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Make The Most Of The Coast With The Creative Communities Scheme

Make The Most Of The Coast With The Creative Communities Scheme

Scoop17-07-2025
Kāpiti Coast District Council is thrilled to announce that the first round of the Creative Communities Scheme 2025/26 is open for applications. The twice-yearly scheme is funded by Creative New Zealand to support local arts and cultural projects.
This round has about $23,000 available to share across projects that create opportunities to create or celebrate the Kāpiti Coast's fabulous cultural scene. Funded projects must take place between 16 September 2025 and 16 September 2026.
Council arts events coordinator Nerita Clark says individuals and organisations are able to apply for funding.
'The scheme means we're able to support a range of inspirational projects that really add to the vibrancy of the district,' Ms Clark says.
'The recipients of our most recent round of funding have been working on exciting projects, from inclusive art or dance classes, to writing workshops or retreats, children's theatre, exhibitions and arts exchange, as well as an innovative, multimodal programme of weaving, dance and workshops.
'We're open to all kinds of arts projects, and welcome anything that creates opportunities for our local communities to get involved, but especially projects that support diversisty and encourage cultural or youth participation.
'We're delighted to administer this scheme in partnership with Creative NZ, so our community has the opportunity to participate in local arts and nurture emerging talent.
'The Creative Communities Scheme recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, and it's enduring sucess shows that the arts are truly valued.
'It's fantastic to be albe to support grassroots arts projects, and we're always excited to see applications for new projects that will inspire creativity on the coast,' Ms Clark says.
To be eligible for funding, projects need to have an arts or cultural focus and take place within the Kāpiti Coast. Applications open Wednesday 16 July and close at 5pm Monday, 11 August.
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Described as a heartfelt and hilarious story about growing up on the mean streets of Aotearoa with a sometimes-there, mostly-not dad, Parker shares her story about reclaiming her heritage when she is unexpectedly introduced to a father and a family she didn't know existed. 'We met briefly when I was 9,' she shares. 'I mean, it went well … I guess it's as people would suspect; a little bit awkward but a little bit of excitement. It all plays out in the show – there's the childhood filling in the gaps and longing to connect with my Māori culture and trying to find where I belong.' Cian Parker grew up in a tight-knit but low-decile community. Raised by her mother and the eldest of six, Parker grew up in a low socioeconomic setting but with a close-knit community. As far as Parker knew at the time, she was the only member of the family to take an interest in performing arts. She took drama through high school, before being granted a scholarship in theatre at the University of Waikato. She graduated with a bachelor of secondary teaching and a bachelor of arts, double majoring in English and theatre. She was a secondary school teacher for a year before a programme was launched between Creative Waikato and Creative New Zealand for local artists to develop new works with mentorship. She submitted her idea, it was accepted and she stepped away from teaching to use the grant to tour the show. However, this wasn't before a rewrite came about after a serendipitous encounter with a family member from her dad's side. 'I like to tell real stories,' Parker explains. 'Real people on stage getting the spotlight with mundane stories. I was interested in what it meant to be bicultural, the idea of having a foot in two worlds but never landing in either. I brought this idea to Victor Rodger, who was a mentor at the programme. He said, 'That's been done a lot, how can you make it yours?' 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This is the show'.' The show became about growing up without connection to whakapapa (genealogy) from birth until her early 20s and she teamed up with director and dramaturge Laura Haughey, who 'brought life into it'. Parker explains: 'I've lived the story, it was all autobiographical, then Laura came in and has an eye for the correct emotional gear shifts and she was able to direct me physically in movement while I brought in the dialogue and we were able to sew the story together. Cian Parker has always longed to bring her show to Whangārei. 'I don't think I could make a show without a dramaturge in the room, someone who sits a little bit further back and watches from an audience perspective but they're looking at the whole picture. 'You feel a lot and you have instinct but the dramaturge is saying, 'You're feeling that emotion but we, as an audience, haven't quite got there yet so maybe we can build that in'.' The title Sorry For Your Loss was taken from a Facebook message shown in the play about a loss of culture, loss of memory-making and a loss of relationships. The show is accompanied by live music from Andrew Duggan, while the set itself is fairly bare, with only five pieces of rope hanging from the ceiling, which Parker says was purposefully done. 'It was just me and Laura and a bare room and I had to build the world. In the opening of the show, I walk out as the actor Cian and slowly I will set the scene for them with very few details in terms of dialogue,' she says, describing how in one scene she is at a Kiwi garage party and will physically show that the floors are sticky. 'I will see other people and, through my interactions with them, they can see what kind of vibe it is. I have an idea of what this garage looks like, what I'm drinking, is it cold, is it hot, but I think the beauty of this show is it's actually just me in front of some rope moving around so the audience are able to then place their ideas of a Kiwi garage party. We are building the world together.' Parker plays multiple characters, including herself at different stages, a neighbour, her mother and her father, whose character her niece was instrumental in guiding her with, having known him well. Sorry For Your Loss plays in Whangārei on August 15 and 16. Photo / Kelsey Scott 'She knew him much better than I did so she was amazing at helping me play him. I think, as a story, it's been really important for me that, on paper, it might seem like he was a distant or absent father but the show itself is a recognition that he was a guy and, through no fault of his own, life pulled him in a different direction to where I was at. 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Parker will be spending about a week in Northland and performing Sorry For Your Loss over two nights on August 15 and 16. The show runs from 7pm-8pm at OneOneSix. Tickets can be purchased from Eventfinda.

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