Pacific Arts Committee call for nominations

Creative New Zealand is calling for nominations for new representatives from the Niue, Fiji, Tonga and Tuvalu communities for its Pacific Arts Committee.

Creative New Zealand is the national development agency for the arts. It is responsible for supporting the arts of the Pacific peoples of New Zealand.

The Pacific Arts Committee makes funding recommendations to Creative New Zealand’s Arts Board and also provides advice to the agency.

The eight-member committee meets four times a year and is made up of representatives from the seven main Islands groups, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Niue, Cook Islands, Tokelau, Tuvalu and the chairperson, who is also a member of the Creative New Zealand Arts Board.

Chair of the Pacific Arts Committee, Pele Walker says the committee supports and celebrates both the heritage and contemporary arts of Pacific communities.

“The role of the Pacific Arts Committee is to support the arts of the Pacific peoples of New Zealand. As well as allocating grants to a range of projects by Pacific artists and organisations, the committee also establishes special initiatives such as artform development workshops, the annual Arts Pasifika Awards, an artist-in-residency programme and funding information forums. Our focus is a vibrant and vital Pacific arts culture in New Zealand.”

Skills, knowledge and experience
People nominated to become members of the Creative New Zealand Pacific Arts Committee should have the following:

• A passion and a vision for the development of Pacific arts in New Zealand.
• A strong background and understanding of Pacific contemporary, heritage or community arts. Preference will be given to those with significant experience as a practising artist or arts administrator
• Strong knowledge of fa’a Niue, fa’a Fiji, fa’a Tonga or fa’a Tuvalu, preferably with some level of proficiency in a language
• Good communication skills including an ability and confidence to contribute to team discussions
• An understanding of arts project planning
• Established networks and endorsement from their community within New Zealand
• Knowledge of the issues facing Pacific artists and groups in their development
• An understanding of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi

Referees
Applications must include two references from arts or community representatives supporting their nomination to the Pacific Arts Committee.

Closing Date
The closing date for nominations is 5pm Friday 1 July, 2011

Nomination Form
You can also download the nomination form from Creative New Zealand’s website at Research, Publications and Forms, under the section Corporate and Strategic Documents.