Spending a couple of weeks in a very different place and society can make our everyday pursuits at home seem odd and even nonsensical. One certain traveller last week looked at a fuzzy baby elephant and couldn’t have told you the meaning of “email”. And yet, when I returned, there were 300 waiting in my inboxes. A lot – more than I expected – has happened while I’ve been away, and I’ve done my best to sieve through it, wrap my mind around the less obvious things, and condense it for you here. There’s no left-over brain power for a lead this week, so here, catch up on what we’ve missed!

Complete results of AOG funding announced

In early September applicants to tiers 1 and 2 of CNZ’s Arts Organisations and Groups Fund heard back early. Then CNZ posted the results list of the whole fund, all four tiers combined, on 10 September. They even made and shared charts on Instagram 👀. The biggest trend remains consistent – organisations asked for more than double what was offered.

We covered the highest two tiers in depth here on The Big Idea, and smaller organisations are often just as important, though I’m not sure yet what stories will shake out of these results, especially when the list and numbers tell such an incomplete story. Two great organisations, Samoa House Library and Performing Arts and Young People Aotearoa (PAYPA) have both announced their applications were unsuccessful. How has your organisation been affected by this funding round? Would you like to see charts on the Tier 1 and 2 results? Let me know: editor@thebigidea.co.nz

Arts Centre Chch expands studios

Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre is welcoming three new local artists and a new drawcard, Grace Patisserie (renowned for macarons and petit gâteau), to The Studios on the ground floor of the Engineering Extension building, next to the shop. The space is now home to 15 artists, and is open to the public every day from 10am to 4pm. “The studios enable people to encounter artists at work, and the artists find that connection very fulfilling. The cluster of studios also enables artists to connect with each other,” says Interim Director Daniel Stirland. The new artists Linelle Stacey, Eszter Luca, and Charlie Lattimore join Sheelagh McHaffie, Roseanne Jones, Kay Zhang, Anthea Merrin, Yumi McLean, Kat Stefanova, Rachel Huston, Viktoria Karaman, Alexandra van Dyk, Caroline Kelly, and Shell Xie.

Kat Stefanova in her studio at the Arts Centre. (Photo: Supplied).

Coalition for Books release Election Manifesto

The Coalition for Books released their manifesto with a bold statement: The next three years will define the future of NZ books and publishing. The industry group says that the next government has a defining opportunity to lift literacy and back a thriving literature ecosystem. The Election Manifesto, a simple two-page document, identifies four priorities. It wants the future government to:

Commit to strategic central funding of $1 million p/a for NZ books and reading
Join the books sector to launch a New Zealand Year of Reading
Commit to copyright reform that protects creative rights and ensures fair reward for authors
Commit the government to buying local stories

“The literature sector also faces core challenges that only a coordinated government response can help overcome,” says Coalition for Books chair Melanie Laville-Moore.

Calls for information and consultation over changes at National Library Music Hire Service

A proposal to axe 49 positions at the National Library and Archives is said to include the specialist librarian who looks after the sheet music collection at the Music Hire Service. The collection contains more than 4,700 orchestral sets, 2,500 choral sets and nearly 600 band sets. This collection is used by choirs, bands and orchestras around the country that rely on access to overwise-expensive sheet music, and say a knowledgeable librarian is essential to that access. The New Zealand Choral Federation sent out a press release calling for a pause to the proposed changes until stakeholders have been properly consulted, which was picked up by RNZ and The Post. However, yesterday chief executive Christine Argyle told me the National Library has provided no more information and made no attempt to engage, including not acknowledging emails. She says she’s only received a generic email that says, “we will not comment further until their feedback has been received and final decisions are made”. Meanwhile, a statement attributed to National Librarian Rachel Esson, says the service will not be discontinued, rather there will be changes in how the service is delivered.

Creativity Belongs Here returns for the general election

Those in the arts surely remember this tagline from the local election campaign last year. The Regional Arts Network Aotearoa are taking it out for another rendez vu, and have created a toolkit of assets to help others to encourage their communities to vote with the arts in mind. The messaging isn’t specific to policies or parties, and I haven't seen any in the wild just yet. Have you?

Spark Arena Community Events Fund allocates $60,000 to Auckland all-ages venues

Big Fan in Morningside, Shore Junction in Takapuna, and Zeal in Henderson are the recipients of the second round from this fund. The funding will go towards equipment, studio and performance infrastructure, and programme delivery at each venue. It’s a little less than the first round, which allocated $100,000 in artist equipment support to five Auckland venues, and the same could be said – that while it’s nice and recipients are grateful, it doesn’t impact the structure of the sector which funnels money towards the big players like Live Nation/Ticketmaster, and leaves independent venues with very little resource with which to support developing artists. Chris Winder, a manager at Zeal, says, “artists who will one day perform on Auckland’s biggest stages have to start somewhere. For hundreds of rangatahi, Zeal is a place where they can pick up a microphone, write and record their first song, perform in front of a crowd and start to see themselves as artists.”

Ben Hanly, stained-glass artist, dies at 67

Stained glass commission by Glassworks for a Tongan Church.

Ben Hanly, who, with his wife Suzanne, produced windows for prominent buildings including St Matthew-in-the-City, Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell and Sir Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production facilities, died on 4 September. Hanly was the son of painter Pat Hanly, and photographer Gil Hanly. In stained glass, he found a medium in which colour could escape the surface and become light. Hanly’s path into the craft began when he met Suzanne when they were students in Christchurch. He was studying horticulture, and she studied fine arts. They established their studio, Glassworks, in 1980. Suzanne principally designed while Ben crafted designs into finished works in glass. The couple were perfectionists, importing mouth-blown glass from specialist makers in France and Germany. Ben died peacefully, surrounded by family.

Ockham Book Awards 2027 Judges announced

12 experts have been announced as the judges for next year’s awards. The $65,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction will be judged by regional bookshop owner Millie Blackwell (convenor); novelist, writer and reviewer Linda Burgess; and award-winning author and writing teacher Shilo Kino (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Te Ata). They will be joined in deciding the ultimate winner from their shortlist of four by an international judge.

Judging the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry will be actor, writer and experimental artist Josiah Morgan (Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Maniapoto; convenor); renowned novelist, poet and memoirist Dame Fiona Kidman; and award-winning poet, writer and translator Mikaela Nyman. The General Non-Fiction Award will be judged by historian and author Neill Atkinson (convenor); Samoan journalist and broadcaster Susana Lei'ataua; and academic, writer and reviewer Thomas McLean. The BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction will be judged by dress historian, curator and award-winning author Claire Regnault (convenor); researcher and educator in library and information studies Spencer Lilley (Te Ātiawa, Muaūpoko, Ngāpuhi); and writer, editor, arts programmer and curator Emma Ng.

“We’re expecting some lively and robust discussions around the judging table,” says New Zealand Book Awards Trust chair Nicola Legat. Submissions close 15 October.

Romy Hooper first kiwi to win CinemaStreet Women's Short Screenplay competition

In 2025 Romy Hooper won the CinemaStreet Women's Short Screenplay competition, beating 125 other entrants around the globe with a script about a man who spent the witching hours of his retirement outside his home at a notorious cliff in Sydney, saving hundreds of lives by talking people down and offering a cup of tea. Part of the award is that the women of CinemaStreet Executive Produce the film, and Hooper is currently running a Boosted campaign to come up with $16,700, half of the production budget – and she’s almost 80% of the way there!

Finalists announced for Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards

Presented by Arts Whakatāne and Whakatāne Art Gallery, Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi, the annual non-acquisitive award began as the Shell Art Award in 1986. The major award comes with a $15,000 prize, and there’s a suite of runner-up prizes too. This year, 87 finalists have been selected from the 638 entries. The award ceremony will be held on 14 November at the exhibition opening, and the exhibition will close 20 February 202. In the running: Brett a'Court, George Agius, Jen Alexandra, Audrey Anderson, Frankie Bakker, Janine Bjerring, Elijah Broughton, Annette Bull, Scott Cai, Hana Carpenter, Kerin Casey, Emma Cheape, Paul Darragh, Caitlin Devoy, Caitlin Devoy, Akiko Diegel, Donna Dinsdale, Sam Dollimore, Alise Dumble, Murray Eskdale, Alice Fennessy, Kim Fifield, Inga Fillary, Stevie Fiske, Peter Force, James R Ford, Viky Garden, Michael Geddes, Robyn Gibson, Jacquelyn Fang Greenbank, Eli Guttenbeil, Jennifer Halli, Sarah Harper, Natalie Holland, Louise Keen, Motoko Kikkawa, Oliver King, Michael Lamb, Rozana Lee, Gabrielle Lewis, Tania Lewis-Rickard, Cassey Locke, Sam Loe, Elliot Love, Amanda Mackenzie, Melissa Macleod, Loren Marks, Nicola McCafferty, Paul McLachlan, Kirsty McLean, Sandra Jane Meyst, Peter Miller, Alex Miln, Estefania Mondaca, Rebecca Mooney, Faye Norman, Hollie O'Neill, Maria O'Toole, Jaymin Patel, Hugo Primbs, Toby Raine, Andrew Rankin, Amie Redpath, Lucy Rice, Sarah Rowlands, Kyle Sattler, Karen Sewell, Anne Shirley, Tanja Simons, John Skudder, Aida Smith, Liz Sofield, Jacqueline Spencer-Macleod, Rosemary Theunissen, Molly Timmins, Amber Timpany, Jenny Tomlin, Rupert Travis, Ava Trevella, Julie Voss, Layla Walter, Zachariah Whiteside, Ruby Wilkinson, Alex Wilkinson, Llyr Williams, Tom Wilson, and Amy Yoshikawa Couling

Tina Makereti is the 2026 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellow

Katherine Mansfield standing with a parasol by the Villa Isola Bella, France, 1920. (Photo: Ida Baker, National Library).

Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore) has been named the 2026 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellow. She will live and write in Menton, southern France, for three months and receive a $43,000 grant to support travel, insurance, living and accommodation costs. Tina will have access to a writing room beneath the terrace of Villa Isola Bella, where Katherine Mansfield lived and wrote in 1919 and 1920. Tina says receiving the fellowship “allows me to step away from my teaching job, and Menton has already given me some astonishing moments of creative energy and synchronicity, even though I haven’t set foot there yet.”

Yona Lee the 2027 Judy Wheeler Commission recipient

Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts has announced sculptor Yona Lee as the recipient of its 2027 Judy Wheeler Commission, a prestigious annual initiative. Each year, the Judy Wheeler Commission supports the creation of a new site-specific work that responds physically or conceptually to PICA’s building and its history. Lee will create a sculpture that occupies the first floor. Constructed from stainless-steel tubing, the work will wrap around the space as a continuous line, incorporating everyday objects and transforming the building into an expanded drawing.

Scholarships for young writers awarded for the first time

Tāwhia Copyright Aotearoa (TCA) and the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (NZSA) have announced five young writers who have received the inaugural Secondary School Leavers Scholarship, which offers grants of $2,000, split between the successful student and their school. The winners are Elisa Cordner from Heretaunga College, Ankit Kafle from Shirley Boys' High School, Bleys Roberston from Mairehau High School, Ruby Waetford from Epsom Girls Grammar School, and Christina Wright from Avondale College.

Four writers receive TCA | NZSA Research Grants

The Tāwhia Copyright Aotearoa (TCA) and The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (NZSA) partnered up again on research grants funded through the TCA Cultural Fund, which gets its revenue from a 2% share of domestic licensing income. Four $5,000 grants have been awarded to: Bebe Ngaruko’s project Jungle Journal: A Memoir of Civil War, Exile, and the Search for Meaning; Monique Fiso’s project How to put down a Hāngī; Wendy Parkins for Fenice; and Duncan Sarkies for Laser Guy.

Ava Trevella receives Te Tuhi’s 2026 Iris Fisher Artist Studio Residency

Ava Trevella, Dresser, 2026 (Photo: Ava Trevella).

Ava Trevella is the second recipient of Te Tuhi’s Iris Fisher Artist Studio Residency this year. In 2027, Trevella will spend three months in the Papatūnga Artist Studio at Te Tuhi. She will receive mentorship and curatorial support from Te Tuhi’s team, as well as a stipend of $15,000. She is a painter whose practice is studio-led and explores interconnected themes of self, nature and place. Te Tuhi’s Executive Director, Hiraani Himona says “we were really pleased with the wide interest in the Iris Fisher Artist Studio Residency from across Aotearoa. The application process introduced our team to many talented early-career artists whose work we look forward to following in the future.”

Silver Scroll finalists announced

Finalists across the six categories of our most prestigious songwriting awards have been announced. For the top award, the Silver Scroll, there’s five finalists: Afters, written by Troy Kingi* and Maarire Brunning-Kouka, performed by Troy Kingi feat. MĀ; LALELEI, written by David Feauai-Afaese*, Navakatoa Tekela-Pule*, Levi Gemmell, Larsen Taylor, and performed by LEAO; One Stop, written by Hannah Topp, performed by Aldous Harding; Someone’s Daughter, written by Deva Mahal and Chris Wethey, performed by Deva Mahal; and Wrong Party, written by Peter McCall, performed by Fazed on a Pony. Find the other category finalists here. The winners will be announced at the ceremony in Tāmaki Makaurau on 14 October.

Did you know Aotearoa hasn’t had a national festival of design until now? Tyrone Ohia tells us what to expect from the inaugural festival of Design, set to kick off in October.

Development spaces across Aotearoa are feeling the funding pinch. Sam Brooks talks to the directors of four spaces across form and geography about their work, and how they could be better supported.

Does the Welsh music scene offer a glimpse of te reo Māori’s future? Eda Tang has a look at the parallels.