Blog
Insights, news, and stories from the Patronage team.
The Lemonade Problem
Part one: how a venue survives without the bar The Big Idea ran a piece this week, Rosetta Stone's write-up of the Neck of the Woods hui, on a question that should bother anyone who cares about culture in this country…
Aotearoa's Regional Arts Infrastructure and the Question of Measurement
Creative New Zealand is simultaneously devolving up to $40 million in funding decisions to regional partners and cutting a third of its workforce. Both were confirmed by CEO Gretchen La Roche in June 2026. The Governm…
FEATURE 005: mr BLœck's Vicarious Eye
Practitioner: mr BLœck Location: Kemureti Discipline: Painting / Sculpture / Photography / Video mr BLœck came to Patronage courtesy of Max Nasmith. Within hours of joining, his profile was populated with work, and hi…
Who Got Funded in Aotearoa: Inside Creative New Zealand Grants 2026
Who Gets Funded Contestable arts funding in Aotearoa has become too scarce to function as broad sector support. The pool has halved. The odds sit below 6%. And the funding that remains flows disproportionately toward …
FEATURE 003: 心怡 / Xinyi Zhang's Earth and Memory
Practitioner: 心怡 / Xinyi Zhang Location: Tāmaki Makaurau Discipline: Visual Art / Photography / Ceramics Xinyi came to Patronage, I believe, through Arts Makers Aotearoa, a mailing list feature that sent a handful of …
FEATURE 001: Max Nasmith's Interactive Environments
Practitioner: Max Nasmith Location: Kirikiriroa Discipline: Sculpture / Interactive Installation We shared a high school of 2,500 students, but it took six years to connect. While developing 'Here Together', a communa…
The $17.5B Industry Built on Underpaid Artists
Arts funding too often ends with a thank-you email and a social post. The creative sector contributes $17.5 billion to the economy - 4.2% of GDP - and supports over 118,000 jobs. Every dollar spent on live arts return…
FEATURE 007: Fletcher McClelland's Landscapes After Us
Practitioner: Fletcher McClelland Location: Ōtautahi, Christchurch Discipline: Photography / Camera-less Photography Fletcher is an artist from Ōtautahi, Christchurch, currently studying Fine Arts majoring in Photogra…
FEATURE 006: Mariana du Plessis's Geological Maps
Practitioner: Mariana du Plessis Location: Kirikiriroa Discipline: Painting / Photography / Sculpture Mariana is the third Wintec practitioner to feature on Patronage, following Max Nasmith and Mr Black. That is not c…
FEATURE 004: Xavier Xu's Disciplinary Architecture
Practitioner: Xavier Xu Location: Tāmaki Makaurau Discipline: Visual Art / Installation / Moving Image Xavier came to Patronage through manual outreach. In April, I was emailing tertiary art students at Elam, and his …
How arts funding works in Aotearoa: the numbers behind Creative New Zealand grants
Two Creative New Zealand applications. Both declined. I started looking more closely at how funding actually moves through the arts ecosystem in Aotearoa. This round I applied for two projects. The first was a Creativ…
FEATURE 002: Isabella Fuller's Still Timelapses
I love the freedom to move between mediums. Music is like spoken poetry and photography is like visual poetry. I never get bored and am always inspired. Practitioner: Isabella Fuller Location: Pōneke Discipline: Photo…
Why I Stopped Pitching Corporates and Built Arts Infrastructure Instead
One year ago I was standing in Te Komititanga Square at dusk holding a LiDAR scanner, trying not to look like I was casing the joint. Eight council wardens agreed. The homeless community around the square were more cu…