What we mean by Visual arts
Visual arts includes, but is not limited to, drawing, experimental sound/audio and moving-image arts projects, installation, kōwhaiwhai, painting, performance within a visual arts context, photography, printmaking, sculpture, tā moko, and typography. Visual arts also includes customary and contemporary practices of all the peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand, including Māori and Pasifika peoples and the diverse cultures of people living in Aotearoa/New Zealand today
Track record requirements
For a visual artist, success means at least one public exhibition of a body of work that achieved a degree of critical or sales success. This can be a solo show or as part of a group exhibition, but not as part of a course of study.
For a visual arts curator, success means having curated work that was exhibited at a gallery and that received a degree of critical acclaim.
Visual arts activities we support
We fund a range of activities, for example:
Developing or presenting work
- Researching or creating new bodies of work.
- Commissions for public artwork.
- Crating and freighting an exhibition of work to tour within New Zealand.
- Creating New Zealand work for exhibition within New Zealand art galleries or public spaces (we will usually give priority to exhibitions held at public art galleries).
Developing skills and audiences
- Residencies in New Zealand or overseas.
- Mentoring and internship programmes.
- Workshops, wānanga, fono, forums, masterclasses, seminars and other opportunities for creative and professional development for New Zealand visual artists and practitioners.
- Initiatives for audience development.
Projects with international connections
- International touring of high-quality and distinctive New Zealand visual artworks.
- Publishers attending international art book fairs
- International opportunities for professional or creative development for New Zealand visual artists and practitioners.
- Visits by international critics and curators that will directly benefit New Zealand visual arts and artists.
Other visual arts projects
- Community arts projects that focus on professional artists and practitioners working with communities, or that have regional or national significance.
- Researching, writing, producing, publishing or distributing exhibition catalogues, monographs, essay series, and critical writing about New Zealand visual artists and arts.
- Documentary or archival projects that focus on visual arts or an artist.
- Organising or attending conferences.