Government takes another step to propel the arts sector to thrive

The Government has today opened the Cultural Sector Regeneration Fund, the first stage of a new approach to cultural sector funding designed to support strategic, sector-led initiatives, that will have lasting benefits for arts, culture, and heritage in Aotearoa New Zealand.

“The opening today of the Te Tahua Whakamarohi i te Rāngai Ahurea - Cultural Sector Regeneration Fund represents a significant step forward on the path to recovery for the arts, culture and heritage sectors,” Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni announced today.

“The Regeneration Fund is the next phase for Aotearoa New Zealand’s arts and culture recovery, looking beyond COVID-19 and building on lessons learned during the pandemic to support the arts and culture sector equip itself with the tools to thrive,” Carmel Sepuloni said.

“We’ve designed this Fund to use remaining money from the Arts and Culture COVID Recovery Programme to support projects and initiatives that have the best chance of achieving enduring and sustainable benefits for the arts, culture and heritage sectors.

“The Fund responds to a clear message from the cultural sectors in the way we approach funding. Some of the things we’ve heard is to keep it simple, keep it human, involve the cultural sectors and respect what they know, focus on the outcomes, and work with sector collaboration.

“This is particularly important for many in the cultural sector, who collaborate to create but are confronted by competitive funding models. We want to do what we can to support collaborative relationships between artists and organisations, and the Government.”

“This funding approach will push the conventional boundaries on design, decisions and transparency of cultural funding, providing genuine opportunities for people from the arts, culture and heritage sectors to directly inform decision-making, and also providing opportunities for collaboration within the sector and, potentially, with other funders. 

“The Government has made significant investments in Aotearoa’s cultural sectors in recent years as part of our COVID-19 response, including $374 million in Budget 2020 and a further $121 million of funding in response to Omicron.

“At nearly a half billion dollars in support, this is the largest investment in the arts, culture and heritage sectors in Aotearoa New Zealand’s history. Our Government’s continuous investment over the course of the pandemic has helped to protect jobs and peoples livelihoods as well as sustain the important contribution the sector makes to the economy,” said Carmel Sepuloni.

More information can be found at the Cultural Sector Regeneration Fund webpage.