Summer festivals, art groups, and budding young actors among recipients

A total of 43 initiatives ranging from summer festivals to children’s tap dance classes have all been winners in the latest rounds of community grants awarded under the Creative Communities Scheme.

Thames-Coromandel District Council (TCDC) on behalf of Creative New Zealand has administered a total of $21,636 to the various successful projects that increase community participation in the arts and enhance and strengthen the local arts sector, awarded from the October 2007 and April 2008 funding rounds.

The Creative New Zealand-backed scheme aims to increase participation in the arts, broaden the range and diversity of the arts available to communities and enhance and strengthen the local arts sector.

TCDC administers the funding based on decisions made by three Community Arts Councils covering the whole peninsula but based in Thames, Whangamata and Coromandel.

Funding was approved for: Thames Community Theatre Snow White pantomime, $200; Hauraki Enterprise Agency to facilitate two arts workshops, $350; Te Korowai Hauorao Hauraki’s annual Uth Fest, $500; Bella Street Pumphouse Society Inc for a camera for historical record keeping, $616; Thames Floral Art Club workshops, $500; Gloria Green’s quilting tutoring and design, $300; Creative Kidz Art Club to introduce children to charcoals, $500; The Creative Music Company hosting of two major music events for NZ Music Month, $840; Lee Mills to produce 50 compendiums of artists’ work, $500; Thames Society of Arts exhibition, $150; Coro Kool FM Family Fest, $1000; Whangamata Summer Festival opera singer for Opera in the Park, $3,190; Whangamata Spinners and Weavers, $250; Adrienne Aislabie embroidery workshop, $200; Hauraki Enterprise Agency workshop, $200; Hikuai Art Group 2-day workshop, $1000; Kool FM for Whangamata Jazz and Blues Festival, $1000; Coromandel Art Group oil painting workshop, $295; Coromandel Embroidery Guild 2-day workshop, $350; Coromandel Youth Support Association modern dance and tap for children, $500; Coromandel Music Society free concert and AGM, $500; Mercury Bay Area School, four students to attend National Youth Drama School, $500; Mercury Bay Area School vocal workshops by Carolyn Medland, $500; Vanessa James digital storytelling workshops, $445; Te Roopu Tautoko wananga, $500; Thames Youth Centre, $500; Thames Citizens Band music purchases, $350; Louise Wright for workshops, $400; Thames Music Group Sunday Concert by Paul Ellery’s Jazz Trio, $200; Creative Kidz Art Club, $500; Creative Music Company Coro Musicians compilation CD, $450; Stepping Out Hauraki weekly programme, $300; Friends of the Library puppeteer for summer reading programme, $200; Thames Musical Theatre, $350; Mercury Bay Players senior citizens christmas show, $500; Paul Lee to compose and write songs about Coromandel Peninsula, $200; Mercury Bay Community Choir concert, $400; Coromandel Music Society ‘hot club sandwich’ concert, $400; Colville Social Services poetry anthology publication, $600; Coromandel Indpendent Living Trust materials, $400.


The next funding round will be in October with a closing date of October 31 2008.