Craft/Object art: includes traditional and contemporary applied arts practices of all the peoples of Aotearoa/ New Zealand, including Māori and Pasifika peoples and the diverse cultures of people living in Aotearoa/ New Zealand today. Genres include, but are not limited to, ceramics, furniture, glass, jewellery, object making, studio-based design, raranga, tāniko, tapa making, textiles, tivaevae, typography, weaving and woodwork.
For projects involving a design component, artists can apply for funding to develop and/or make new work and for the public presentation of the work, but not for the commercial manufacture or production of a work.
Dance: includes forms of dance that clearly have an arts and cultural focus (as opposed to aerobics, fitness or martial arts) eg kapa haka, tango, traditional Highland dancing, hip-hop, classical Indian dance, Pacific dance, ballet, tap and jazz.
Inter-arts: Inter-arts projects integrate artforms of any cultural tradition, combining them to create a new and distinct work. The result of this integration is a hybrid or fusion of artforms outside of Creative New Zealand’s existing artform categories.
Literature: includes both fiction and non-fiction
- ‘Fiction’ includes, but isn’t limited to, novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, children’s fiction, young adult fiction, graphic novels, illustrated picture books, and speculative fiction such as fantasy fiction, science fiction, detective fiction, and historical fiction.
- ‘Non-fiction’ includes, but isn’t limited to, autobiography, biography, essays, social commentary, literary criticism, reviews, analytical prose, non-fiction written for children, young adult non-fiction, and writing about the physical and natural sciences.
Literary activities may include poetry readings,, local storytelling, writers’ and readers’ events, and creative writing workshops. Creative New Zealand does NOT consider the following to be literature: instruction manuals, guide books, phrase books, and do-it-yourself and how-to books (including travel guides, gardening books, and recipe books); bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias and professional reference works; newsletters; hymn books; and publisher catalogues.
Māori arts: arts activities that can be regarded as strong expressions of Māori identity. They include the following types of arts practice, which can also form the focus of workshops, wānanga and festivals:
- heritage te reo-based artforms, eg whaikōrero, haka, karanga and whakapapa recitation, waiata mōteatea, pao and kōrero paki
- heritage material artforms, eg toi whakairo (carving), tukutuku (wall decoration), kōwhaiwhai (painted rafters), and ngā mahi a te whare pora (weaving, textiles and basketry)
- customary performance arts such taonga puoro, karetao (puppetry), ngā tākaro (string games)
- contemporary Māori arts activities that draw on traditional heritage artforms, fusing them with other elements to create innovative expressions of Māori cultural identity, eg theatre and contemporary dance productions, creative writing, songwriting, and photography.
Multi-artform (including film): projects that combine or feature two or more artforms, eg a youth project that combines music and visual arts, or a festival that features dance, music and theatre.
Film: includes animation, dance film, documentary film, experimental film, feature film, short film, and moving-image art projects.
Film festivals presenting work created outside your local area are not eligible for support via CCS.
Music: includes all music genres, eg classical and contemporary music; popular and rock music; rap and hip-hop; orchestral and choral music; brass bands; opera; jazz; ‘world’ music; and traditional and contemporary Māori and Pacific Island music.
Pacific arts: arts activities that identify with the unique cultural perspectives of individual Pacific nations (such as Samoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Niue, Tokelau and Tuvalu) as represented by New Zealand’s Pasifika communities. Pacific arts activities can include the following types of arts practice, which can also form the focus of workshops, fono and festivals:
- heritage language-based artforms that relate to specific cultural traditions, eg storytelling, chanting and oral history
- heritage material artforms, eg woodcarving, weaving, tivaevae and tapa-making
- traditional dance, theatre and music performance eg Samoan siva (dance) and Cook Island drumming.
- contemporary Pacific arts activities that draw on traditional heritage artforms, fusing them with other elements ato create innovative expressions of Pasifika cultural identities, eg theatre and contemporary dance productions, music, creative writing, songwriting and photography.
Theatre: includes all theatre genres, eg comedy, drama, physical theatre, street theatre, musical theatre, pantomime, circus, clowning, puppetry, mask, and theatre by, with and for children.
Visual arts: includes customary and contemporary practices of all the peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand, including Māori and Pasifika peoples and the diverse cultures of people living in Aotearoa/New Zealand today, eg drawing, painting, installation, kōwhaiwhai, photography, printmaking, sculpture, tā moko, and typography.