MEDIA RELEASE
Date: 17 April 2008
Attention: News media and Pacific media
Pacific visual artists invited to apply for Creative New Zealand Pacific Arts Committee Samoan residency
The Pacific Arts Committee of Creative New Zealand, in partnership with The National University of Samoa, is calling for
applications from artists to undertake a residency at The National University of Samoa in Apia, Samoa. The residency is
for a period of three months (mid August 2008 – mid November 2008) and is open to all established visual artists of
Pacific Islands heritage resident in New Zealand.
The closing date for applications is 5pm Friday 16 May 2008.
The artform focus of this year’s residency is visual arts. The Pacific Arts Committee will offer the selected resident
an artist’s stipend, accommodation and travel costs.
The 2008 residency aims to benefit both the selected artist and the Samoan arts community. It also aims to:
* provide an opportunity for an established New Zealand-based Pacific artist to interact and share his/her skills with
the Samoan arts community
* encourage the development of visual arts skills among local school students, Samoan artists and the wider community
* provide the selected resident with security of income and access to resources, thus supporting the artist to gain
professional development and develop a new body of work
* support the artist to market his/her work outside New Zealand.
The residency, which this year is open to visual artists, is an opportunity for artists across different artforms
wanting to perform, exhibit or undertake research projects in Samoa. In 2006 the focus was performing arts and Nathaniel
Lees was the recipient. Creative New Zealand sees this residency as an important component of our commitment to invest
in New Zealand Pacific communities strengthening and building cultural identity through the arts.
For more information and guidelines for this residency, please contact Tarisi Vunidilo at
tarisi.vunidilo@creativenz.govt.nz or 09 354 4863 or Emma Ward at emmaw[at]creativenz.govt.nz or 09 373 3066. You can
also download the guidelines from the Resources section of Creative New Zealand’s website - www.creativenz.govt.nz.
ENDS