Fund details
Opens: Monday 15 September 2025
Closes: Thursday 16 October 2025
Decision date: 3 December 2025, to be confirmed
About the fund
This is the primary fund for independent artists, collectives, and emerging groups seeking support to develop and present creative work in Pōneke. Projects can span a wide range of artforms and must demonstrate clear artistic outcomes.
What is a project?
A project is defined as: a time-bound, self-contained activity with clear deliverables and a defined start and finish date.
This might be short-term (for example, a one-off weekend workshop) or long-term (e.g. a programme of exhibitions over an 8-month period). The programme or project, however, must be completed within 12 months of being funded and deliver to at least one of the Aho Tini funding priorities.
Priorities and outcomes
The purpose of this fund is to support our Aho Tini policy, which is designed to support the many strands of Wellington's creative and cultural talent, and weaves them into something that is stronger, more powerful and more sustaining than they are in isolation.
There are four focus areas that inform the priorities of the fund to bring the Aho Tini vision to life. Your application must demonstrate how your project will deliver to at least one of the Aho Tini Strands.
- Aho Tangata / Our people - Our communities are connected by diverse arts and cultural expression.
- Aho Hononga / Partnership with mana whenua and Māori - We honour te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Council's partnership with mana whenua and Māori in the outcomes we deliver.
- Aho Whenua / Our places, spaces and venues - The city is alive with the possibility of art around every corner.
- Aho Mahi / Pathways - Wellington is an incredible place to create, live, learn and work.
Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Be applying for support for a specific project.
- Be a legal entity or under one (for example: Incorporated Society, Charitable Trust, Māori entity)
- Non-legal entities and individual applicants (for example, Independent Artists) must provide a valid umbrella/fundholder agreement. See the section ‘Umbrella/Fundholder Agreements for Independent Artists’ for more details.
- If applying as an organisation, provide evidence of governance structures and organisational development appropriate to the scale of funding requested.
- If applying as an individual, include details of your relevant experience, background, or practice.
- If already receiving a Multiyear or Annual stability grant, your application must be for a new project outside of your existing contracted programme.
- Clearly identify the community or audience your project is intended to serve or engage.
- Be based in or delivering within Wellington City Council boundaries.
- Have at least one other funding partner involved in the project.
What we don't fund
- Clients presenting at Bats, Circa, Cuba Dupa, Kia Mau Festival, NZ Fringe Festival. These applicants must now apply directly to these organisations that the Council has provided curatorial funding for.
- Education-related expenses (for example, tuition fees or course costs that contribute to secondary or tertiary qualifications).
- Individual artist development activities that are not directly project-based (for example, writing a book or play, creating a body of work for an exhibition, or making a film).
- Individual commercial organisations carrying out their routine operations (such as dealer galleries, publishers, or arts training schools).
- Venue hire that is already subsidised via Wellington Venues Subsidy, Hannah Playhouse or Toi Pōneke Arts Centre.
- Community festivals with over 1,000 attendees. Please refer to Community Event Sponsorship instead.
- Community Christmas events. Please contact City Events at cityevents@wcc.govt.nz to discuss this further.
Supporting documentation
To strengthen your application please provide any relevant supporting documentation for your project as follows:
- A detailed budget which could include hours and rates of pay of personnel.
- Support letters from key people in the sector or community which reference the benefits and potential impact of the project.
- Confirmation of participation and availability from key artists/performers/personnel.
- A production timeline for key tasks and dates.
- Marketing or promotional plan including online/social media, posters, flyers, e-newsletters and any distribution networks you might utilise.
Funding amounts and timeframes
This fund is suitable for applications between $1,000-10,000. Decisions made by Pītau Pūmanawa | Grants sub-committee and communicated within 4–6 weeks after closing date.
Apply for the fund
Check you have all the required documents before starting your application.
If you have applied for funding from the Council before, you can create a new funding request by logging into the funding portal. If you receive an error message when trying to access the funding portal on a mobile device please use these instructions or contact the Funding Team.
Go to Funding Portal
If you need guidance or you're not sure if this is the right fund to apply for please contact us.