2021 Canon Oceania Grants finalists announced, public voting is live

Canon is pleased to announce the finalists of its 2021 Oceania Grants program, revealing an impressive range of initiatives making a positive impact in the community, education sector and environment.

Now in its 16th year, Canon Oceania Grants has supported almost 80 schools, not-for-profits, and community groups with more than $450,000 of Canon equipment.

“At Canon, we are guided by the Kyosei philosophy, which means living and working together for the common good. This is even more relevant as over the past 18-months New Zealand communities and organisations have been significantly impacted. It is so important for us to get behind them,” Kim Conner, Chief Executive, Canon New Zealand Limited says.

Public voting is open now, until Friday 27th August, for all three categories via canon.co.nz/grants Winners of each category will be announced in September and receive an equal donation of $5,000 cash and Canon equipment.

Information on the 2021 Canon Oceania Grants finalists:

Community Grant finalists:

Makingtrax is setting the benchmark for Inclusive Tourism. Makingtrax’s mission is to see New Zealand adventure and outdoor education providers adapt their offerings, to provide ultimate experiences to all abilities. The organisation is creating short films with adventure providers to promote New Zealand as the Inclusive Destination of the World by bringing awareness to the possibilities, breaking perceptions, and growing the inclusivity movement.

The Period Place is a period advocacy charity, with the goal of eliminating period poverty by 2030. In August, The Period Place is set to open New Zealand’s first-period education hub, a safe and inclusive community space to learn about and discuss periods, access free products, and discover new reusable products. Every day, the shame around periods and shortage of resources prevents people in Aotearoa from experiencing life at its full.

Koha Apparel is a not-for-profit, pay-as-you-can retail experience, using new and repurposed apparel. Its mission is to repurpose quality clothing for those most vulnerable within our communities. The pop-up hubs utilise a ‘take what you need, give what you can’ concept which allows those struggling financially to access clean clothing for free, while also reducing the amount of clothing waste going to landfill.

Environment Grant finalists:

The Far Out Ocean Research Collective fosters knowledge and conservation of oceanic megafauna through research and education. The collective is currently conducting the first dedicated survey and research of female sperm whales in Aotearoa. Sperm whales are culturally significant and play an important role in oceanic ecosystems but at the moment, knowledge of the species in New Zealand is limited to males only.

The NZ Parrot Trust is backed by the World Parrot Trust, a leading global charity focused on the conservation of parrots in the wild. Throughout 2021-2022 the trust will assist the Kākāpō Recovery Programme to characterise pathogens of concern affecting NZ native parrots. Each bird is sampled (feather and blood) and photographed to create a catalogue of individuals and their health status.

Useful Media produces creative documentary projects – particularly about Māori, social, and environmental issues. Useful Media’s next project is a short documentary profiling Manawa Karioi – Wellington’s oldest reforestation project and the colourful characters who volunteer their time. The objective of the documentary is to show what can be achieved when a community gets together to restore a block of land to forest and to inspire people to volunteer in other restoration projects in their community.

Education Grant finalists:

Mountains to Sea Wellington Trust was established to empower young people and their communities to reconnect with the natural world. The trust provides opportunities and funding to low decile schools and communities ensuring all young people have access to these experiences. Its next project will see two classes of Kura Kaupapa Māori students participating in the Love Rimurimu programme where they will focus on replanting seaweed in different locations around Wellington. Students will be tasked with monitoring the health and growth of the seaweed they plant as well as maintaining their sites.

Wakatipu Reforestation focuses on the protection and restoration of the native biodiversity of the Wakatipu Basin through revegetation projects, collaboration, education, and advocacy. Its Educate for Nature program provides hands-on experiential learning about the environment and the importance of restoration of biodiversity

Nelson Intermediate School is focused on creating a positive mauri ora (sense of wellbeing) for all students. The learning and classroom programmes endeavour to reflect the values, aspirations and needs of the students, whanau, hapori, and iwi. Nelson Intermediate’s next project is to create an ‘edible learning landscape’ while exploring the benefits gardening and connection to nature has on children’s motivation, academic achievement, health, and wellbeing. It will also provide an authentic opportunity for the wider community to help to sustain and support a school garden programme.

For more information about Canon Oceania’s Grants Program 2021, please visit: canon.co.nz/grants

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About Canon

Canon is a world-leading imaging brand that actively inspires and enables people to achieve more than they ever thought they could through products, services and solutions for business and consumers. New Zealand’s most trusted camera brand1, Canon has ranked among the top-five US patent recipients for the past 34 years and had global revenues of more than $US36 billion in 2019. Also part of the Canon Group in New Zealand are Canon Finance New Zealand, and Converga.

For more information, visit www.canon.co.nz, https://www.facebook.com/CanonNewZealand, www.instagram.com/canon.nz,

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