Arts Organisations’ Feedback To Inform Better Support From Creative New Zealand

Creative New Zealand heard from 323 arts sector organisations across the country in response to a questionnaire about the support they found most valuable for them and their communities. Arts organisations value non-financial and community support alongside financial support to meet the challenges they face.

The questionnaire was designed to give Creative New Zealand direction as it takes the second step to transform ‘what we do and how we do it.’ The first step focused on the contestable grants programmes for practitioners, groups, and organisations, now reshaped as the For the arts programmes.

“Step two is looking specifically at organisations, and the responses highlight the need for changes in the way we support them as the backbone of the sector,” Creative New Zealand Interim Senior Manager, Arts Development James Wilson says.

“Multi-year financial support was always going to be the most important, and we’re committed to retaining that. But the comments reveal the significance of other types of support as arts organisations face challenges to be responsive to their communities, to be innovative, to be good employers, to be financially sustainable, and more,” Wilson says.

“The organisations are thinking ahead in terms of community impact, building relationships, strengthening governance, protecting, and developing ngā toi Māori, growing other income streams, and developing networks. Our challenge is to think differently about how we can support them to realise these ambitions,” Wilson says.

Until the For the arts programmes were launched in April this year, the majority of our multi-year funding for organisations was delivered through the Toi Tōtara Haemata and Toi Uru Kahikatea Investment programmes. Creative New Zealand recognises these organisations in particular need time to plan for the impact of any change and is committed to communicating with them as early as possible.

“We’ll share more information about how we will better match our support to organisations’ needs by the end of 2024, ahead of making changes from 2025 onwards,” Wilson says.

Before any operational decisions are made, Toi Aotearoa the Arts Council will review the responses and provide strategic guidance at its August meeting.

A report summarising the responses is on Creative New Zealand's website

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