September 19, 2022
Marae theatre added to funding plan
Aotearoa’s longest surviving independent Māori theatre company and an organisation which works to uphold the distinctive culture of Te Taitokerau are two of four new organisations added to Creative New Zealand’s Toi Uru Kahikatea long term funding programme.
Te Rākau Hua o te Wao Tapu was established in 1989 by Jim Moriarty and Jerry Banse with a trust deed inherited from the Māori Theatre Trust and runs a unique theatre marae model to create theatre productions, run workshops and build capacity and health within the groups and the communities they sit within.
It will receive $1.22 million over the next three years.
Toi Ngāpuhi will receive $1.5 million over that time.
Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival gets a $1.6 million boost until 2025, and the Wellington-based biennial Kia Mau Festival of contemporary Māori, Pasifika and international indigenous live performance gets $1.57 million.
In all the Toi Uru Kahikatea programme will spend $54 million supporting 58 organisations, with grants ranging from $120,00 over three years for Gecko Press to $8.5 million for New Zealand Opera.
Chief executive Stephen Wainwright says Creative New Zealand identified a gap in the number of Māori and Pacific-led organisations in the investment programmes in 2019 and is strategically responding to support the growth of ngā toi Māori and Pacific arts.