Waatea News | 19 September 2022
Aotearoa New Zealand’s longest surviving independent Māori theatre company is one 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.
It uses 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.
The theatre company will receive $1.22 million over the next three years, one of 58 organisations to be granted a portion of the Toi Uru Kahikatea programme.
In all, the Toi Uru Kahikatea programme will spend $54 million with grants ranging from $120,00 (over three years for Gecko Press) to $8.5 million (for the 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.
Other arts' organisations to receive funding include Toi Ngāpuhi, which will receive $1.5 million over three years; a $1.6 million boost for Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival until 2025; and $1.57 million for the Wellington-based biennial Kia Mau Festival of contemporary Māori, Pasifika and international indigenous live performance.
This article was originally published on Waatea News. Visit the website to hear and read more articles.
Comments