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Sustainable cultural sector careers

Supporting sustainable creative careers in the arts and cultural sector – our policy work.

What we’re doing

Our Arts Policy team is investigating a number of policy options to better support people to have sustainable cultural sector careers, including:

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage is also involved in cross-agency policy work that will help support sustainable cultural sector careers.

  • We are working with the music industry and other government agencies to develop options for enhancing the international potential of New Zealand music.
  • We are supporting the screen sector to develop a 10-year strategy which will set out the sector’s aspirations for 2030, and how to get there. We expect that supporting sustainable careers for screen workers will be a key component of this strategy.
  • We are continuing to work with the Ministry for Social Development to establish cultural sector apprenticeship/trainee opportunities through Mana in Mahi.
  • With the Ministry of Education we’ve established the Creatives in Schools programme, in which professional artists and creative practitioners partner with schools and kura to share their specialist artistic knowledge and creative practice with students. This programme will also provide a supplementary source of income for participating creatives, and inspire awareness of creative careers in young people.
  • We are contributing to policy work led by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment on ways to promote the growth of New Zealand’s creative industries. A growing creative sector means more opportunities for people wanting creative careers.
  • We are contributing to the review of the Copyright Act, which is led by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Copyright is an important legislative tool that enables creative people to earn revenue from their work.

The latest round of Creatives in Schools funding applications opens on 16 June 2023 and will close on 21 August 2023 for creative projects to be implemented in 2024.

Check Arts Online website for updates.


Updated on 24th May 2023