Meet your 2022 Springboard award recipients

Our 2022 Springboard award recipients have officially been revealed.

Seven artists – each ready to take the plunge into a full-time arts career – with outstanding potential across a diverse range of arts disciplines. Along with a $15,000 gift, each recipient has been matched (with cupid-like consideration) to a senior artist mentor from the Arts Foundation alumni of Laureates, Icons, New Generation, Residency or Fellowship recipients, or an artist from the wider arts community. Mentors receive a $5,000 koha for their time.

Now in its third year, the Arts Foundation Springboard programme is a financial, mentoring and resource support system designed to have a significant impact on the recipient’s growth and development in their practice – giving them a lift of confidence to start a full-time career in the arts.

Meet your 2022 Springboard duos:

• Ana Scotney (Multi-disciplinary) mentored by 2001 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate Dame Gaylene Preston DNZM (Filmmaker)
• Bella Wilson (Contemporary Dancer & Choreographer) mentored by 2018 Harriet Friedlander Residency Recipient Lucy Marinkovich (Dancer and Choreographer)
• Chevron Hassett (Visual Arts) mentored by 2021 Arts Foundation Laureate Brett Graham (Visual Arts)
• Jesse Austin-Stewart (Sound Art) mentored by Pelenakeke Brown (Multi-disciplinary)
• Turumeke Harrington (Sculpture/ Installation/ Contemporary Visual Arts) mentored by 2021 Arts Foundation Laureate Brett Graham (Visual Arts)
• CONJAH – Jahra Wasasala and Ooshcon Masseurs (Multi-disciplinary) mentored by 2014 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate Lisa Reihana MNZM (Multi-disciplinary)
• Tyrone Te Waa (Visual Artist / Installation / Mixed Media) mentored by Ron Te Kawa (Craft)

What is Springboard all about?

“I feel like it creates a pathway where there isn't one. Normally you kind of just get into the arts and make it up as you go. The biggest value of this mentor-mentee thing is the relationship that you create – which then leads to ripple effects and other stuff. It’s also good for the mentors to see the issues that are still the same and to see where maybe you were, and to be able to offer a way through and be able to say ‘it's all right, this is normal, this is exactly as it should be – and you're going to get through this, you just have to stick at it’.”

– 2006 Arts Foundation Laureate and 2020 Springboard mentor, Oscar Kightley

How were our recipients selected?

Springboard called for nominations in November 2021, and an independent selection panel gathered late February 2022 to review the submissions received.

The selection panel, chaired by Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Trustee, Warwick Freeman, included:

• Heather Galbraith
• Tanea Heke
• Dudley Benson
• Neil Ieremia
• Ema Tavola
• Megan Tamati-Quennell
• Samuel Holloway

The Arts Foundation Springboard packages have been funded thanks to the generous support of:

The Edgar Family, Todd Trust, Abby McCormick O’Neil and D. Carroll Joynes, Te Runanga o Ngāi Tahu, Brad Spence Holly Erskine, Philip Carter and some generous Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi supporters.

ANA SCOTNEY

Genre: Multi-disciplinary

Ana Chaya Scotney is an actor and interdisciplinary artist, hailing from Te Whanganui A Tara. She loves to make projects that celebrate marginalised voices, moments of goofiness, and transcendence, amidst the domestic and mundane. In her stories, she seeks to centre the voice of the proverbial misfit, in different contexts. She is curious to research and share the points of view of youth, tangata whenua and off the grid communities, and ecologies, in Aotearoa, today.

Read more here.

Ana will be mentored by 2001 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate Dame Gaylene Preston DNZM

Dame Gaylene Preston DNZM is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker with a career spanning more than three decades. An innovative writer, director, and producer, Dame Gaylene has insisted that it is possible to live in New Zealand and contribute New Zealand stories to global cinema; and her award-winning work has screened extensively at international festivals including Venice, Sundance, Toronto, London, Fantasporto, Chicago, San Francisco, Munich, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Brighton, Athena NY and New Zealand.

This Springboard Award is gifted by Brad Spence and Holly Erskine

BELLA WILSON

Genre: Contemporary Dance & Choreography

Bella is an independent contemporary dancer, choreographer, teacher and adjudicator based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She trained full-time at the New Zealand School of Dance as a contemporary major and graduated with a Certificate in Dance Performance in 2013. From 2015-16 Bella furthered her dance training at Unitec, graduating with a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts majoring in Contemporary Dance, and receiving the Senior Scholar award. Bella is currently studying part-time towards her postgraduate Honours degree in Dance Studies at The University of Auckland.

Read more here.

Ana will be mentored by 2018 Harriet Friedlander Residency Recipient Lucy Marinkovich

Lucy Marinkovich is a New Zealand based contemporary dancer and choreographer. As a performer, Lucy has worked with New Zealand’s elite contemporary dance companies such as Footnote Dance Company, New Zealand Dance Company, Movement of the Human and Taki Rua Productions. Her dancing has been described by critics as “mesmerising...completely captivating. She attacks her role with incredible energy, focus and a real presence.” Her choreographic work, notably the dance-theatre productions she has created with her company Borderline Arts Ensemble, investigate the realm of the subconscious, positioning the performer as an intermediary between dreams and reality.

The Springboard Award for Dance, gifted by Abby McCormick O’Neil and D. Carroll Joynes

CHEVRON HASSETT

Genre: Visual Arts

Chevron Hassett is a visual artist predominantly working in lens-based media, sculpture, and public installation. At the heart of his practice is the essential spirit of whanaungatanga, the Māori concept of connecting, building, and maintaining relationships within communities. Hassett holistically collaborates with his local communities and peoples, his recent works engage with narratives of socio-cultural identities, urban indigeneity and colonialism within Pacific and indigenous histories.

Read more here.

Chevron will be mentored by 2021 Arts Foundation Laureate Brett Graham

Brett Graham is widely regarded as one of New Zealand’s most accomplished contemporary artists. He has been an artist full time since 2005, exhibiting twice at the Sydney Biennale in 2006 and 2010 and at the 52^nd Venice Biennale in 2007. Graham’s father, sculptor Fred Graham, and contemporaries such as Selwyn Muru, Paratene Matchitt and Ralph Hotere were early influences on his artistic development.

The Springboard Award for Visual Arts, gifted by the Edgar Family

JESSE AUSTIN-STEWART

Genre: Sound Art

Jesse Austin-Stewart is a sound artist based in Te Whanganui a Tara, Aotearoa. He is an early-career emerging artist and is currently completing his PhD focusing on accessibility in spatial audio, looking particularly at barriers of finance, education, and disability and hearing.

As an active sound artist, Jesse has written works for contemporary dance and film, created performance art works and made installations, among other works which have been exhibited in New Zealand and abroad. As a producer and audio engineer, he has recorded work for short films, orchestra, solo artists and bands, small ensemble, opera, and various other configurations.

Read more here.

Jesse will be mentored by Pelenakeke Brown

Pelenakeke Brown: is an inter disciplinary artist, curator, and writer, Pelenakeke’s practice explores the intersections between disability cultural concepts and Sāmoan cultural concepts. Her work investigates sites of knowledge, and she uses technology, writing, poetry, and performance to explore these ideas. She has worked with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gibney Dance Center, The New York Library for the Performing Arts and other institutions globally. Selected residencies include Eyebeam, The Laundromat Project, and Dance/NYC.

This Springboard Award is gifted by the Todd Foundation

TURUMEKE HARRINGTON

Genre: Sculpture/ Installation/ Contemporary Visual Arts

Guided by whakapapa and a practice of whanaukataka, Turumeke asks how to make and live as a good person. Humour, play and bright colours are frequently used to soften and subvert sometimes tense and difficult subjects often resulting in large sculptural installations at the intersection of art and design.

Read more here.

Turumeke Harrington will be mentored by 2021 Arts Foundation Laureate Brett Graham

Brett Graham is widely regarded as one of New Zealand’s most accomplished contemporary artists. He has been an artist full time since 2005, exhibiting twice at the Sydney Biennale in 2006 and 2010 and at the 52^nd Venice Biennale in 2007. Graham’s father, sculptor Fred Graham, and contemporaries such as Selwyn Muru, Paratene Matchitt and Ralph Hotere were early influences on his artistic development.

The Springboard Toi-o-Moroki award, funded by Te Runanga o Ngāi Tahu

CONJAH

Genre: Multi-disciplinary Artists within the mediums of Live Embodiment

Jahra Wasasala and Ooshcon, under the collaborative world-bending entity of CONJAH, are a creative force within and beyond the mediums of dance, physical theatre, poetry and visual craft. Together, CONJAH brings forth the depths of their extensive solo body work, their whakapapa and their imaginations to build into each other’s visions, enabling them to do the same with the collaborators and artists they work with.

Read more here.

CONJAH will be mentored by 2014 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate Lisa Reihana MNZM

Since the 1990s, Lisa Reihana has emerged as one of the leading artists in Aotearoa New Zealand. Working across a range of media – including film, sculpture, costume and body adornment, and photography – her art offers a dramatic and dynamic commentary on Māori history and identity. Reihana translates traditional indigenous concepts and narratives from an urban Māori perspective, examining issues of colonialism, gender, language and place.

This Springboard Award is gifted by Philip Carter

TYRONE TE WAA

Genre: Visual Artist / Installation / Mixed Media

Tyrone Te Waa born 1992, is a studio-based artist who works predominantly with found materials including fabric, wood, and paint. He describes his practice as “An act of knowledge weaving” emphasizing the artist’s hand as the force that brings materials to life. Presently he is working part-time as a teaching assistant within Unitec Creative Industries Programmes and conducting self-directed research based on Takatāpui/gay/queer histories within Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Read more here.

Tyrone will be mentored by renowned fabric artist Ron Te Kawa

Since the 1990s, Lisa Reihana has emerged as one of the leading artists in Aotearoa New Zealand. Working across a range of media – including film, sculpture, costume and body adornment, and photography – her art offers a dramatic and dynamic commentary on Māori history and identity. Reihana translates traditional indigenous concepts and narratives from an urban Māori perspective, examining issues of colonialism, gender, language and place.

The Springboard Award for Visual Arts, gifted by the Edgar Family