A report demonstrating the positive impact of multi-year funding from Manatū Taonga
Ministry for Culture and Heritage on community-based creative spaces, including
Home Ground, shows a dramatic 246% increase in people attending
creative spaces in Pōneke (Wellington) and around the country.
The report, Te kaha o ā tātou mahi | The Power of our work, was launched In Auckland on
Thursday 27 February. Using data gathered by Arts Access Aotearoa over the three years,
the report provides evidence of the health and social benefits provided by creative spaces
around Aotearoa New Zealand.
Arts Access Aotearoa partnered with Manatū Taonga from December 2020 to January 2025
to deliver a three-year $18 million CARE Fund contract supporting the growth and
sustainability of creative spaces.
In 2019, national attendance rates were estimated at 11,000 people attending 67 creative
spaces. In 2024, this figure had increased to an estimated 40,000 people attending the 53
creative spaces supported through the CARE Fund, and impacting an additional 120,000
whānau, family and/or companions and support people.
With multi-year funding we shifted our funding model from project specific grants to ongoing support. This meant we were able to expand our reach, provide consistent creative employment, clearly articulate our practice, foster community connections, integrate with other creative initiatives, advocate for systemic change and build resilience.
This can be demonstrated from the funding we received from Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage via Te Tahua Whakahaumaru Creative Arts Recovery and Employment (CARE) Fund for three years.
Across the three years of this funding, we have been able to develop and deliver a wāhine-led programme, created by and for women in the justice system across two prisons and numerous communities.
We have expanded access to the arts for women, which has led to increased engagement in the arts among their children and other whānau members.
Our programmes have generated creative employment opportunities for women with lived experience of trauma. Consistent and reliable delivery is a cornerstone of our trauma-informed practice and our new space in Newtown, supported by regular funding, has ensured we are able to honour this.
The CARE Fund also enabled us to develop an online classroom and creative workbooks in response to the lockdowns experienced during COVID-19. These remain platforms for us to consistently deliver our work remotely and reach more communities outside of Wellington.
Home Ground was able to establish a partnership with the Hoea Whare Whakaatu Toi, a Māori indigenous gallery and learning space in Te Tairāwhiti. Hoea Whare Whakaatu is now advancing the work with the wider Te Tairāwhiti community while we provide support. Working in partnership to extend creative opportunities is critical to strengthening the foundation of our collective community practice.
This partnership has facilitated the successful transition of one of our participating artists who is now able to return regularly to her whānau and whenua after several years away. She was awarded the Arts Access Aotearoa Whakahoa Kaitoi i Te Ara Poutama Arts in Corrections Artist Fellowship 2023 to explore her “home ground” across her whenua.
Meet the artist
Pip is a champion of creativity. She joined Home Ground in 2019 for one of our first arts projects, Project Tahi. Since then, she has participated in multiple Home Ground projects, first as a participant, then as Kaitiaki and now as an emerging artist. Following Project Tahi, we moved online due to COVID-19 and Pip thrived in an online format, working independently and enthusiastically in her home art studio. She confidently embodied her Kaitiaki peer mentor role in the online space, encouraging participants in their artistic expression. She also grew her own artistic style, trying new techniques, experimenting with colour and using novel materials. Pip found a joy in paint pouring and during one project used a large maple leaf dipped in paint to use as a stamp and seamlessly integrating this new technique into larger paintings. As a testament to Pip’s artistic growth on Project Tahi, Pip went on to deliver paint-pouring workshops with other participants. This demonstrates a massive achievement in her journey as an artist. It also shows how her confidence and self-assuredness has grown over her time with Home Ground.
Every six months demographic data was collected over a three-year period. The statistics reported here use data from July to December 2023. Please note that participants can identify with more than one barrier to participation and more than one ethnicity, so the percentages shown do not necessarily add to 100.
The material in this publication is intended as a general guide only and should not be relied on as a substitute for technical, legal or other professional advice. While care has been taken in the preparation of this material, the co-authors and publishers do not accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, or for the result of any actions taken on the basis of this information.
Read the full report here
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