$5,000 Prize For Secondary School Artist

The Artstart Foundation kicked off its first exhibition in Te Whanganui-a-Tara announcing Anna Wilkinson of St Oran's College Lower Hutt, was the talented winner of the H.P.M Artstart Scholarship for 2023 for the Wellington Region.

Ken Waitere of High Performance Milling and Transport generously donated the first Wellington scholarship, dropping students' jaws to the floor when they found out it had increased from $3,000 to a whopping $5,000. A life changing award for a young artist to kickstart their creative career - including $1,000 of art supplies and $1,000 in mentorship.

“I’m proud to support Artstart’s program. It’s incredible to see the potential these secondary school students hold for the future of local art.” says Ken Waitere of H.P.M.

“I’m really thankful for this scholarship. It gives me the confidence to push my artistic boundaries and to explore my creativity.” says Anna, currently in her first year studying law at Victoria University.

The Artstart exhibition held at 154 Featherston Street from 24 June - 8 July explores the potential of high school aged artists, providing support for rangatahi into creative careers in Aotearoa.

“A common theme in the collection is our rangatahi wanting to find peace in a busy world” says Co-founder Sophie Paterson.

“The exhibition aims to inspire, with many artworks drawing upon familiarities that spark strong emotions and ties for many New Zealanders.”.

“The intention behind the Artstart programme is to give rangatahi hands-on mentoring and gallery experience so they can see a future in the art industry and realise their creative potential,” Co-founder Charlotte Sherratt says.

On top of the experience, recognition, and an avenue for career development, Artstart has given back $330,000 to student artists since starting in 2018. Sales of the artwork and prints remunerate the artists directly and there is no cost to the artist to be a part of Artstart. Student artworks were chosen from over 1,500 submissions - with judges choosing the best to feature in the first Wellington exhibition.

You can vote for your favourite artist at https://artstart.co.nz/pages/vote before the 8th July.

The winner of the High Performance Milling People's Choice Award will take away $1000 to support their creative career. All entries go in the draw to win a beautiful art book, Toi Tu Toi Ora: Contemporary Maori Art and candle by artist Cassandra Nevin.

Entry to The Artstart Foundation’s student exhibition held June 24 - July 8, 10am-6pm daily, is free.

The full exhibition collection includes students from the following schools. Our judges selected the best artworks from around 1500 entries.

Wellington College

Wellington High School

Wellington Girls College

Samuel Marsden

Whitby Collegiate

Aotea College

Hutt Valley High

St Orans

Wainuiomata High School

Link to descriptions of Opening Night Photos:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hx20gj0J2bEjCwcYfHK5EK0sZmlu5yQW/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102233932740514680155&rtpof=true&sd=true

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