Four celebrated Māori and Pasifika events will receive up to $100,000 each in funding from the new Creative and Cultural Events Incubator fund, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford has announced. The four events that were successful in the inaugural funding round are: Kia Mau Festival, Wellington; Māoriland Film Festival, Otaki; Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival, Gisborne; and Te Matatini, Auckland 2021.

The fund was launched earlier this year to provide seed and development funding for creative and cultural events. It is part of the Major Events Fund and is a ring fenced amount of up to $1 million per annum or 10 per cent of available funds. Up to $1.5 million is currently available for incubator investments for the first three rounds including this one. The new major events direction took effect on 1 July 2019, and follows a Statement of Investment Priority to guide and focus government investment in events. Incubator funding rounds will be held annually in November, and will be open for applications for approximately one month.

More details at www.majorevents.govt.nz/the-creative-and-cultural-events-incubator

-TIN Bureau