Being a local arts funding assessor...

(Photo credit: cropped Auckland Council promo)

This has been one crazy busy month with so much to do before I jump on the plane and relax in a couple of days.

From marking presentation assignments of student work to running writing workshops for teens, attending various meetings, church activities attendance, painting, planning and currently working through my pile of assessments as a local creative arts assessor leaves me with a can't wait for Christmas holidays kinda feeling.

(That's not to even mention being a mom to busy teens and their school activities, with a school production for one this week, supporting with exams for another and transporting from one place to another as well as being a daughter and wife, teacher makes for never a dull moment in our household and in my life!)

Therefore, being an arts funding assessor for the last couple of years for our South Auckland funding of community arts project has been an interesting experience as I bring with me experiences as having written, produced, directed and facilitated several South Auckland full school productions and church productions with a neat team of staff and students; self-published, promoted and produced several plays, poetry and short stories books with novels still to come and I love participating in the arts be it painting, watching a movie, listening to music, watching dance etc. there is just so much to see and do.

With an interest in theatre, performing arts, poetry writing (rather than performance), music, drama, film, fine arts, dance I must say that I have been blessed with many interests and experiences in the arts and then reciprocating by trying to support the arts in our communities I see as another important role that I play within the arts scene (or rather background scene) of advocating for a range of artistic expressions and performances in our communities.

As arts assessors, we have to make decisions on six main criteria for getting funding i.e.

1. The idea
2. The process to be taken
3. The people involved
4. Criteria for receiving funding
5. Budget

Decisions have to also be made around the priority of the activities i.e.

• Access and participation for the community members
• activities for those under the ages of 18 years
• arts activities that promote diversity within our cultures
• whether the funding is for individuals or groups

Sometimes I find myself having critical discussions with other assessors either agreeing or disagreeing with conversations around what constitutes art or craft or what gets funded and what doesn't but if I really believe in an artistic expression then I'll go into bat for the artist or group knowing that the funding is often a critical component of whether the art gets expressed or is shelved for another year.

So all the best for the funding rounds that are being assessed throughout our Auckland communities and in being a recipient (for 3 years now) I'm seriously considering to change the genre and move into another field i.e. of theatre or performing arts but will see what the coming months brings as I also have my studies to think about...