New Music Kids Funding

New Music Kids is a NZ On Air funding round supporting children's music artists to create quality content for tamariki across Aotearoa.

Successful applicants can receive up to $10,000 (plus GST if registered) to professionally record one song — or a maximum of two — along with visual content to promote the single(s) and other marketing and promotional costs. On top of this, a mandatory 10% Artist Creation Fee (up to $1,000 plus GST) is added to your grant and paid out in the final drawdown, recognising your creative contribution to the work.

This funding is open to all New Zealand children's music artists — there are no entry threshold criteria, so anyone working in this space is welcome to apply.

All applications must include a budget using the provided Application Budget Template (available as an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheet). Successful applicants can claim eligible expenses from the date the funding round opens.

If you're working on a larger children's music project — an EP or album — check out the New Music Project Kids funding, which supports multi-song projects with between $11,000 and $55,000.

Key dates (2026 round):

• Applications open: 23 July 2026, 9:00am
• Applications close: 6 August 2026, 4:00pm
• Decisions due: 3 September 2026