20 September 2021
The Mātātuhi Foundation is announcing two special grants to be offered before the end of the year: $8600 for a Māori-specific literary project and up to $100,000 for a one-off major project with the potential to change and grow our literary landscape.
These two new grants supplement the Foundation’s upcoming biannual grant round of up to $5000 for three to five innovative literary projects.
Funded through a bequest of $3600 from the estate of esteemed Māori writer Rowley Habib and topped up with up to $5000 of Foundation funds, the one-off Habib grant will be given to a proposal focussed on advancing the promotion of Māori arts and literature.
Submissions should be lodged on or before the closing date of 31 October 2021 at https://matatuhifoundation.co.nz/apply, using the standard project proposal form.
In a separate and significant move, the Foundation has allocated $100,000 to fund a transformational literary sector project. The submission deadline for this major new grant is 30 November 2021. “We’re seeking imaginative projects with sufficient scale and ambition to impact the growth and development of New Zealand literature,” said Foundation Chair Anne Blackburn. “We’re proud to have seed-funded more than twenty regional and national projects since our inception two years ago and will continue to do so. We believe the time is now right to augment that legacy. Supporting a more ambitious project with the potential to change the landscape is hugely exciting for us and the sector.”
As part of the submission process, all applicants will be required to attend an October briefing webinar with Mātātuhi Trustees Paula Morris and Anne O’Brien to introduce the kaupapa of the Foundation and set out the criteria, process and exclusions for all EOIs.
Further information on all three grants proposals is available on the Foundation website at https://matatuhifoundation.co.nz/apply.
The Mātātuhi Foundation was established by in 2018 by the Auckland Writers Festival as a vehicle to maximise its impact across the wider literary sector and for the benefit of Aotearoa New Zealand writers and readers across the motu.
