Creative New Zealand

You can register to attend one or more of the online drop-in talanoa sessions for the Oceana Artist in Residency 2026. Link in bio! First session is this Thursday May 7 at 1pm 👌

Your voice matters. We’re inviting artists, ringatoi, organisations and communities to help shape the draft Te Ara Mana Tautika o ngā Toi – Equity in the Arts Policy. This draft policy sets out how Creative New Zealand will support equity (fairness) in the arts and ngā toi Māori and deliver to our statutory purpose ‘to encourage, promote and support the arts in New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders’. The closing date for all feedback is 11.59 pm on Friday, 15 May 2026. Share your thoughts and be part of what comes next. 🔗 Link in bio #ToiAotearoa #EquityInTheArts #NgāToiMāori #PacificArts #CreativeNZ Image text: Te Ara Mana Tautika o ngā Toi – Equity in the Arts Policy Have your say on the draft policy by Friday 15 May (11.59pm) Image: @arthamdance Yāṉum. Photography by David St George.

A first walkthrough of Taharaki Skyside at @labiennale , featuring 17 large-scale portraits of taxidermied manu from Aotearoa and Australia. Puamiria Parata-Goodall (Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha, Ngāti Kahungunu), Arts Council member and Venice Kaihautū, says Ngāi Tahu acknowledges with pride Fiona’s presence at the Venice Biennale. “Her work elevates our manu as taonga, treasured reminders of our past, present and future. These are not simply images; they are acts of remembrance and recognition, calling attention to what has been lost, what endures, and our shared responsibility to the natural world and each other.” Video credit: @timstonerrock #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice

A quick tour around Venice and the Aotearoa New Zealand pavilion, and footage from the Ngāi Tahu blessing of Taharaki Skyside, celebrating the opening week of the 61st Venice Biennale. Video credit: @timstonerrock #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice

@fionapardington ’s brother, artist/designer @neilpardington , is the creative director of Taharaki Skyside. The siblings, who are close in age, frequently collaborate together in their creative endeavours. Watch this excerpt of Neil and Fiona at Neil’s 2024 exhibition “Rimurapa” where images of rimurapa (bull kelp) have been inspired by the Kāi Tahu / Kāti Māmoe rokiroki kai tradition of preserving tītī (mutton bird) chicks in pōhā. A nod to Fiona and Neil’s whakapapa. Film by @tomsmiriama #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice

The final of three install shots of Taharaki Skyside. “Fiona’s photographs are more than images: they are acts of return. Each bird, each shimmer of feather and darkened horizon, carries presence and absence in equal measure – the breath of life, and the hush that follows it. Her work holds the paradox of beauty and loss with grace and precision, summoning both ancestral memory and contemporary urgency. To stand before these photographs is to feel the gaze of Aotearoa returned, patient and knowing.” Kent Gardner, Commissioner, Aotearoa New Zealand at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2026 Chair, Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa. #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice Taharaki Skyside centre panel, photography by Neil Pardington

The second in a series of three install shots of Taharaki Skyside. [W]e are reminded that these manu are still here in ancestral memory, and their calls are not lost.” Dr Hana O’Regan ONZM #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice Photography: Neil Pardington Taharaki Skyside Installation, left wall.

Wednesday saw the official opening of Taharaki Skyside. Fiona Pardington’s portraits of Aotearoa New Zealand’s manu: extinct, endangered, remembered. On view at La Pietà, Venice, until 22 November 2026. #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice Photography by @wahacreative

Karakia were offered as Fiona and Neil’s whānau and iwi, Ngāi Tahu, blessed Taharaki Skyside ahead of its opening at La Pietà, Venice. A moment of grounding before the manu took their place on the world stage. Photography by @wahacreative #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice

Last year, Hye Rim Lee received support from the Creative Fellowship Fund, leading to the creation of Swan Lake, a 3D animation that brought her distinctive visual world to life at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. Swan Lake marks a major advancement in Hye Rim’s practice, realising a new level of technical and artistic ambition in 3D animation. It strengthened her experience leading a collaborative, production-scale project, working alongside 3d animation team; Steven Stringer, Vertigo Motion, sound artist Pablo Perez and the gallery’s technical team to create an immersive, high-quality installation that reached over 40,000 visitors. Through Swan Lake, Hye Rim explores themes of migration, identity, and transformation from the perspective of a Korean artist based in Aotearoa. By reinterpreting a classical ballet, the work reflects the Asian diaspora experience and themes of hope and belonging. The project connects with growing Asian and Korean communities in New Zealand, contributing to cultural diversity and helping shape an emerging art history for Asian artists in Aotearoa. Following its success, Swan Lake has opened new opportunities internationally. Hye Rim has been invited to present the work as part of a five-women artists exhibition; Root of K-Culture at the K-Culture Museum at Incheon International Airport, as well as to develop an immersive version for the immersive media arts therapy centre, The Crossing Pavilion, in Bundang Korea. These outcomes reflect the impact of the Creative Fellowship Fund in supporting ambitious projects that expand artistic practice and creating pathways for future growth, both in Aotearoa and internationally. Check out our funding calendar on our website for upcoming funding opportunities in 2026

Aotearoa New Zealand has unveiled its national pavilion, 𝘛𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘪 𝘚𝘬𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, a major new exhibition by Fiona Pardington (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Clan Cameron of Erracht) ONZM, at the opening of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. 𝘛𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘪 𝘚𝘬𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 presents 17 striking, large-scale portraits of taxidermied manu from museum collections across Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. Among them are kākā, kea, takahē, tūī, kākāpō and more. Each exquisite image reveals and affirms the mauri (life force) of the manu. Of her work, Fiona says: “Each manu is a testament to the interconnectedness of science, memory and spirit. Bringing their presence to Venice is both a call to action and an honour.” The public can view 𝘛𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘪 𝘚𝘬𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 and the rest of the Biennale, from 9 May to 22 November 2026. The exhibition will also be presented for New Zealand audiences at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū from mid-2027. Read more at the link in bio. Image: Fiona Pardington, Taharaki Skyside installation (detail). Photography by Neil Pardington. #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice

For NZ Music Month, Opus Orchestra are bringing The Journey of Mataatua Whare to North Island audiences. Composed by Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead, this opera in concert tells the true story of a Ngāti Awa wharenui taken overseas by the colonial government in 1879 and not returned home for 132 years. Developed in close consultation with Ngāti Awa, the work was first performed inside Mataatua Wharenui itself last June. Now it comes to Rotorua, Tauranga, and Hamilton this May. Read the full story at the link in our bio. #NZMusicMonth #MataataWhare #NgātiAwa #OpusOrchestra