18 Aug 2019

Long term investment in the arts – the winners and the losers

From Standing Room Only, 12:45 pm on 18 August 2019

60% of the money arts development agency Creative New Zealand puts into the arts goes to long term funding for the running of arts organisations.

Imagine spending weeks if not months on a funding application that demands you plan years ahead, only to be turned down.

60% of the money arts development agency Creative New Zealand puts into the arts goes to long term funding for the running of arts organisations. And it’s been a big month for these organisations. After sweating away at their applications the results are out and  80 of the 86 organisations who applied have had funding approved. Some have got increases in funding or in the length of its term - terms of funding between 2 to 6 years - and yet even with an extra $27 million added over the next six years to this particular funding kete others have been dropped.

We talk to Nightsong Production's Carl Bland and Ben Crowder about what the security of three years of funding would have meant for them – if they’d got it – and to Senior Manager in arts development services at CNZ Cath Cardiff and Annie Ackerman the CEO of The Big Idea, a national online hub for the arts, who received a big funding boost.

Annie Ackerman, CEO The Big Idea

Annie Ackerman, CEO The Big Idea Photo: Jocelyn Janon

Cath Cardiff, Creative New Zaland

Cath Cardiff, Creative New Zaland Photo: Provided