2003 Creative Places Award caters for city and district
The 2003 Creative Places Award, which acknowledges the huge investment that local government makes in the arts, is
providing more opportunities for smaller local authorities and projects to be recognised.
Creative New Zealand, which initiated the annual Creative Places Award in 1999, is calling for entries to the 2003
Creative Places Award. It has reduced the number of categories from seven to five this year but is offering two prizes
in each category: one for city councils and one for district councils. All category winners receive a certificate and a
contemporary New Zealand artwork.
The Creative Places Award is open to projects or initiatives that have been established and actively supported by the
local authority. All artforms and arts-based activities encompassed by any of the following five categories are
eligible: Arts Provision; Built Environment Initiatives; Celebrating Cultural Diversity; Strategic Arts Initiatives; and
Youth Initiatives.
The winner of the Creative Places Premier Award, presented in 2002 to the Waitakere City Council for its Massey Library
and Leisure Centre, will be selected from the ten category winners.
Winning the 2002 Creative Places Premier Award was “a joy and an honour”, says Naomi McCleary, Waitakere City’s Arts
Adviser. “The award focussed attention on the amazing contribution that artists can make when they’re included in the
design process.
“The public facilities we’ve created in Waitakere have become hubs of community activity. There’s a strong sense among
the locals that the Massey Library and Leisure Centre really is their place.” Elizabeth Kerr, Chief Executive of
Creative New Zealand, says the Creative Places Award provides an opportunity for the organisation to recognise those
councils that have made a real commitment to enhancing the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of
their communities through the arts.
She welcomes the Local Government Act 2002, which includes culture as essential to the well-being of communities
alongside economic, environmental and social factors.
“We’re extremely excited about the opportunities this Act will provide for both the arts sector and community cultural
development,” Miss Kerr says. “The new Act validates the excellent work that many local authorities are already doing in
this area but ensures that cultural planning and support become a responsibility of all local authorities.”
The three judges of the 2003 Creative Places Award are Bernard Makoare (Ngati Whatua), artist and former local
government manager; Kate Wells, who was the lead artist involved in Waitakere City’s art:design collaboration for the
Massey Library and Leisure Centre; and a nominee of Local Government New Zealand. The winners will be announced at the
Local Government New Zealand conference in Queenstown from 27 - 30 July 2003. The closing date for entries to the 2003
Creative Places Award is Friday 6 June 2003. Brochures, which include the entry form, are being distributed by Local
Government New Zealand and Creative New Zealand’s Auckland Office to all local authorities, community arts councils and
community arts workers.