Art Grants

Kiwiburn currently has two categories of Art Grants. Small Art Grants that are for projects under $500 and the Large Art Grants for projects that are expected to be over $500 (The biggest grant we have funded to date was $3680). These Art Grants are administered by Kiwiburn Art Committee (KAC). They also administer an ‘Innovation Grant’. The amount awarded will vary between each project and often acts more as a contribution to the costs, rather than paying for the entirety of the project. There’s a few things KAC won’t fund, such as time/labour. To see a complete list, check out the criteria.

Important Dates FOr Kiwiburn 2023

Applications open Thursday 28 July 2022 and close Thursday 25 August 2022 at 11:59pm. Applicants will be notified of application outcomes by Sunday 20 September 2022.

How to Apply

You can apply for Art Grants through the Kiwiburn Portal. Log in if you already have a Portal account, otherwise follow the steps to sign up. Once you’re in, head to the Art Grants section to find the application form to fill out.

When you receive an Art Grant, you’ll get an email and an electronic “kit” to store all your bits and bobs in! You will also be assigned an artist liaison who will be your go to person to chat through any issues, support you and will let you know all the things you need to do, such as:

You’ll be guaranteed at least one reserve ticket (but you will still need to purchase this ticket)
Register your art piece
Keep and record all payments/receipts (you are provided a template, and a folder to upload your receipts into). You can’t be refunded if this isn’t done!
Complete a health/safety form and think through the potential hazards
Take photos/prove ya made the thing!
Evaluate what went well for you, what KAC could do better to support you.

Typically grants are paid in arrears, on production of valid receipts. However, if you need upfront funding, get in touch and we’ll see what we can do. We’ll always hold back a little cash to make sure that the artwork was brought to life on the Paddock and that you MOOP swept your site effectively – we expect this of all our grantees.

Have a read of the Art Setup Guide to make sure you are primed and ready to set up your project once on the Paddock and please get in touch with the Kiwiburn Art Grant Committee if you have any questions.

Innovation Grants

Kiwiburn offers Innovation Grants of up to $800 as administered by KAC. The Innovation Grants fund practical projects that improve Kiwiburn and the infrastructure or processes that enable our community to exist e.g. projects that might speed-up construction and takedown of Kiwiburn, provide better lighting, save water or electricity, provide greener power, reduce vehicle use, or find a clever way of reusing rubbish. Innovation Grant projects don’t necessarily have to be participatory or artistic, they can be ‘behind the scenes’ or purely functional.

Any project must benefit the wider Kiwiburn community and cannot simply benefit a particular person or Theme Camp. It runs alongside, but separate to the existing Art Grant scheme. If in doubt, email us at artgrants@kiwiburn.com and we’ll tell you if it’s suitable.

What is it?

Based on the Innovation Grants from the awesome team at Nowhere (the big burn in Spain), the Kiwiburn Innovation Grants only help projects that improve Kiwiburn or reduce our impact on the surrounding environment. Any project must benefit the wider Kiwiburn community and cannot simply benefit a particular person or theme camp. It runs alongside, but separate to the existing Art Grants scheme.

Art Grants, Innovation Grants, what’s the difference?

The Art Grants fund participatory art projects at Kiwiburn that bring people together and get them to interact and have fun together. The Innovation Grants fund practical projects that improve Kiwiburn and the infrastructure or processes that enable our community to exist.

Innovation projects could be a single item, a series of items or even a service (such as a bike-loan scheme). Projects can be something you have developed from scratch, something you have assembled from parts or something you have purchased and want to bring to Kiwiburn. If in doubt, email us and we’ll tell you whether it’s suitable!

The Innovation Grant has previously funded better WiFi for set up crews and the Two Moons Temple (a safe space for wāhine identifying folks). So also think about whether your idea could benefit Kiwiburn for years to come.

How do I apply?

Criteria

The KAC team uses the following criteria to support decision making and grant allocations.

Interactivity with people and the environment

Interactive Art is our particular obsession. It transforms participants into active contributors to the artists creative process. It transcends the static conception of an art object that is contemplated by a detached audience. Interaction may be achieved in a variety of ways. Sometimes, a single encounter is sufficient, sometimes you’ve gotta go back for more! Artwork may impart a gift or token. Likewise, works may be designed to receive something from the participant.

Works may be activated by participants or by forces of nature, or they may function as social environments. Interactive artworks may also be made mobile, bringing an experience to passers by. When art is placed within an interactive environment like Kiwiburn, participants will invent unexpected forms of interaction, and you should be prepared for this. However, with planning, we have found nearly any form of conventional art can be created with an interactive aspect.

Relevance to theme

Relevance is about pertinence and connectedness. Most Kiwiburn themes are quite open to interpretation and intended as a springboard for creativity, so how your art is relevant to the theme is up to you. What we’d like to see is your interpretation of how your art interacts with the theme based in your own paradigm. We ask you to provide an explanation of your art with your submission to help us see its relevance in the overall space of Kiwiburn.

Wow factor

Wow factor is the degree to which the first impression of something makes a person say “Wow!” You know when you randomly come across something someone’s made, and you stand there with your jaw on the floor, trying to find words to articulate what you’re feeling? Or even how it was created? That’s what we’re looking for here. Whether it’s an amazing application of a simple idea, an abstract concept made simple, a new take on an old theme, or just something really really cool/funky/shiny, if it makes us go “Wow” we want it at Kiwiburn.

Ingenuity

Ingenuity is what happens in the space between a problem and a solution. Ingenuity isn’t a linear process but involves various dimensions of human cognition, intention, learning and the creation of novelty. These processes interact with each other as we try out ideas, fail, learn, modify, and try again. New ways of organising ourselves, new ways of communicating, new ways of making things work. How can we use the natural environment? Or minimise waste in interesting and new ways? Kiwis are famous for this, Burners are famous for this – show us your ingenuity!

Cost effectiveness

What we’re looking for here is ‘Bang for the Buck’. We might be artists, but we’re also practical. Does the amount you’ve asked for realistically coincide with what will be produced? Is there evidence of use of recycled and naturally-sourced materials? Have you borrowed your mate’s tools instead of buying new ones? While we understand that any creation will cost money to make, we’d like you to show us how your art will be produced in the non-consumerist spirit of Kiwiburn by avoiding unnecessary expense, and how the cost will be used to create an experience for the participants interacting with your piece.

Ability to produce what is proposed

This takes into consideration an artist’s track record with building or making stuff on the paddock at other festivals and in the default world (if they have – we do still welcome first timers)! We will also consider other transferable skills and the strength of the application to assure us that you are capable of bringing your ideas to life. We often consult as a team and with external experienced artists about ambitious plans – can it be pulled off?

What we won’t fund:

Artist fees/artist labour
Kiwiburn tickets
Theme Camps. We do not fund Theme Camps – as these are spaces that are not always accessible to all Kiwiburners and can be perceived as decor. A Theme Camp is defined as: a group of people camping together, sharing facilities ie: kitchen, lounge, hangout space. Theme Camps typically offer gifts/services to the community. Theme Camps are awesome – but we ain’t giving you no money! We have recently changed our rules around funding art that is placed nearer to Theme Camps – but we need to make sure this is a specific separate project, and is not just added decor – so get in touch if you have questions around this.
Stages
Equipment or resources that after the event become “cool things you own”. This one’s a bit hard to explain and is at KAC’s discretion. An example could be a Gazebo to house your project in, or a solar panel for the top of your van that you needed/wanted to buy anyway.
Folks that might have a bad track record. You applied for a grant in the past and didn’t deliver? Sorry, fool us once! However, we do take into consideration personal circumstances if you are unable to complete your art piece.
Certain elements of transportation (e.g. petrol to get to the event). We will fund transport specific to the art project, for example: trailers or international baggage.
Artwork that will create MOOP (or is MOOP).
Pyro and fuel for Effigy pre-show entertainment.
When performances or workshops are funded, we may require the artist(s) to offer a certain number of these events in order to fund.

Leave no Trace/MOOP Policy

In line with the principals of Kiwiburn, all artists are expected to Leave No Trace after the festival.
The KAC reserves the right to partially withhold grant money if an applicant fails to leave no trace – this amount is at the discretion of KAC.
If a grantee does leave MOOP, the KAC will take this into account when the artist is applying for another grant and they may be denied a grant on these grounds, or less funds allocated.

A few others things of note:

Returning Art – Any new art that has not been to the Paddock before (or funded previously) will have priority over returning art, or art that we have funded before. This is to support new artists and encourage a diverse range of art unseen by the community. We encourage returning art (as it has a fanbase and we love ‘the classics’) to seek funding from the community and would be happy to help promote this through the official Kiwiburn channels. KAC reserves the right to stop funding these art projects if we feel we have invested enough resources in these pieces over the years.
First right of view – we love seeing Kiwiburn art have life at other locations and other events – but if we’re paying for it, we want to see it first! This means that you can’t take it to another event first, afterwards – be our guest!
Tickets – this year all granted artists are guaranteed a reserve ticket (which you still have to purchase). For larger projects, we may be able to supply more than one ticket, so do let us know about your crew needs. We understand that Kiwiburn has become very popular now and tickets are harder to come by – but appreciate that any reserves need to be for crucial members of the team only.
Due to our resource consent – Early Entry (pre-event) onto site is limited to only those that have to be there! If you require Early Entry to be able to complete your project, then please make sure you mention this in the part of the form that asks about the timeline of your project and provide the reasons why.
We particularly encourage Māori and Pasifika people to apply for these grants. We also have no age-limit on accepted grantee’s (we might just need ya parents to help you out with the money stuff)!
It is expected that the artwork produced by the grantees maintains the spirit of the proposal submitted to the KAC. We understand that often ideas change and evolve, just flick us an email with your new thinking. If it is deemed by KAC to differ too greatly from the proposal without prior communication, the KAC may withhold the grant money.
If for whatever reason you cannot complete your art piece in time for Kiwiburn, please tell us as soon as you can! We understand life happens, but we would love to work at reallocating these funds.

We wanna see what you can do! Go on, apply!