Music Features in Te Waka Toi Grants

2nd June 2005

Music Features in Te Waka Toi Grants

The wide range of contemporary Màori music has been reflected in the latest grants from Te Waka Toi, the Màori arts board of Creative New Zealand.

Te Waka Toi Board received 115 applications for project funding for this round, seeking over $3.7 million. A total of $638,780 is being offered to 46 projects.

Te Waka Toi chair Elizabeth Ellis said the number of music projects funded was a feature of the funding round.

"New Zealand Music Month has been hugely successful in highlighting the growing interest in New Zealand music and exciting development within the industry," Ms Ellis said.

"Te Waka Toi has supported musicians who are creating and recording new music as well as others who are touring and putting on shows.

"Music has always been an important part of our culture and Te Waka Toi supported the establishment of the Màori Music Coalition. The number of music related applications to Te Waka Toi this years shows the industry is going from strength to strength."

Five musicians - Ramon Te Wake, Marian Mare, Carmen Steel, Malia Patea-Taylor and Ringiringi Manawaiti - received grants of up to $15,000 to record new CDs. Moana Maniapoto received a $12,000 grant towards a tour of Europe promoting Màori music and Mai Music received a $15,000 grant towards a national tour by Whirimako Black.

Te Waka Toi has also recognised the resurgence of interest in the Màori showband era with grants offered to:

* The Taranaki Arts Festival Trust: $20,000 towards a celebration of Màori showbands in August. The Trust also received a $30,000 grant towards celebrating the legacy of Dalvanius Prime.

* Huia NZ Ltd: $6000 towards the publication of an illustrated book of the Màori Volcanics,

* Rim D Paul and John Broughton: $20,000 towards composing a musical about the beginning of the Màori showbands.

"The Màori showbands developed a unique musical style that showcased popular entertainment with traditional Màori culture around the world. Their music brings back many fond memories

Other grants included:

* $20,000 to Ngàti Kikopiri Marae Komiti to restore carvings and tukutuku panels on Kikopiri Marae under the Heritage Arts programme;

* $8000 to Hawke's Bay artist Stacy Gordine, a licensed user of toi ihoTM, towards a cultural exchange with Tlingit artists in Alaska under the Indigenous Links programme;

* $10,000 to Tawata Productions to stage a theatre production Fallow by Whiti Hereaka at the Gryphon Theatre in Wellington under the New Works programme;

* $5000 to Reed Publishing (NZ) towards a retrospective book of Robyn Kahukiwa's artistic career under the Experiencing Màori Arts programme;

* $25,000 to Te Rakau Hua o te Wao Tapu towards touring The Batallion around the South Island.

"The range and diversity of the grants show a vibrant and distinctive Màori arts sector which Te Waka Toi is privileged to support," Ms Ellis said.

The complete grants list is available on the Creative New Zealand website at:
http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/funding/grants/04-05-2.pdf

ENDS

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