Fund your creative project with the Creative Communities Scheme.
2025/2026 Round one opening soon
Round one of the 2025/2026 Creative Communities Fund will open at 8am on Monday 14 July 2025 and close at midday on Friday 22 August 2025. Funding from this round must be spent by 31 October 2026.
This round is for projects or events that begin on or after 1 November 2025. The decision meeting for this round will be in early October, with payments made in early November 2025.
We use SmartyGrants for all Council funding. You only need to register once to use this platform. Please call 03 941 5488 for support.
Decisions for funding are made by a committee of people from the Christchurch area, who are appointed for their knowledge and experience of the arts and local communities.
Some important pointers for your application that we have noticed have been missing from recent applications:
For assistance, please contact a Community Funding Adviser or email creativecommunities@ccc.govt.nz.
The Creative Communities Scheme (CCS) provides funding to local communities so New Zealanders can be involved in local arts activities.
You can be an individual or a group, but individuals must be New Zealand citizens or permanent residents.
The scheme supports a wide range of arts projects under the following art forms:
There is now a limit to the amount you can request from each Creative Communities funding round. Your total request must be $6,000 or less.
Your total project budget can still be more than $6000, but the Creative Communities funding will only support up to $6000.
If you have already received funding from the Creative Communities Scheme for a project, you must complete a report on that project before making another application, unless the project is still in progress.
To get funding through Creative Communities Scheme, your arts project must do at least one of the following:
Create opportunities for local communities to engage with and participate in local arts activities.
Support the diverse artistic cultural traditions of local communities, for example:
Enable young people under 18 years to engage with, and participate in the arts, for example:
Please be aware that all recipients of the Creative Communities Scheme are required to:
Future funding can be withheld if accountability requirements are not met.
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