The top spot at one of New Zealand's most prominent arts organisations has been shared.

Toi o Taraika Arts Wellington has announced new Co-Chairs - Lucy Marinkovich and Kirsten Mason - to take the organisation forward.

Marinkovich has built an international reputation for her work in the contemporary dance sector - as a performer and a choreographer - with her CV reading as a who's who of Aotearoa dance companies. She's the founder of InMotion, a community programme for people with Parkinson's and is currently the Artistic Director of the celebrated dance-theatre company Borderline Arts Ensemble. Marinkovich is also a former Footnote Dance Company member and Dance Educator for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, along with stints with The New Zealand Dance Company, Movement of the Human and Good Company Arts. 

With the Arts Foundation's Harriet Friedlander New York Residency, Creative NZ's Tup Lang Choreographic Award, and the University of Otago's Community Dance Fellowship under her belt, Marinkovich has a wealth of experience around the country. 

But she's also involved in arts sector advocacy, governance in mentoring roles with the likes of Arts Access Aotearoa's Funding Advisor, Chair of the Wellington City Council's Creative Communities Scheme panel, and currently sits on the Board of Directors of BATS Theatre.

"As an independent artist and a proud Wellingtonian I am delighted to take up Toi o Taraika Arts Wellington's Co-Chair position. I am eager to contribute towards the advocacy work for the arts and culture sector that gives so much to our city and wider region. 

"I'm excited about this opportunity to serve and support Wellington's artists and communities in their artistic careers and to amplify the voices of Pōneke's independent creative sector".
 
Mason is already in a high-ranking creative role as the acting Chief Executive of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, having previously been the Director overseeing artistic programming, education, marketing, ticketing and digital content for NZSO.  

Mason brings a huge amount of leadership experience from nearly two decades spent working overseas in the sector.  Arts management roles in Paris, London, Detroit, Turin and Shanghai - where she founded the New Zealand Music Festival Shanghai and toured Kiwi performers around China which saw her win a World Class New Zealander award by KEA NZ - have given her a depth of knowledge that she's brought back to her hometown.

Upon her return to the capital, Mason has also held the role of Orchestra Wellington's General Manager and was a finalist for Wellingtonian of the Year in 2019. She has also been a funding panel member for CNZ and a Board member of Arohanui Strings – Sistema Hutt Valley.

Mason states "I am delighted to take up the Co-Chair position together with Lucy.  I’m passionate about Wellington, I’m passionate about our arts sector, and I want to take this opportunity to engage with and represent the sector on the issues that matter.  I’m looking forward to working with the whole Board and membership of Toi o Taraika Arts Wellington to move our agenda forward."

When asked about their take on the current state of arts support in Wellington, the pair told The Lowdown  "In many ways, Wellington is facing the same challenges as arts and culture communities across Aotearoa - namely the limited or capped amount of contestable funding available from local and central government to support professionals who deliver creative activities for audiences and community groups. 

"Pōneke is regularly crowned Aotearoa’s creative capital in recognition that a significant percentage (7%) of our workforce is employed in the creative sector (many by the regional and national organisations based in Pōneke).  But this impressive moniker on its own doesn’t help emerging and mid-career artists to build and sustain their careers here.  

"Greater support for them is vital alongside the regular investment that Creative New Zealand and Manatū Taonga make into our larger institutions.  We are all part of the same cultural topography, working towards pushing creative boundaries and producing extraordinary arts experiences and we firmly believe that a better funded sector benefits everybody."

Slow your Scroll

The music industry's peer-based awards night - the APRA Silver Scrolls - is starting to take shape, with the first batch of finalists announced for the 8 October ceremony at Wellington's St James Theatre.

The SOUNZ Contemporary Award - detailed as New Zealand’s premier composition award, celebrating excellence in contemporary composition - has been whittled down to three finalists.

Past winner Karlo Margetić has been nominated for his work In All Directions (for orchestra), a work that started life as a set of piano pieces during a COVID lockdown as a distraction - what he calls a set of five “stubborn, single-minded miniatures”. 

Later he made the orchestral version, modifying and expanding the pieces in the process of translating the limited source material to a larger medium. The work was part of the 2023 NZ Composer Sessions and performed by the NZSO with Hamish McKeich conducting.

Up against Margetić is First-time finalist, Montreal-based composer and musicologist Ihlara McIndoe with her work Mirror Traps (for soprano and chamber ensemble), drawing on text from poet Hera Lindsay Bird, with her work performed in 2023 at the Voix Nouvelles Academy and Festival de Royaumont and recorded at France Musique by Ensemble Court-Circuit and soprano Johanna Vargas.

McIndoe states “In Mirror Traps, I sought to present a sense of the lyrical yet angular, simile cascading, effortlessly shifting, flowing, fragmented, ironic, tender (and more) qualities of Hera Lindsay Bird's text.” 

Fellow Dunedinite Nathaniel Otley is a second-time finalist and is up for his work the convergence of oceans (for orchestra), created as part of Otley’s 2023 composer-in-residence position with the NZSO National Youth Orchestra, which Otley describes as “an annual convergence of some of Aotearoa’s incredible young musical talent.”

The APRA Screen Music Awards is split into TV and film categories - and one name dominates.

As reported in depth in The Big Idea article, the award's dominating force Karl Sölve Steven is attached to four of the seven nominations.

He's up for Uproar and Never Look Away (with Jason Smith) in the Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award, taking on fellow Scrolls success stories Arli Liberman and Troy Kingi (The Mountain) and Dana Lund (Joika).

First-time nominees Hanisi Garue - the duo of David Feauai-Afaese and Navakatoa Tekela-Pule - are all that stands in the way of Steven in the TV series category for their work on season 2 of Still Here, with Steven nominated for Testify, as well as with Rob Thorne for Black Coast Vanishings.

The finalists in the Maioha Award and Silver Scroll Award categories will be announced next week (Thursday 5 September), chosen by New Zealand APRA members who voted for their top songs and waiata.  

Top draw judges revealed

The creatives who will decide the one of the top prizes in Aotearoa sculpture have been named - and they're names that carry weight.

Pioneering gallerist Hamish McKay and internationally renowned sculptural jeweller Karl Fritsch have been revealed as the judging duo for the $25,000 RT Nelson Awards for Sculpture - part of Wellington creative highlight, the NZ Art Show (29 May 29-1 June 2025).

McKay is a highly respected figure in Aotearoa's contemporary art world, with his eponymous Wellington gallery an institution for more than 30 years. He's been responsible for showcasing a number of artists - both local and international -  including the likes of Francis Upritchard, Mikala Dwyer, Tony de Lautour and his fellow judge Fritsch, helping lift their profiles and careers with leading collectors and public galleries.

McKay, in fact, refers to Fritsch as 'the David Bowie of world jewellery' - and many of his admirers would agree.

Celebrated for his unique approach to jewellery, Fritsch often starts with existing pieces and transforms them by removing or replacing stones, recasting settings, and oxidizing metals. His innovative techniques result in entirely unique and inspired renovations of traditional jewellery.

His work has been acquired by leading international museums and public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdan; Pinakothek of Modern Art, Munich. Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum Turnov, Czech Republic; Museum of Decorative Arts, Montreal, Canada; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Auckland Museum; and Te Papa National Museum, Wellington. 

Carla Russell, Executive Director of the awards, enthuses "It’s a privilege to have such distinguished experts from New Zealand’s arts community judging these awards. Their combined experience elevates these awards to a whole new level."

With the judges confirmed, all now that's missing are the entrants - with Artist applications open online until 31 October. With all the finalists' work on display at the NZ Art Show and available for purchase, it's a great opportunity for those who work in small-scale sculpture to earn recognition - and money. 

Poetry promise

Recognising the next generation of creative talent is always worth celebrating, with Year 13 student Chantelle Xiong rising to national prominence.

The St Andrew’s College (Christchurch) student has won the 2024 National Schools Poetry Award - run by Victoria University of Wellington’s International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) - for her poem But i wish /. which explores diasporic identity (you can read it her on the Awards website).

”The poem highlights how those with differences have to overcome so much just to be comfortable with their own identity,” Xiong states. 

“It’s hard to write about diasporic identities because there’s just so much to say and you have to stop yourself from getting carried away. Most of the poem was cultivated by my personal experiences, and of course, that makes me feel a certain vulnerability in sharing it. I was surprised, to say the least, to have won.

 “I really hope it connects with others...That’s the goal.”

Judge Joan Fleming details, “The bullying and the cruel asides the poem captures are often blunt, though the poem is anything but. It is spare, compressed, and tonally complex, and it is formally inventive in a truly memorable way. This poem burred in my mind immediately, and the more I returned to it, the more its sophisticated rendering of self-reclamation revealed itself to me.”

Xiong receives a $500 cash prize, a $500 book grant for her school library, a year’s membership of Read NZ Te Pou Muramura, a year’s membership of the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA), and a year’s subscription to New Zealand literary journal Landfall.

Judge Fleming described the finalists' works as "absolute miracles of excellence", with Xiong, Charles Ross (Logan Park High School, Dunedin), who is shortlisted for the second year running, Meg Simpson (St Andrew’s College, Christchurch), Ysabelle Casimiro (Baradene College, Auckland), Charlotte McKenzie (St Cuthbert’s College, Auckland), Toby Holden (Wellington Girls’ College), Raphael Ferdinands (St John’s College, Hamilton), Freya Furjan (Wellington Girls’ College), Greer Castle (Wellington Girls’ College), and Joseph Lomani (Rolleston College, Christchurch) all to attend a one-day poetry masterclass at IIML.

PISA cake

A great boost for Pacific Islands Screen Artists (PISA) - the only New Zealand organisation selected for the 2024 round of the annual Screenrights Cultural Fund.

PISA was established to support, encourage and promote individuals of Pacific Islands heritage working in the New Zealand Screen sectors at all stages of their journey, and will use its $54,000 grant for their ‘Pacific Islands Cultural Guidance for Screen Productions’ initiative, which will create a service to evaluate productions’ cultural needs, connect them with suitable individuals and communities, and ensure cultural authenticity and inclusivity in screen productions.

Abba-Rose Vaiaoga-Ioasa, Pacific Islands Screen Artists General Manager, states “PISA is humbled and thankful to receive funding for our Pacific Islands Cultural Guidance for Screen Productions.

"Humility, service and respect are at the core of the very many cultures that make up the Pacific Islands. We at PISA are looking forward to bringing these strands of our culture to weave a knowledge basket for our screen industry, that focuses on collaboration and transparency as a starting point for cultural safety with the goal of maintaining the integrity of Pacific Islands cultural elements, people and stories.”

NZ Film Commission wins award

The New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) has come under such scrutiny and undergone many changes in recent times - but they can celebrate their latest appearance in the news cycle.

NZFC has been named the Small-Medium Organisation Winner at the Diversity Awards on Wednesday night (28 August).

It claimed the gong due to its Te Rautaki Māori Strategy, which was created to ensure increasing Māori presence in the film indisuty would see their cultural integrity nurtured, maintained and protected.

In a social media post, NZFC states "From increased representation to building cultural awareness, this strategy has influenced every aspect of our work at Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga, the New Zealand Film Commission.

"Our Manukura - Chief Advisor Māori, Te o Kahurangi Waaka, says the strategy works in partnership with our Māori screen community, and the mutually agreed aspirations of what will make a difference.

"The award, in the category of The Ngā Āhuatanga o Te Tiriti Tohu Award for small to medium businesses, recognises our commitment to these values. This is not just a win for our team—it’s a win for all New Zealanders, as we continue to honour the legacy of our filmmaking tupuna and enrich the cultural landscape of Aotearoa."

The strategy was released in 2018 and designed to champion Māori film and filmmakers, in partnership with the Māori screen industry, with Te Rautaki Māori now part of the overarching organisational strategy to 2028.