To apply to Creative New Zealand you must meet the general eligibility criteria and the specific criteria for the opportunity.
We accept applications from:
- Individuals who are New Zealand citizens or permanent residents
- New Zealand-based organisations
- International arts organisations. But the application must show benefits to New Zealand arts.
Your project or activities must directly benefit New Zealand arts, artists or practitioners.
You must have a track record of experience and success — this means you must have:
- recognition from peers or experts
- achieved a degree of critical or sales success
- specialised training or practical experience
For examples of what success means in your artform check under Guidelines - Artforms. If you don't have the track record we're looking for you may be able to get funding through the Creative Communities Scheme.
There are three types of funding: Ngā toi Māori, Pacific arts and General arts. There are additional eligibility requirements for Ngā toi Māori and Pacific arts funding types. You may be eligible for more than one type of funding, but you can only choose one for your application.
To apply for Ngā toi Māori funding:
- you must be Māori, or your project must be managed or directed by Māori
- organisations, groups or collectives must be Māori-led. If an organisation is applying for funding on behalf of an individual, that person must also be Māori.
Applications are assessed by Māori artists or practitioners with experience in Ngā toi Māori.
To apply for Pacific arts funding:
- your activities must align to our Pacific Arts Strategy 2018-2023
- Kaupapa Pasifika will be evident in the practice of your activities
- the activities will deliver outcomes to Pacific arts and artists
Applications are assessed by Pasifika artists or practitioners with experience in the Pacific arts.
The general eligibility criteria apply. Applications are assessed by artists and practitioners with experience in the relevant artform.
If your project is in partnership with, or will result in a presentation at, an organisation in Creative New Zealand’s Toi Uru Kahikatea or Toi Tōtara Haemata investment programmes you must supply a letter from them that outlines their contribution to the project.
We offer the opportunity to resubmit a previously declined project only under limited circumstances, and it is at our discretion.
Permission to resubmit is granted by the Manager, Funding Services. Contact Funding Services to ask about resubmitting.
Generally, when deciding whether to allow a resubmission we look for the following things:
- The application was not submitted to any funding opportunity prior to 1 January 2021
- The application was scored highly by assessors and was recommended for funding by the assessment panel but could not be funded in that funding round due to limited budget
- The request to reapply is made within six weeks of the notification date
- The project can be completed within a new funding timeframe.
If you are given permission to resubmit, you can do so only once and it does not offer any guarantee that the application will be successful. If you resubmit an application without getting permission first, it won’t be eligible for consideration in that funding round.
Arts Grants
You can submit a maximum of two applications to Arts Grants per financial year. Declined applications, ineligible applications and resubmitted applications all count towards this maximum number. Therefore, if you have already submitted two applications – successful or otherwise – we’re unable to offer you a resubmission on top of that.
Annual Arts Grants
If you applied to Annual Arts Grants and were unsuccessful, you can apply to Arts Grants for projects that were included in your application, without seeking approval.
Ineligible applications
If your application was made ineligible in a funding round it cannot be submitted to a future funding round.
Some contestable funding programmes are open to organisations already funded through the Toi Tōtara Haemata and Toi Uru Kahikatea investment programmes but only if it’s a new project, or new project phase beyond the organisations agreed Programme and Budget.
It must also offer additional delivery to our Investment Strategy Te Ara Whakamua 2018-2023
Your agreed Programme and Budget is the list of activities submitted on November 20th each year and approved by Creative New Zealand in December each year. This list of activities is the record of what Creative New Zealand has agreed to fund in a calendar year as per Schedule 1, Clause 6 of your Tōtara or Kahikatea Funding Agreement.
As an organisation it’s your responsibility to clearly demonstrate that the application meets CNZ’s definition of a new project or project phase below.
CNZ defines a new project or new project phase as:
- A new project that is not included in your agreed Programme and Budget
- A new phase of a project that is included in your agreed Programme and Budget but has separate additional project outcomes and a discrete beginning and end that is separate from the funded project
Your application won’t be eligible if:
- it supplements or is a ‘top-up’ for a project or activity approved as part of your Programme and Budget
- it’s a new phase of a project or activity approved as part of your agreed Programme and Budget that does not have separate additional project outcomes
Does the new activity or project phase require an external contractor or more hours for an existing staff member to support its delivery? If so, you can seek support towards this cost. But you must clearly identify this as a project cost in the activity budget
You can't apply if you, your organisation, or key members of your project team are in breach of the conditions of a current funding agreement.
If you receive funding, be sure to read all the terms and conditions in your funding agreement and note your reporting deadlines so you don't breach the agreement. If we consider the terms and conditions of funding to be seriously breached, which includes missing the deadline for reporting, we reserve the right to terminate the grant and seek repayment.
The following penalties apply to default clients:
- payments for current or pending grants will not be made until a satisfactory report is received
- you will not be eligible to apply for funding for a minimum of 6 months after receipt of the project completion report
- your default history will remain permanently on file
- Creative New Zealand may forward your contact details to a debt collection agency to seek the repayment of the grant and additional collection charges to the grant recipient will be applied