While Manatū Taonga and Paul Goldsmith mull over the response to the Amplify Creative and Cultural sector draft policy, another of the country's most influential arts organisations is reaching out to hear the sector's voice.

Creative New Zealand has opened the feedback window for its draft long-term strategy - Tū Mai Rā, Toi Aotearoa - which is set to guide CNZ's "vision, direction and goals for the next fifteen years as the national arts development agency of Aotearoa New Zealand."

The floor is open for anyone with an opinion in the arts, creativity and ngā toi Māori - from now until 6 April.

CNZ's Senior Manager for Strategy & Engagement, David Pannett, states “We’re setting ourselves a long horizon, to 2040, because we know our ambitions for the sector and ourselves will take time to realise.

“This strategy will be in place as we launch our simplified support for arts organisations and groups and increasingly empower communities as decision makers. 

"Those changes, and our commitment to keeping artists and ringatoi at the heart of our work, are the foundation for our long-term strategy."

Reading through the draft strategy, it's refreshing to see CNZ lay it bare on where things currently sit in 2025. There's certainly an acknowledgement that it's a difficult time for many in the sector.

It observes "It’s hard for artists and organisations to make a living from the arts and ngā toi – livelihoods are often unstable and uncertain, and rapid technological change is presenting new challenges

"The arts community – creators, presenters and supporters alike – is under
sustained pressure, made harder by prevailing economic conditions; The wider arts ecosystem and infrastructure is fragile, with many one-to-one relationships and patchy ‘connective tissue’.

"Public attitudes and engagement are strong compared to other countries,
but the arts and ngā toi are on the margins."

This frank assessment has seen tweaks to the language and approach that currently exist at CNZ.

An example of this is the orgaisation's new vision statement for 2040 - The arts and ngā toi are flourishing: created by an empowered arts community, sought after globally and enriching all our lives.

Comparatively, its current vision statement is set as Our vision is one of dynamic and resilient New Zealand arts valued in Aotearoa and internationally. Not reinventing the wheel, but certainly subtle differences. The vision of being resilient was an important one as the pandemic arrived uninvited on our doorstep - but it has become terminology that grates for many. 

The draft strategy outlines "There are no arts and ngā toi without artists, ringatoi and practitioners – they need to flourish too. So too do the many groups and organisations, in the arts community and beyond, that make ngā toi and the arts happen. We want to see a healthy, empowered arts community and wider arts ecosystem, where people are thriving and relationships are strong, leading to positive change."

The path to achieving said vision is broken down in five goals:

• Empowered communities, making decisions on the arts and ngā toi
  closest to them, from a bigger support base
• Thriving artists, ringatoi and practitioners, with viable creative careers,
  supported by a healthy arts infrastructure
• He mana toi, he mana tangata – thriving and highly visible ngā toi Māori,
  valued in Aotearoa and around the world
• Inspired New Zealanders, embracing the arts and ngā toi every day
• A valued arts development agency, leading with impact and delivering
  for Aotearoa New Zealand

That last point is one of both interest and self-interest - both aspirational and wero to itself. CNZ is both underlying its importance and laying out the challenge to itself to ensure a long-term future.

As the draft strategy asserts "To deliver to our strategic intentions, we need to be rapidly fit-for-purpose. With demand for our support higher than ever, we’ll need to work differently to bring about real change.

"This means building robust systems to fund and support the best arts and ngā
toi, growing our leadership role, sharing and acting on strategic insights, and
being a catalyst for positive change across the wider arts ecosystem. We also
need to be effective and efficient in our work, to add more value and keep
building the trust and confidence that others have in us."

The words that would have most likely stuck out to creative professionals and artists; 'robust systems to fund'. Because cutting to the chase, how CNZ does this in the future - at a time where the organisation is already acknowledging funding is scarce - will be a priority in the eyes of many.

The draft strategy states CNZ needs to shift:

• from a broad investment focus to a focus on what it is that we can
  uniquely do
• from supporting arts activities to supporting people
• from centralised decision-making to devolving decision-making closer to
  communities
• from a principal focus on funding to a more balanced approach that
  includes more leadership, influencing and innovation
• from a model that largely focuses on one-to-one funding, to one that
  builds and deepens relationships, partnerships and networks, leverages
  and harnesses the resources of others, and builds the support base
• from processes and ways of working that are often transactional, to driving
  efficiencies that enable us to focus on more relational work, adding
  greater value

There may be a sense of 'feedback fatigue' among some members of the creative community but it has to be pointed out - it's far better than the other option of decisions being made that don't take the voice of the creatives into account.

Whether you're on board with the vision or vehemently disagree with it, when windows like this open, it's a case of 'speak now or forever hold your peace.' Like voting, it's hard to criticise something if you sat passively on the sidelines as it was being decided.

For those interested, there a range of ways to take in the information, as well as a number of ways to give your responses - as well as a informal Q&A webinar on 26 March and zui specifically aimed to discuss CNZ's Te Hā o ngā toi Māori Arts Strategy (25 March) and Pacific and Aotearoa Asian arts (27 March).