Funding
We Love The Arts
Need help giving your next project wings. Southland has a host of local funders that will support projects in the region.
What is the Creative Communities Scheme?
Creative New Zealand spends over $3.2 million each year supporting around 1,800 projects through the Creative Communities Scheme (CCS).
Invercargill City Council administers the Creative Communities Invercargill Scheme
https://icc.govt.nz/community/funding-awards-and-grants/creative-communities-invercargill/
and the Southland District Council administers the Southland District Council Creative Communities Scheme
https://www.southlanddc.govt.nz/council/funding-and-grants/funding-and-grants-2/#creative-communities-new-zealand-860
CCS aims to increase participation from the local community in the arts sector, support the diversity of local cultural traditions and encourage and engage young people to participate in local arts. ‘Arts’ is broadly defined to mean all forms of creative and interpretative expression.
Who can apply?
Any individual or group can apply on the basis that the individual is a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident.
Two rounds of funding are allocated each year.
The average size of a CCS grant is around $2,000 per project.
What are the criteria?
Your project must have both creative components and community engagement components and must focus on at least one of the following:
Access & Participation – create opportunities for local communities to engage with, and participate in, arts activities.
Diversity – support the diverse artistic cultural traditions of local communities.
Young people – enable young people (under 18 years) to engage with and participate in the arts. There are five local priorities that the assessors will be mindful of. If you can demonstrate alignment with at least one of them, your project will be more likely to receive funding. They include projects that are visionary, vocalise creative pursuits, add to vibrancy, increase the value people attribute to the arts and that make the arts more sustainable. Details of these priorities can be found on the inside front cover of the application form.
It is important to note the emphasis on the community component or benefit in each application. If a project is seen as just benefitting the applicant or artist, it will not be funded. In addition, CCS funding will only be provided to help a project break even and will not be secured if the project expects to make a surplus.
