There was a moment at this month's PANNZ Arts Market when I had a pleasantly non-death related out-of-body experience. 

I was in a room full of people, all having animated discussions about the full spectrum of things that really get arts nerds going. 

It was at that moment that my brain slipped out of me and floated up to the ceiling - like an escaping helium balloon. 

It looked down and I saw myself as others saw me. Someone who knew their stuff. Someone who was part of a community. Someone who belonged.

Then I looked around and recognised the same giddy expression of mild incredulity on a hundred other faces. We were all having the same realisation. 

This is our place…. 

It’s funny. You wouldn’t think that - for the type of established artists who often frequent PANNZ's annual 3-day event - you still need this sense of recognition and community. 

But I actually think we need it more than ever. 

When you’ve been an artist for more than five years, and the adrenaline wears off, the isolation and fragmentation of the industry starts to get to you. You start to see yourself as some lonely space station, silently adrift at the outer edges of the creative universe entirely on our own. 

It takes the simple act of coming together (and getting out of your bedroom and meeting people) to remember you’re actually a star in a dazzling creative constellation here in Aotearoa. You’re part of a whole, big wondrous milky way of producers, directors, performers, writers, movers, shakers, last-minute magicians, cat-herders and gaffer-tape aficionados who all have the same goal.

To make celestial cosmic magic.  

It almost makes you want to cry. And it’s why the Arts Markets has such a powerful role in helping mid career artists; it reinvigorates your own sense of self from the inside out.

Walk around the PANNZ showpiece for more than two minutes and you’ll hear the same thing. In the loos, over the free gingerbread hearts, detangling lanyards - everyone is smiling and saying the same thing. I’d forgotten how good it is to be around everyone. 

 “We’re so siloed in the arts,” says Richard Green, Executive Director of Factory Theatre and seasoned arts markets regular, “but this is the one chance a year when we come together.” 

Likewise, Laurel Devenie, Creative Director from One One Six, had brought the team down for exactly the same reason. “We’re from Whangārei, and it can feel so far away, so this is the chance to come down to really reconnect with the wider arts ecosystem.” 

You wouldn’t think we needed reminding that good stuff happens when you get out of your pajamas and go talk to people. But we do. 

“It’s a time when we realise how many people we know, because we forget,” adds Green, “and then we go to PANNZ, get home, have a glass of wine and think, 'God, I’m tired, but that was awesome'.”  

It’s not just the joy of being around your tribe - it’s a chance to swap notes and compare strategy. To have the conversations, and bounce big ideas off the people who really get it - and you never get a chance to talk to otherwise. 

"People come to PANNZ for three main reasons,” notes 10-time Arts Market veteran and Toi Toi Presenter Services Manager, Glen Pickering. "Obviously there’s the networking and the chance to see the mahi - and what’s happening with this or that artist. But it’s also a chance to talk about things outside of the usual order of business, and you can see what everyone else is feeling about the strategy and direction and the mood of our industry.”  

This isolation mindset can also play havoc with your head if left unchecked for too long. 

By the very nature of our fragmentation, it’s easy to forget that other people see and appreciate your work. You get into the slump, when you feel you have as much to offer the world as over-chewed gum. 

And it’s why the Arts Markets are so powerful in the introduction of initiatives such as the FAME mid-career awards.  

“One of the nicest parts of organising the FAME awards,” says Candice de Villiers, Marketing and Communications manager for PANNZ, who’s part of the team bringing the awards to life, “is hearing from nominees that they had been about to stop, or had been thinking about changing careers. But then getting nominated made them want to stay. 

"It’s not necessarily just the money, but also the recognition the awards give.” 

This was echoed by what 2022 recipient Rodney Bell talked about in his awards ceremony address about the power of being seen by others.

Whilst presenting the 2025 awards, Bell (Ngāti Maniapoto) spoke about the “beautiful surprise” receiving the award had been in 2022, and how it “gave more of a reason to move forward, as people saw in me something I didn’t see at that time.”  

It’s the sheer act of your industry reaching out and recognising you which is transformative - even for established pros. It gives you the self belief you need to survive long term here. And remind you of why you started all this in the first place. You have something to say about this weird, wild, inexplicable madness of living - and other people want to hear it.  

Of course, another big challenge for any established artist is always - what next?  

So you pulled off a great national tour….What do you do now? Make something new? Start all over again? Tour Australia? But how? You can see that dream…but how do you make it actually happen….? And it’s another place where the value of the Arts Market can be seen.  

In her opening address, CNZ’s Senior Manager, Arts Development, Claire Murdoch, referred to New Zealand being seen overseas as a crucible country, a place where world leading art is made. And she’s right, we are world leading.  

But this does put a unique pressure on an established creative of, how do I get my art off this tiny island at the bottom of the world and in front of the world?   

It’s somewhere the PANNZ conference - and a wider network of national and international producers, buyers, planners, tour makers and money makers - really is invaluable. It really doesn’t hold with gatekeeping. It wants new works to get out there and be seen by the world.   

“The actual PANNZ Markets themselves are just the tip of the iceberg,” declares PANNZ Chief Executive Louise Gallagher, “There is so much more that PANNZ does. We want to ensure that after all the mahi artists put into creating a show, the work can go on to have a long life after its first or second outing. We are constantly building connections internationally, and championing Aotearoa’s best work for global recognition. 

"There’s no cookie-cutter model for this kind of work, it is all about us identifying needs and finding those sparks of opportunity for our artists. We work hard to build those pathways on an individual and personal level, and to do it in a way that has long-term benefits for the industry as a whole.”

And you can see its success in shows such as UPU, which after a PANNZ national tour has now has a season at the Sydney Opera House in May and a month-long Canadian tour in 2026. All of this was made possible, says Gallagher, with the structure of the Arts Market and the ability to build those important relationships. And even just reassure you as an artist that, yes, you’re good! And yes, this is actually possible! 

It is this investment in new work, and the continued promotion and support of it in the long term, that means that works can emerge and then be sustained to grow into their full, glorious life. 

By the end of the three days together, you can hear the air crackle with the electricity of invigoration. So many of us artists have a tendency towards dramatic, romantic lone wolf heroism - seeing ourselves as Clint Eastwood with a paintbrush, riding solo into the sunset adventure - And we forget that real, long term creative success is having a community of cheerleaders, helpers, supporters, connectors and planners that see your mahi - and want everyone else to see it too.