20 Apr Local arts initiatives receive $28,000 funding
Following the latest Rotorua Creative Communities Scheme funding round, a total of $28,010 was awarded to 15 arts projects across the Rotorua district.
Successful applicants have until 31 March 21 to deliver their projects and local Creative Communities Scheme administrator, Julie Parsons, was pleased to see the wide range of projects proposed.
“This round saw visual arts, music, performing arts, cultural arts and literature through: workshops; music and kapa haka festivals; a mural, photography exhibition, theatre, and an anthology of poetry.”
“It is exciting to see that projects in this round will involve the young and the elderly, the able and those with physical and mental challenges in a wide range of art practice“, says Mrs Parsons.
Of 22 eligible applications, seven withdrew due to issues relating to COVID-19 alert levels. The withdrawn applicants will be able to apply again in the next funding round, which closes 26 September this year.
Rotorua Creative Communities Scheme administrator, Julie Parsons, worked closely with applicants considering withdrawal, to help them through this funding round with the unique restrictions the lockdown created.
“We were able to encourage some applicants to continue with their projects with revised delivery dates. Unfortunately some projects were not able to continue due to their organisational commitments or the uncertainty about when people will be able to congregate again“, says Mrs Parsons. Some of the projects from previous funding rounds have also been affected by the lockdown and project owners are demonstrating their creativity in the ways they have chosen to present their work. The launch and exhibition of Mixed: Creative Writing by Newcomers to Our Shores, a collaboration between writer Angie Belcher andartist Lucia Lemos M. Conceição, went ahead online instead of in gallery and has already been seen by 1.9k viewers.
Lucia Lemos M. Conceição and artworks, image Leo Rippel Sagado
The Creative Communities Scheme (CCS) offers two opportunities for funding each year and this funding is invaluable in supporting local arts initiatives.
Creative Communities Rotorua is a partnership between Creative New Zealand and Rotorua Lakes Council. Its main focus is to contribute to the involvement of our community in local creative arts practice through stimulating and providing support to projects that:
- encourage community engagement and participation in the arts;
- support the diversity and cultural traditions of local communities, enriching and promoting their uniqueness and cultural diversity;
- enable and encourage young people to engage with and actively participate in the arts.
The next funding round for Rotorua Creative Communities will open 1 August 2020 and close on 26 September 2020.
The scheme is open to any New Zealand individual or group, with a well thought through creative project they need funding help with for Rotorua.
Visit www.rotorualakescouncil.nz/creativecommunities for information and application forms or contact Julie Parsons Julie.parsons@rotorualc.nz
Rotorua projects funded in the March 2020 grant round:
| Aratika Cancer Trust | Creative Art Workshops | $465 |
| BOP Blues Club | Blues Festival 2020 | $5,000 |
| Essence of the Pacific Early Learning Centre | Explore Like Ihenga | $1,850 |
| Geyserland Art Group | Art is our ST-AGE | $970 |
| IHC New Zealand Inc | National Kapa Haka Festival | $2,600 |
| Janet Keen | Conservation of Wetlands | $2,850 |
| Katie Hoy | 100 Women/Wahine: Rotorua | $2,240 |
| Lakes Charitable Trust | Dance 4 Us | $1,500 |
| Nicola Wright | Senior Art 3 | $1,650 |
| Rotorua Boys High School | Saturday Night Fever | $3,000 |
| Rotorua Mad Poets Society | I Am From | $500 |
| Rotorua UkeBox | Workshop Series 2020 | $2,000 |
| Sophie Perry | Boomerang Bags Rotorua | $480 |
| Tepora Emery | The Written Word Ngati Pikiao | $1,500 |
| Western Heights High School | Showquest 2020 | $1,400 |