In partnership with The FAME Trust (Fund for Acting and Musical Endeavours) and the Acorn Foundation, PANNZ (Performing Arts Network of New Zealand) is honoured to launch a significant new prize for Aotearoa’s exceptional live performance artists – The FAME Mid-Career Awards.
The FAME Mid-Career Awards will provide three established mid-career artists with a one-off award of $15,000. The prize money can go towards activities like touring overseas or within Aotearoa, collaborating with other arts organisations or carrying out further study and/or development.
The grant will allow artists in the live space some freedom to continue to develop their craft and build their career. This freedom and acknowledgement of talent comes from the pockets of some generous patrons, who are still an integral part of the support system for artists in New Zealand.
The FAME Awards focus on these major creative disciplines:
Music: instrumentalists, operatic singers, composers, producers, conductors, taonga puoro players
Contemporary Dance: dancers, choreographers, producers, kapa haka leaders
Theatre: actors, directors, playwrights, story-tellers, stage designers, theatre technicians
Expressions of Interest are now open for The FAME Awards and will be assessed by a panel assembled by PANNZ. Artists will need to provide information about themselves and their work, as well as a bit about what they would like to do with the prize grant. Recipients of the awards will be announced in April 2022.
Founded in 2007, The FAME Trust has long provided support for young and mid-career artists, plus funded national organisations like the NZSO, Toi Whakaari NZ Drama School and the NZ School of Dance, and local groups such as Opus Orchestra, Youth Philharmonic and BOP Symphonia.
The Acorn Foundation is a community foundation based in the Western Bay of Plenty, which encourages people to leave a gift in their will and/or their lifetime to support their local community forever.