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About the programme

As part of the COVID-19 Recovery Budget, the Government made a landmark investment to help ensure the cultural sector survived, adapted and thrived. In May 2020, the Arts and Culture COVID Recovery Programme was announced. This included more than 25 initiatives designed to deliver short-term relief as well as longer-term support for the sector.

We led a led a suite of initiatives, some of which we delivered but many were delivered by our funded agencies and sector stakeholders.

Current funds

There are no more funding opportunities available through the Arts and Culture COVID Recovery Programme. Our funding guide provides links and information about other potential sources of funding.

Other sources of arts and heritage funding

Closed funds

Ngā Kaiwhakaoho Ahurea — Cultural Activators Pilot

The Cultural Activators Pilot provided $1.44 million in funding over a year to eight organisations to host and support cultural activators in their local communities.

With the funding established cultural sector practitioners collaborated with their communities to tell their stories, build their creative skills and connect them with opportunities in the wider cultural sector.

Cultural Activators Pilot funding recipients

Ngā Puninga Toi ā-Ahurea me ngā Kaupapa — Cultural Installations and Events

Cultural Installations and Events was designed to create opportunities for employment and skill development for cultural practitioners and to allow more people to participate in our cultural sector.

Funding was for free events held in spaces that people find easy to access and discover and where they go regularly. Examples are community hubs, shopping malls, parks, beaches, marae, churches, reserves or along a waterfront.

73 installations and events received a total of $1.2 million.

Cultural Installations and Events funding recipients

Cultural Sector Innovation Fund

The Cultural Sector Innovation Fund was designed to support innovative projects that:

  • improved the sustainability and resilience of the sector
  • provided commercial opportunities
  • improved access and participation.

As well as meeting one or more of these outcomes, the fund had a focus on innovative projects that would safeguard Mātauranga Maori.

The fund was delivered through a new approach to arts funding: a nationwide event series called Te Urungi: Innovating Aotearoa.

We delivered 17 Te Urungi events across New Zealand, receiving 529 applications for funding. 185 projects received a total of $32.7 million.

Innovation Fund recipients

Te Tahua Whakamarohi i te Rāngai Ahurea — Cultural Sector Regeneration Fund

The Cultural Sector Regeneration Fund was designed to support the arts, culture and heritage sectors to recover from the impacts of COVID-19 and thrive. It supported strategic, sector-led initiatives, that would have lasting benefits for arts, culture and heritage in Aotearoa New Zealand.

$28.3 million was awarded to 86 initiatives that had the strongest potential to contribute to the fund outcomes of:

  • improved sustainability and resilience of the arts, culture and heritage sectors
  • improved safeguarding of Mātauranga Māori and support of Toi Māori
  • improved access and participation in arts, culture and heritage sectors
  • increased use of arts, culture and heritage as a tool to improve wellbeing
  • increased employment and skill development opportunities.

Regeneration Fund recipients

Keyword: Summary of Regeneration Fund recipients
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Summary of Regeneration Fund recipients

Mātauranga Māori Te Awe Kōtuku programme

The Mātauranga Māori Te Awe Kōtuku programme provided $24.5 million over three years to fund at least 18 diverse initiatives that support iwi, hapū, whānau and Māori communities to safeguard at-risk mātauranga.

The agencies involved in Mātauranga Māori Te Awe Kōtuku were:

  • Creative New Zealand Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa
  • Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga
  • Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage
  • Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
  • Te Matatini
  • Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand
  • Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs.

Mātauranga Māori Te Awe Kōtuku programme

This programme provides $24.5 million to fund at least 18 diverse initiatives which will support iwi, hapū, whānau and Māori communities to safeguard at-risk mātauranga.

Ngā Wāhi Auaha — The Creative Spaces initiative

The Creative Spaces initiative was designed to increase participation in creative activities for people experiencing barriers to participation and create employment for creative professionals.

Funding was available for organisations or groups providing access to art-making activities and creative expression for people who experience barriers to participation, which include:

  • intellectual or physical disabilities
  • neurological conditions or mental illness
  • age-related vulnerability (seniors or youth)
  • cultural or social isolation or poverty.

Creative spaces could apply for up to $150,000 a year, for a total of up to $450,000 in total over the three years. 54 organisations received a total of $17.12 million through two rounds of funding.

Creative Spaces funding recipients

Te Tahua Whakakaha

The Cultural Sector Capability Fund

The Cultural Sector Capability Fund was designed to support the cultural sector to adapt to the COVID-19 environment by funding projects that built skills and knowledge, and that provided access to advice, services, tools and resources.

Funding was available to cultural sector leadership organisations to build the capability of the cultural sector practitioners, organisations and/or businesses they represent and support. This included iwi, hapū and marae organisations. 39 organisations received a total of $5.9 million.

Capability Fund recipients

Media sector support

We worked with the sector to develop a $50 million media sector support package. The support package focused on reducing costs and easing cashflow pressure for a range of media organisations.

Martin Jenkins provided an independent review of the Media Support Package. The report was published in July 2021.  

Keyword: Media Support Package review report
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Media Support Package review report

Emergency response funding

The Government provided extra funding support for the arts and culture sector in September 2021 in response to the Delta outbreak. In early 2022, it provided more support in response to the Omicron variant and the shift to the ‘Red’ traffic light setting.

These packages helped address the immediate relief needs and provide confidence for the sector. They were delivered using a mixture of cultural agency support and Manatū Taonga initiatives.

Cultural agency support

During the Delta outbreak, the Government provided $10 million to cultural agencies to enable them to support at-risk organisations, key infrastructure, artists and projects as follows:

  • Creative New Zealand received $5 million to support at-risk organisations, including festivals and community arts organisations, and to provide employment and continuity of practice for creative practitioners.
  • The New Zealand Music Commission received $3 million for the continued operation of key music infrastructure, support to artists, venues and key support sectors.
  • Te Papa/Museums Aotearoa received $1 million to increase the Museums Hardship Fund and work with the museum sector on its sustainability and viability.
  • The New Zealand Film Commission received $1 million for further relief to productions in extraordinary circumstances and to avoid abandonment where the Screen Production Recovery Fund or indemnity had not been sufficient to manage the costs of the restrictions given the extent of the lockdown.

Arts and Culture Event Support Scheme

The Arts and Culture Event Support Scheme was designed to help organisers of arts and cultural events have confidence to commit to and deliver events while Government COVID-19 restrictions were in place. It also gave reassurance for artists and crew they would get paid if their events could not go ahead as planned.

The scheme was open from December 2021 to January 2023 and made payments of $32.1 million across 464 events.

Arts and Culture Event Support Scheme funding recipients

Cultural Sector Emergency Relief Fund

The Cultural Sector Emergency Relief Fund was split into two funding streams, one for organisations and the other for self-employed individuals.

  • Funding for organisations supported cultural organisations, including sole traders, at clear risk of no longer operating viably. At the time of closing on 26 May 2022, 65 organisations had received support exceeding $3.2 million.
  • Funding for self-employed individuals comprised a one-off grant of $5,000 to self-employed people working in arts, culture or heritage whose income was directly affected by a move to ‘Red’ under the COVID-19 Protection Framework. At the time of closing on 26 May 2022, a total of $6.495 million had been awarded to 1,299 eligible applicants.