Applications for the next round of Creatives in Schools will open on Friday 16 June 2023, Minister of Education Jan Tinetti and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni announced today during a visit at Te Wharekura o Mauao in Tauranga.

“The Creatives in Schools programme funds schools and teachers to collaborate with professional artists to deliver engaging learning experiences for students,” Jan Tinetti said.

Since 2020, Creatives in Schools has supported more than 500 creative projects across Aotearoa New Zealand.

“We continue to hear positive stories from ākonga, kaiako, whānau, and the artists who’ve been involved in the programme,” Jan Tinetti said.

“This is reinforced by the evaluations of the programme, which found that Creatives in Schools helps share knowledge and offers creative opportunities for teaching and learning in kura and schools.

“The evaluation also found that Creatives in Schools has helped some schools to connect with and motivate students in positive ways, and in some instances, has contributed to their wider work to re-engage students in education,” Jan Tinetti said.

The Creatives in Schools programme is delivered by the Ministry of Education in partnership with the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and Creative New Zealand.

“Across a number of visits over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Creatives in Schools, in action. And today, I was once again pleased to see the delight and enjoyment on the faces of both our ākonga and creatives at our visit to Te Wharekura o Mauao,” Carmel Sepuloni said.

“For me, this reflects first-hand the beneficial impact of Creatives in Schools in developing and harnessing the creativity of our rangatahi, while also supporting creative professionals with both work and upskilling opportunities.

“The outcomes from the programme have been very encouraging. The recently published COVID-19 Cultural Recovery Programme Impacts Report 2021/22 found that 90% of creatives* were likely to reuse or build on the knowledge gained from the programme.

“Over 90% of teachers involved in 2022 projects reported they helped students to develop critical thinking skills and self-management skills and supported students to express themselves and become more competent using language, symbols and text.

“These encouraging findings reflect the kaupapa of the programme and its benefit to both tamariki and creatives, whereby, artistic and non-creative skills are developed by students, and transferrable career skills are gained by the artists,” Carmel Sepuloni said.

Applications will close on 21 August 2023 for creative projects to be implemented in 2024.

Visit www.creativesinschools.tki.org.nz for more information.

Evaluations of Creatives in Schools

Round 1 evaluation:

Creatives in Schools Programme: Evaluation report (Round 1) Nov-2020 | Education Counts

Round 2 evaluation:

Creatives in Schools Programme Evaluation Report (Round 2) 2021 | Education Counts

Creatives refers to the adult creative practitioners/professional artists partnering with kura and schools to deliver the Creatives in Schools projects. We use the term ‘creatives’ to make it clear that this programme is about creative learning experiences and creative thinking. A “creative” could be a person who is very skilled and knowledgeable in cultural arts (such as tapa making, weaving, knitting, tīrākau), or other forms of creativity (such as game design, fashion design, spoken word, storytelling) but is not necessarily employed to work in this skill or identify as an artist.

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