28 October 2022

Regeneration Fund: First round of recipients announced

Kia ora koutou,  

Big week for us at Manatū Taonga as we’ve announced around $3 million of funding for the five organisations that were successful in the first round of the $28 million Te Tahua Whakamarohi i te Rāngai Ahurea Cultural Sector Regeneration Fund!

I am really proud of my colleagues here who have worked hard to deliver on the commitments we made to the sector in relation to this Fund. We have felt the weight of your expectations to be honest – particularly given the current level of concern around funding. However, I am sure that we have made decisions that we can stand by and be confident in. I have also had some great feedback from people and organisations that have sought funding – saying that our relationship managers have engaged with respect and humility.

We tried some new things with this fund, and that caused some nerves internally and externally we know. However, the feedback process, whilst resource intensive, proved to be extremely useful. Thank you to the hundreds of creative practitioners and leaders across the sector who took the time to share insights with us. We made better decisions as a result.

Our focus on using transparently assessed and widely-scoped outcomes also worked well – enabling us to bring a huge range of proposals together into the same funding and decision-making process. We had some teething issues with getting the outcome definitions nailed down, but this got a lot easier once we had enough proposals on the table to calibrate our approach. Things will now get easier as we move through the remaining three rounds – and the guidance we are able to provide to potential recipients is already sharper and more helpful.

Our early assessment of the staggered decision approach over four rounds is also positive. This approach is enabling us to get funding out quickly to high-impact initiatives that are raring to go, whilst also allowing time for people to finalise their plans. It is worth noting that we had around 10% of the proposals on the table for the first round – so future rounds will be much busier.

The proposals that didn’t quite make the cut this time have three more opportunities to refine their approach and seek funding before June 2023. If you’re one of those remaining in the mix, I encourage you to check out the additional information we’ve added to the Cultural Sector Regeneration Fund webpage for the remaining rounds.

We have a bit more detail about the remaining rounds and the first five recipients below. Also, this week’s article in The Big Idea is a good read, with two interviews with recipients that nicely illustrate how they meet the Fund’s outcomes.

Of course, it’s not all about the Regeneration Fund here at Manatū Taonga; we’ve got some progress to announce on the Screen Sector Review and the 2023 Matariki Celebrations too! More below.

Ngā mihi,    

Joe Fowler
Deputy Chief Executive Te Aka Tūhono Investment & Outcomes   

Introducing the initial five recipients

The five recipients span cultural sectors, regional boundaries and community interests - all were able to demonstrate the impact they will have in areas such as job creation, removing barriers to participation in the arts, skill development, and supporting self-sustaining long-term resilience. The successful initiatives are:

Oyster Workshop: Up to $575,750 to deliver an end-to-end commercial sustainability system for Māori and Pacific arts practitioners to access and benefit from local and international markets and build capability through a proven development programme.

Creative Waikato: Up to $725,000 to create, digitise and deliver capability building resources to artists, deliver creative activation in regional communities, and enable more creative workplace wellbeing practice in the broader communities of the Waikato region.

Toro Tairāwhiti Limited: Up to $786,000 to revitalise Mātauranga Māori by supporting the development of digital storytelling for around 30 marae and building and testing cost effective tools and techniques that marae will be able to use to record and revitalise their mātauranga. Three interns per marae will also be supported to build local capability.

Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu: Up to $495,150 to establish a self-sustaining New Zealand audio book industry by scaling-up the production of locally produced audio books.

Human Performance Incorporated: Up to $492,070 to support the development of cultural infrastructure in the lead up to the opening of MOVE; an innovative movement arts centre sited in Parakiore, Ōtautahi Christchurch.

What’s next for Regeneration Fund?

Submissions for Round Two are now closed. Public feedback for Round Two will open on 31 October.  There are now three remaining evaluation rounds between now and June 2023. There is the opportunity for proposals that are unsuccessful in early rounds to receive feedback, be refined, and then reconsidered in any future rounds until the final round in June 2023.

To help guide applications for the remaining rounds, Manatu Taonga has published additional guidance and precedents that were reached in Round One. You can find more about these precedents and guidance at this new webpage.

If you are an applicant who wishes to discuss your proposal, please get in touch with your Relationship manager who will be happy to support you to understand the fund outcomes and strengthen your application where necessary. If you are unsure who your relationship manager is, please contact us at support.culture@mch.govt.nz

Government’s Screen Sector Review gets rolling

The Government is taking action to secure the long-term future of the film and television industry as part of the New Zealand Screen Production Grant review, announced by Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni and Minister for Economic and Regional Development Stuart Nash.

“Our screen sector is acknowledged as world leading in a number of areas and these proposed options aim to support the sector’s growth and resilience in a way that provides certainty for the industry here and an exciting, rewarding and sustainable pathway for those working in the sector,” Carmel Sepuloni said.

“The proposed options aim to encourage a steady pipeline of domestic and international screen productions, enhance screen sector skills and career pathways, and support the development of high-quality, home-grown content.”

Information about the consultation and how to provide feedback is available at this page at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment website.

In with the new: The new Chief Advisor – Mātauranga Matariki, Professor Rangiānehu Mātāmua (Ngāi Tūhoe) with new Manatū Taonga Tumu Whakarae Chief Executive, Laulu Mac Leauanae.

Chief Advisor – Mātauranga Matariki announced

Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan has announced the appointment of Professor Rangiānehu Mātāmua (Ngāi Tūhoe) as Chief Advisor – Mātauranga Matariki, operating through Manatū Taonga.

“As our national advocate and spokesperson for Matariki, Professor Mātāmua will continue to support an appropriate understanding of the knowledge base from which Matariki is derived – embedding the public holiday, with its own unique identity with distinctive traditions, into our nation’s culture," says Kiri Allan.

“As the Government’s primary advisor on mātauranga Matariki, Professor Mātāmua will provide direction about how we best support iwi and communities across the motu to regenerate and celebrate their mātauranga relating to Matariki – including as a part of Te Rā Aro ki a Matariki/Matariki Observance Day.”

Holding a PhD in Māori studies, Professor Mātāmua is a professor at Te Kunenga Ki Purehuroa Massey University’s Te Pūtahi-a-Toi, School of Māori Knowledge. His breadth of research encompasses Māori astronomy and star lore, Māori culture, and Māori language development, research, and revitalisation – much of this derived from his many tribal ancestors of Tūhoe.

Contact us

If you have any questions about any of our funding opportunities, please email us at Support.Culture@mch.govt.nz. 

More information

• For the latest information on other initiatives in the Arts and Culture COVID Recovery Programme, see the Manatū Taonga website
• If you have specific questions, email us at support.culture@mch.govt.nz
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