As Script to Screen alumni, participants also receive ongoing support through the STS awhi programme as well support to attend STS events likes Big Screen Symposium.
Location: Various centres (tbc) across New Zealand
Amount Funded: $50,000
Recipient Quote: “NZ’s leading screen sector professional development organisation, Te Tari Tuhi Kupu a Whakaahua Script to Screen, is proud to be piloting a new community programme of Script
Development Workshops.This bespoke programme of workshops will upskill Deaf, Disabled and Neuro Diverse (DDN) creatives in Aotearoa, NZ, to create innovative and compelling screen stories for TV, Film and online platforms. This programme places creatives unique perspectives at the heart of their story development, helping them to create and develop authentic work that resonates with
audiences. These workshops have been designed to support this underserved and underrepresented
group of creative talent, helping to uplift them and their stories, and creating pathways for
progression in the screen sector in Aotearoa, NZ.Script to Screen looks forward to working with the community on the final planning and design of the programme before inviting applications from participants. A huge mihi (thanks) to the Screenrights Cultural Fund for supporting this important work, we can’t wait to get started.” – Dale Corlett, Tumu Whakarae Executive Director, Script to Screen

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