The first major exhibition of contemporary art from New Zealand and the Pacific Islands to tour the US will open in New York in 2004 with thanks to a grant offered by the Arts Board of Creative New Zealand In announcing the latest grant round, Arts Board Chair Murray Shaw said that the proposed exhibition, Pasifika, was an excellent opportunity to develop new audiences and markets for New Zealand art. A grant of $25,000 was offered to the Asia Society towards the curatorial development of Pasifika which is to be jointly curated by Melissa Chiu, Curator of Contemporary Art and the Asia Society Museum and a yet to be selected NZ curator. In this funding round the Arts Board offered $2.64 million to 181 projects, among which were a number of international projects. Shaw has commented that, increasingly, NZ artists were presenting innovative, excellent work to an international audience. In line with this, a grant of $20,000 was offered to the working party of the Prague Quadrennial to co-ordinate and curate an exhibition of nine emerging and established New Zealand theatre designers. The Arts Board has also set aside $35,000 to support participation by one New Zealand performing arts company at the Second Asian Arts Market and a New Zealand booth, hosted by Creative New Zealand. A full list of grant recipients is available online at: www.creativenz.govt.nz/funding/grants