Meet our 2025 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureates

These world-class creatives have made a lasting impact on their disciplines, their communities, Aotearoa and beyond.

This year is extra special: each Laureate receives a $50,000 award, made possible by generous arts backers across the country – including a $5,000 top-up from our strategic partner One NZ.

Join us in celebrating the 2025 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureates and their extraordinary contributions: 

Bill Direen 
Discipline: Music, Literature
Receiving the Joanna Hickman, Waiwetu Trust Award

Variously described as an underground legend, international troubadour and artistic polymath, Bill Direen has forged an independent path for nearly five decades. From early recordings with The Bilders to a 2024 collaboration with members of Lambchop, his singular, exploratory voice spans music, poetry, prose and theatre – playful, grave, collaborative, and enduringly original.

Get to know Bill 

Cheryl Lucas 
Discipline: Ceramics
Receiving the Female Arts Practitioner Award gifted by Foggy Valley Aotearoa Trust

Cheryl Lucas is a celebrated ceramic artist whose bold, socially engaged practice reflects the rugged landscapes of Te Waipounamu the South Island. From heritage restoration after the Christchurch earthquakes to sculptural works exploring the amazing structures of native plants, she brings decades of insight, craft and curiosity to ceramics – reflected in a raft of national and international awards.

Get to know Cheryl

Kate Newby
Discipline: Sculpture
Receiving the Gow Family Foundation Sculpture Award

Kate Newby is an internationally acclaimed sculptor whose quiet, radical practice transforms everyday spaces into subtle, contemplative encounters. Exhibited worldwide – from the Sydney and Sharjah Biennales to the Palais de Tokyo – Kate is celebrated for her integrity, generosity, and commitment to process, inspiring generations of contemporary artists.

Get to know Kate

Reuben Paterson
Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāi Tūhoe, Tūhourangi, Scottish
Discipline: Visual Arts
Receiving the Toi Kō Iriiri Queer Arts Award gifted by Hall Cannon

Reuben Paterson (Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāi Tūhoe, Tūhourangi, Scottish) is celebrated for his glittering paintings, installations and public artworks that fuse Māori visual language, queer identity and contemporary culture. Exhibited from City Gallery Wellington to Christie’s New York, and creator of iconic works like Guide Kaiārahi, his shimmering, conceptually ambitious practice celebrates hybridity, memory and belonging with joy, courage and radiant light.

Get to know Reuben 

Roseanne Liang
Discipline: Film
Receiving the Dame Gaylene Preston Filmmaker Award

Roseanne Liang is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most fearless cinematic voices, known for bold, inventive storytelling across film and TV. From My Wedding and Other Secrets to Creamerie, Do No Harm, and Shadow in the Cloud, she combines humour, genre play, and cultural insight, shaping Aotearoa’s screen landscape and advocating for equity and representation worldwide.

Get to know Roseanne

Séraphine Pick
Discipline: Visual Arts
Receiving the My ART Visual Arts Award gifted by Sonja and Glenn Hawkins 

Séraphine Pick has spent over three decades creating layered, atmospheric paintings that explore memory, consciousness, and the body. One of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most celebrated painters, her practice has evolved from dark, dreamlike tableaus to luminous explorations of colour, light, and contemporary experience, sustaining a deeply influential and distinctive voice in Aotearoa’s contemporary art scene.

Get to know Séraphine 

Shona Rapira-Davies
Ngāti Wai 
Discipline: Sculpture, Visual Arts
Receiving the Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Award gifted by Jillian Friedlander  

Shona Rapira-Davies (Ngāti Wai) is a sculptor and visual artist whose electrifying work has sustained a visionary practice for over four decades. Her work confronts the legacies of colonisation while uplifting the strength and aspirations of te ao Māori – from the landmark clay installation Ngā Morehu (1982-88) to the public reclamation of Te Aro Park with Te Waimapihi. Her work has expanded Māori art in the public consciousness and continues to resonate across generations.

Get to know Shona 

Pene Pati
Discipline: Opera
Receiving the Burr/Tatham Trust Award 

From his hometown of Apia to the world’s greatest opera houses, tenor Pene Pati is celebrated for his radiant, golden-toned voice and magnetic stage presence. A leading tenor of his generation, he bridges classical opera and popular performance, inspiring new audiences and earning acclaim from San Francisco to Paris, London and New York as one of Aotearoa’s finest operatic ambassadors.

Get to know Pene 

The Arts Are Powered By People

This celebration wouldn’t be possible without our partners: One NZ, Stuff, The Post and Auckland Live. We’re so grateful to have a team of arts backers behind us who enable us to honour our Laureates in the way they deserve.

At heart, these awards are powered by generosity – direct from our Major Laureate Award givers and our Kotahi giving collective, whose belief in artists makes this possible, and from One NZ, whose annual top-up extends that impact even further. With thanks also to Corner Store for amplifying these stories, and to Stuff and The Post for helping us share them across Aotearoa.

Want to be a part of the movement that wholeheartedly believes in the power of the arts? Learn more about how you can make a difference.