Waitakere awards Creative Communities

Media Release

May 14, 2009
Waitakere awards Creative Communities

Opportunities for at-risk youth to record their own music and an anthology of hand printed poems are among projects allocated money in first round of Creative Communities Scheme in 2009.

Waitakere City Council, which disburses grants of up to $5000 to individuals and organisations on behalf of Creative New Zealand, made 23 grants totalling $49,333.24 to projects which meet the scheme’s criteria to increase participation in the arts at a local level, and increase the diversity of arts available.

There were 46 applications received for this round with the 45 eligible groups requesting funds totalling $147,059.98.

Successful recipients cover a wide range of genres from kapa häka groups and youth band competition organisers to community visual art groups.

“It’s exciting to see the range of projects some of these recipients are planning and with limited funds it’s always a hard task to make the final decisions,” says chair of the council’s Creative Communities Scheme Allocation Sub-Committee, Councillor Assid Corban.

He says Creative New Zealand has increased the allocation to Waitakere to reflect the current census figures for the city.

“Waitakere and its residents will be the benefactors of the creatively talented people who live here.”

There are two funding rounds each year with Waitakere increasing its grant to $110,000 allocated to disburse for 2009/10.

Recipients of funding for the first round of 2009 were:

Applicant Funds Allocated
Primal Youth Trust $2,000
Violence Free Waitakere $3,000
Waitakere Ranges Protection Society $3,183.24
McLaren Park & Henderson South Community Initiative $2,500
Hosanna Creative Arts $1,800
Integrated Neurological Rehabilitation Foundation $2,000
Holy Cross Samoan Parent Support Group $1,700
N Z Society Of Authors $2,500
M Endt $2,000
Te Atatu Village Kindergarten 1,000
Croatian Cultural Society Inc 2,500
B Serjeant 2,000
Marina View Primary School 2,500
N Gunawardana 1,000
Sunderland College 2,000
Massey Rugby Union Football Club 1,000
Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Te Kotuku Inc 2,500
Aotearoa Young Peoples Theatre Trust 1,800
West Coast Community Arts Trust 3,000
Titirangi Community Arts Council 1,350
Audio Cafe Limited 2,500
Henderson Valley School 3,000
Titirangi Folk Music Club 2,500
TOTAL: $49,333.24

To find out more about Creative Communities phone the council’s 24-hour call centre on 839 0400.

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