Creative NZ Funding 2026: Funds, Dates and Success Rates

Our own grant search and reports at Grantsights only cover US funding, so there's no product here for New Zealand artists. This page is a free guide drawn from Creative New Zealand's published rules and results. If a New Zealand version would help you, tell us you're in New Zealand.

Creative NZ Funds at a Glance (October 2026)

Creative New Zealand runs 9 main funding routes, split by who's applying. Here's each one as described on its fund page on 29 October 2026.

The Creative Impact, Creative Fellowship and Development Fund pages all said "upcoming rounds are not yet confirmed" on 29 October 2026. In 2026, Round 1 of the Impact, Fellowship and Early Career funds opened on 27 January and Round 2 opened on 17 August (31 August for Early Career). That's a reasonable guide to 2027 timing, but wait for the funding calendar (opens in a new tab) to confirm it. One special opportunity is open now: the NZ at Venice 2028 artist and curator expression of interest closes at 1 PM on 12 November 2026.

Who Creative NZ funds. According to Creative New Zealand, individual applicants must be New Zealand citizens or permanent residents, organisations must be New Zealand-based, and international organisations qualify only when the money directly benefits New Zealand arts and artists. It supports craft and object art, dance, literature, music and opera, ngā toi Māori, Pacific arts, theatre, visual arts and multidisciplinary work.

How Hard It Is to Win: Success Rates by Round

Creative New Zealand publishes a short summary with every round. Grantsights compared 12 of them, and the pattern is stark: the bigger, more flexible funds are the hardest to win.

Data: Creative New Zealand round results pages, read 29 October 2026. The Arts Organisations and Groups figures cover offers of one to three years of funding. Success rate is grants offered divided by eligible applications.

Three things to take from this:

1. The Creative Fellowship Fund got much harder in 2026. Round 1 funded 25 of 409 applicants, down from 48 of 410 a year earlier. The total awarded nearly halved, from $1.35 million to $650,000, while demand held steady.
2. Development funds are the realistic first step. The artists' Development Fund has funded roughly 4 in 10 to 5 in 10 applicants, and the organisations' version about 7 in 10, for grants of $5,000 and $10,000.
3. Demand has outgrown the money. According to the Creative New Zealand 2024/25 Annual Report, grant applications rose from 1,358 in 2021/22 to 3,009 in 2024/25, while approvals stayed between 421 and 494 a year. The total it awarded through grants and special opportunities fell from $26.6 million in 2023/24 to $12.8 million in 2024/25.

Data: Creative New Zealand Annual Report 2024/25, "Grants and special opportunities" performance table.

Pool matters too. Applicants choose the General arts, Ngā toi Māori or Pacific arts funding pool, and each has its own assessors. In Early Career Fund 2026 Round 1, General arts funded 25 of 361 applicants (6.9%), Ngā toi Māori 5 of 48 (10.4%) and Pacific arts 4 of 16 (25%). In Creative Fellowship Fund 2026 Round 1, General arts funded 17 of 311 (5.5%), Ngā toi Māori 6 of 64 (9.4%) and Pacific arts 2 of 34 (5.9%). Pick the pool that genuinely fits your practice. You can't game it: each pool has its own assessors, and the organisations fund asks applicants outside the Ngā toi Māori and Pacific pools to describe their actual relationships with those communities.

Funds for Individual Artists and Practitioners

Individual artists and collaborators have 5 main routes. You apply as an individual even if you trade as a sole trader or company, and a group of collaborators applies through one person who invites the others into the CNZ Portal.

Development Fund for Artists and Practitioners (up to $5,000). For professional and creative development: research, training, coaching, mentoring, and workshops, conferences, wānanga or talanoa in New Zealand or overseas. It doesn't fund new work. No budget is needed at application. You must finish and report on any earlier Development Fund grant before applying again. In the 2026 round, 57 of the 123 funded activities were taking place overseas, 22 in Auckland and 11 online.

Early Career Fund, Toi Tipu Toi Rea (up to $10,000). For artists of any age at the start of a professional career, to create, present or distribute work, gain skills or pay a mentor. You don't need a track record, and established artists returning to the arts or switching artform can't use it. In Grantsights analysis of the 34 grants in 2026 Round 1, the median was $7,250 and the smallest was $4,000.

Creative Fellowship Fund ($25,000 or $50,000). Time to experiment and develop new work: $25,000 for up to 6 months or $50,000 for up to 12 months. The money can go towards living costs, and there's no budget in the application. You can receive no more than $50,000 from this fund in 12 months, and you must finish one fellowship before applying again. In 2026 Round 1, 24 of the 25 fellowships were the $25,000 option.

Creative Impact Fund (up to $125,000). For creating, presenting, touring, publishing or sharing work with audiences and communities over up to 18 months. Creative New Zealand says most grants will be under $100,000, and any request over $50,000 must show income from other sources such as earned income, other grants, sponsorship or in-kind support. Grantsights analysis of the 95 grants across the 2025 and 2026 rounds found a median of $30,000, with the middle half between $17,667 and $50,000. Only 13 grants were over $50,000. The largest in 2026 Round 1 was $125,000 to Oliver Mathiesen to develop and present a new choreographic work for the Venice Biennale Danza.

You can apply to the Fellowship and Impact funds in the same year for different activities, but the combined limit is $125,000 in any 12 months.

International Engagement Fund (up to $25,000). For international travel, freight and promotion tied to a confirmed offer or invitation (required above $5,000). You start with an expression of interest; Round 2 closes at 1 PM on 3 December 2026 with results due by 28 January 2027. Activity must start within six months of the decision.

Accessibility payment. If you identify as Deaf or disabled, or experience disability or an impairment, you can claim an extra payment on top of any of these grants to cover access costs.

Funds for Arts Organisations and Groups

Organisations and groups that deliver ongoing artistic activity have 2 main routes, plus the international funds.

Development Fund for Arts Organisations and Groups (up to $10,000). For capability building in up to two of 8 focus areas: accessibility, audience engagement, cultural competency, tiaki taiao (environmental guardianship), financial resilience, governance, responsiveness to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and strategy. It won't fund capital costs such as CRM software or workspace changes. The 2026 round funded 95 of 138 applicants, and Creative New Zealand noted funded groups in Northland, Central Hawke's Bay, Greymouth and Gore.

Arts Organisations and Groups Fund (one to three years). This replaced the old Tōtara and Kahikatea investment programmes, which finish on 31 December 2026. It has 4 tiers: up to $50,000 a year, up to $125,000, up to $500,000, and over $500,000. Tiers 3 and 4 need average annual turnover above $250,000 over two years and Creative New Zealand funding in the last three years (not counting the Creative Communities Scheme). Offers are generally no more than 70% of your average annual turnover.

Grantsights analysis of the 183 organisations offered funding in the 2026 round (for 2027 onwards):

Data: Creative New Zealand, Arts Organisations and Groups Fund 2026 results page, read 29 October 2026.

The tier gap is the headline. According to Creative New Zealand's results summary, tiers 1 and 2 funded 89 of 336 applicants (26%), while tiers 3 and 4 funded 94 of 114 (82%), most of them established companies. The largest offers were $3,252,429 a year to the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and $3,034,541 a year to New Zealand Opera. Smaller groups did get in. Case in point: Ngāti Hinemihi Charitable Trust was offered $25,000 a year for three years through the Ngā toi Māori pool, and Te Kapahaka o Waioweka $30,000 for 2027.

Who can't apply. Territorial authorities can't apply to the Arts Organisations and Groups Fund. Universities and other tertiary organisations, council-controlled organisations such as public galleries and museums, and commercial galleries can apply only for programmes outside their core business. Committees and sub-groups of a larger organisation must apply through the head organisation.

Small local projects. The Creative Communities Scheme (opens in a new tab) is Creative New Zealand money handed out by city and district councils. According to Creative New Zealand's 2024/25 Annual Report, 67 territorial authorities awarded 1,771 grants worth $4.28 million. Projects must take place in that council's area, benefit local people and finish within 12 months. Search "Creative Communities Scheme" on your council's website for closing dates.

What Creative NZ Doesn't Fund

Creative New Zealand's before you apply page (opens in a new tab) lists 4 kinds of exclusion. Getting one of these wrong is a common mistake, and it's an easy way to lose an application before it reaches assessors.

• Artforms it doesn't cover: fashion design, game design, commercial design and architecture, and film, screen, television and radio content. It can fund recordings, documentaries and archives about New Zealand arts and artists.
• Work other funders cover: music recordings mainly for retail or online distribution (go to NZ On Air, or Te Māngai Pāho where te reo Māori is the focus), and feature and short films, screenwriting and film festivals (the New Zealand Film Commission). Documentaries already funded by the Film Commission and tours already supported by Tour-Makers are out.
• Core business of other bodies: the usual work of tertiary institutions, councils, council-controlled galleries and museums, and commercial galleries.
• Some costs: buying or renovating buildings or restoring marae, formal study in New Zealand (except through the artists' Development Fund), education resources that are part of a course, cash prizes, and money for something already funded by another Creative New Zealand fund, including the Creative Communities Scheme.

If your project is a building, look at the Lottery Grants Board and community trusts such as Foundation North, Rātā Foundation or Trust Waikato. For equipment or event costs for a community arts group, a gaming trust such as The Lion Foundation may fit; its 2026 Annual Report shows 27% of its grants went to arts, culture and community.

What Creative New Zealand Doesn't Tell You

The fund pages explain the rules well. The published results say more about strategy.

The Fellowship Fund is a long shot, and the Development Fund is your best bet. With 6.1% funded in 2026 Round 1 and 311 General arts applicants chasing 17 fellowships, a strong application can fail on numbers alone. Apply, but don't build your year around it. Running a Development Fund or Early Career application alongside, for different activities, is a sensible hedge.

A smaller Impact request isn't obviously safer, but a request over $50,000 is harder. Only 13 of 95 Impact grants were over $50,000, and anything over that needs proven income from elsewhere. If your project can work at $30,000 to $50,000, the data suggests that's where most grants land.

Round 2 can be tougher than Round 1. The Creative Fellowship Fund had 453 applicants in its December 2025 round against 410 in June. Expect demand to bunch up in whichever round is open when you're ready.

Strong applications have a recognisable shape. Each results page lists what assessors saw in funded applications. For Creative Impact Fund 2026 Round 1 that included naming the communities involved and how they'd benefit, clear budgets with diversified revenue, and evidence of impact beyond the artist. The Fellowship panel's 2026 Round 1 notes praised proposals that made a case "beyond just needing time and space to create", so an application that only asks for time is likely to score poorly.

Decisions come from staff, not just peers. Peer assessors score most applications, but Creative New Zealand staff make the funding decisions, reviewed by its Senior Leadership team, and they weigh how the results reflect the diversity of artists, regions and communities. That's why two equally scored applications can get different outcomes.

AI is allowed. Creative New Zealand says you can use AI tools to draft, research and refine an application, and it publishes guidance on intellectual property, privacy and cultural considerations for ngā toi Māori and Pacific arts. You still sign the application, so check every claim.

How to Apply to Creative NZ

Applying follows the same 5 steps for every contestable fund.

1. Pick one fund per activity. You can't get money from two Creative New Zealand funds for the same purpose. A group that fits both "collaborators" and "arts group" must choose one side.
2. Talk to an adviser. Email funding@creativenz.govt.nz or call 0800 CREATIVE (273 284). A Ngā Toi Māori adviser can help you choose between pools.
3. Register in the CNZ Portal before the round opens. Applications close at 1 PM New Zealand time on the closing date, and you can submit one application per round.
4. Prepare support material. Most funds want an artistic CV, work samples and letters of support. The Impact Fund needs a detailed budget with fair pay; the Fellowship, Early Career and Development funds don't need a budget until you're offered a grant.
5. Don't start spending. Activities must fall inside each round's activity window (for Creative Impact Fund 2026 Round 2, 2 December 2026 to 30 June 2028). You can't apply if you're in breach of an existing Creative New Zealand funding agreement.

Realistic timeline. Expect about three months from closing to results: Creative Impact Fund 2026 Round 1 closed on 26 February and results were posted on 20 May. Plan any 2027 project on the assumption that you may not hear until three months after you apply, and that most applicants are declined.

Other Arts Funding to Try Next

Creative New Zealand isn't the only arts funder in Aotearoa. Community trusts and gaming trusts fund many local arts groups for equipment, venues and events, and councils run the Creative Communities Scheme. Our New Zealand guides to Foundation North, Rātā Foundation and The Lion Foundation cover the biggest regional options.

For comparison, the national arts funders in other countries work in similar ways: see our guides to Creative Australia grants, Ontario Arts Council grants and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Sources Checked

All sources were read or downloaded on 29 October 2026:

• Creative New Zealand fund pages: Creative Impact Fund (opens in a new tab), Creative Fellowship Fund (opens in a new tab), Early Career Fund (opens in a new tab), Development Fund for Artists and Practitioners (opens in a new tab), Development Fund for Arts Organisations and Groups (opens in a new tab), Arts Organisations and Groups Fund (opens in a new tab), International Engagement Fund (opens in a new tab), International Arts Impact Fund (opens in a new tab) and Creative Communities Scheme (opens in a new tab)
• Creative New Zealand, funding calendar (opens in a new tab), before you apply (opens in a new tab), applicant types (opens in a new tab) and our change journey (opens in a new tab)
• Creative New Zealand round results: Arts Organisations and Groups Fund 2026 (opens in a new tab), Creative Impact Fund 2026 Round 1 (opens in a new tab), Creative Fellowship Fund 2026 Round 1 (opens in a new tab), Early Career Fund 2026 Round 1 (opens in a new tab), Development Fund for Artists and Practitioners 2026 (opens in a new tab), Development Fund for Arts Organisations and Groups 2026 (opens in a new tab), and the 2025 rounds of the Creative Impact, Creative Fellowship and artists' Development funds
• Creative New Zealand, news release on the Arts Organisations and Groups Fund 2026, 10 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
• Creative New Zealand, Annual Report 2024/25 (opens in a new tab)