Tēna koutou katoa.
It was a real pleasure to connect with many stakeholders last month at the Big Screen Symposium. Industry events always offer valuable opportunities to engage in meaningful conversations and learn about what’s happening out there.
We acknowledge that everybody’s doing it tough. But there are also many incredibly positive stories – funded screen and music content that’s engaging audiences both here and globally, and game development companies that are growing and creating export success.
Our first funding round of the new financial year was particularly challenging. We are really pleased with the projects that received funding, but the level of declines felt particularly acute this time around. Demand for funding is always higher than funds available. When confronted with tough decisions we lean heavily on our processes, and the clarity of our purpose. We are here to support the creation of content that reflects and develops the identity and culture of Aotearoa New Zealand, and ensure that content is discovered and enjoyed by audiences.
The slate of projects supported in this round is broad in topic, genre, scale and target audience. Creating space for new ideas, while continuing support for successful content is challenging. Likewise encouraging innovation, ambition, and strong business cases alongside serving under-served audiences continues to be a balance we are striving for.
Looking ahead, we continue to think deeply about how we can support the industry and will continue to seek and socialise ideas in coming months across both screen and music. We have the launch next week of our much-anticipated 2026 Where Are The Audiences report, and we have numerous industry engagements.
I look forward to continuing the rich conversations we have across the sector, as these help us to be informed and responsive.
Ngā mihi
Cam
