Macquarie Bank boosts support for the arts

Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand Arts Awards,
New Zealand Arts Foundation
The Cloud
Auckland Waterfront
October 2

The Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand Arts Awards distributed just over $400,000 to nine artists in a major event held at The Cloud on Auckland’s waterfront last week. 

In announcing the awards, Ian Witters, head of Macquarie Private Wealth NZ – the principal partners of the Arts Foundation – said the event reminded him of why he was proud to be a New Zealander.

He acknowledged that the foundation provided opportunities to meet some incredible artists and hear impressive stories of philanthropic New Zealanders.

“As a bank, we love doing business in New Zealand and we are proud to be investing in our country through the arts, which is a vital and important expression of humanity."

The foundation has established a number of awards, including the prestigious Laureate Awards. By the end of the year, it will have made awards to 141 artists and have given more than $4 million to artists in the 11 years since they were established.

This year they went to five Laureates – Ruia Aperahama, Tony de Lautour, Rachel House, Gregory O'Brien and Fiona Samuel – who each received $50,000, while Pip Adam, Shigeyuki Kihara, and Cameron McMillan each got $25,000 as New Generation Award recipients

With the support of the Friedlander Scholarship Trust in memory of the late Harriet Friedlander, Arthur Meek was awarded the Harriet Friedlander New York Residency valued at $80,000.

Foundation chairwoman Fran Ricketts said a recent survey found New Zealand has the second highest worldwide rate of donating to charity when measured as a percentage of GDP.

“I know New Zealanders are generous and that we give what we can to the things that are the most important to us. This is why we are launching New Zealand’s first genuinely philanthropic crowd-funding website for the arts. 

"It will be a place where a donation of $5 or more will make a difference and where all donations attract a tax deduction,” she said. 

The new website, which will be launched shortly, will be called Boosted.

Laureate Awards

Ruia Aperahama Te Iwi Morehu is a musician who combines a deep sense of tradition with a strong contemporary sensibility. What's The Time Mr Wolf, written and recorded when he was in his early 20s, is recognised as an enduring New Zealand classic. He often composes in te reo Māori, has recorded several albums of original material and has translated the songs of Bob Marley into Māori.

Tony de Lautour is an artist whose work is quirky and full of dark humour. His paintings have been included in numerous group exhibitions in public galleries and in solo exhibitions. Recent work explores the tension between Modernist abstraction and the contemporary context of post-quake Christchurch.

Rachel House, Ngāi Tahu/Ngāti Mutunga is an award-winning stage performer and director with an increasing profile in film. She has played roles in movies such as Boy and Whale Rider and has had pivotal roles in the premieres of some New Zealand's classic theatre, including Woman Far Walking. In 2012 she directed the te reo Māori version of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida which played to acclaim here and at the Globe Theatre in London.

Gregory O'Brien is a poet, essayist, editor and artist, and has a busy and energetic presence in New Zealand arts and literature. With one foot in the literary world, the other in the visual art realm, he has been on the cultural scene for nearly three decades. His most recent publication is a monograph on the painter Pat Hanly (2012).

Fiona Samuel is an actor, writer and director. She writes for film, theatre, radio and television and has created award-winning dramas in all these fields. Her most recent work includes the television dramas Piece of my Heart and Bliss – the Beginning of Katherine Mansfield, both of which she wrote and directed. Her work has been called "succulent entertainment", "beautiful", "side-splittingly funny" and "achingly sad".

New Generation Awards

Pip Adam is a fiction writer. Her work has appeared in notable publications such as Sport, Glottis, Turbine, The Lumiere Reader, Hue & Cry, Landfall and Blackmail Press. She has also written for exhibitions at the City Gallery, Wellington. Her first collection of short stories Everything We Hoped For (VUP) won the 2011 NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction.

Shigeyuki Kihara is an artist and curator. A native of Samoa, her first solo exhibition in North America, entitled Shigeyuki Kihara: Living Photographs, was recently held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York after the acquisition of her works by the museum for their permanent collection. Other work is held in selected private collections internationally, including that of Giorgio Armani. Shigeyuki is this year's Paramount Award Winner of the 21st Annual Wallace Art Awards.

Cameron McMillan has been described by The Observer as one of "the most compelling and intelligent dancers on the world stage". Born in New Zealand and trained at The Australian Ballet School, he is based in London. He is Associate Artist with Dance East and has enjoyed a highly successful performance and creative career spanning large-scale classical ballet, independent contemporary dance, film and fashion.

Harriet Friedlander New York Residency

Arthur Meek writes for stage and screen, and has worked extensively as an actor. He first came to attention at university for his award-winning short film, Being John Campbell. He has been awarded the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award and a slew of others and nominations in the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. His work betrays a singular and witty contemporary voice, bold in structure and style.