Māori artists working collaboratively with other indigenous artists are being invited to apply for support from Creative New Zealand’s International Indigenous Artform Exchange Fund.
The fund is for Māori artists and practitioners to collaborate with other indigenous artists in creating new work or redeveloping existing work.
In total $60,000 is available in 2015 to support two to three projects in any artform. The opportunity is open to artists, arts organisations and rōpū.
Established in 2014, the fund is a component of Creative New Zealand’s International Cultural Exchange Programme which supports Māori and international indigenous artists sharing artistic skills and practice.
“We were extremely impressed with the high quality of applications we received for this opportunity last year,” says Creative New Zealand Senior Manager Cath Cardiff.
“We were delighted to support some of our finest Māori artists to collaborate internationally with artists from other indigenous cultures.”
In 2014 Creative New Zealand supported three projects:
Tai Tokerau Māori Collective (led by clay artist Colleen Urlich) worked with Aboriginal artists of Central Queensland on Returning Cross Culture: Blending our identities. The project involved printing, painting and clay workshops, culminating in an exhibition in Yepoon.
Tawata Productions collaborated with Canada’s Native Earth Performing Arts indigenous theatre company on project WAKA CIIMAN at the Weesageechak Festival.
Lardelli Arts (led by Derek Lardelli) formed Whakaora; Ancient artforms revisited – a collaboration between Māori and Native American North West Coast artists focusing on the revival and cultural protection of tribal skin marking practices.