Government launches strategy to supercharge creative sector by 2030

Thursday, 28 August 2025

The Government has released its keenly-awaited national creative and cultural strategy, that mandates the Ministry of Culture and Heritage to work with other government agencies to achieve tangible change to improve the sectors.

Amplify, which outlines how the Government will help create an environment in which New Zealand’s creative and cultural sectors can flourish through 2030, was launched by Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith at an event at the Auckland Art Gallery on Thursday morning.

The first draft of the strategy was released in November last year, with hundreds of submissions received thereafter in support of and criticising its various aspects. Officials have been tinkering since with the document ‒ but now the Government says the strategy will not be fixed.

“This is not a set-and-forget strategy,” Goldsmith said in a foreword. “Amplify will be a living document, updated regularly with input from creative industries to ensure it remains relevant.”

Creativity did not lend itself to tidy strategies, Goldsmith added. “That is why Amplify is enabling, rather than constraining. It provides a framework, but leaves plenty of room for individuals, communities, companies and institutions to find their own path.”

New Zealand’s creative and cultural strategies contribute $17.5 billion to New Zealand’s GDP, and the dream is to make New Zealand a creative powerhouse with global reach.

The strategy has three key strategic pillars: investing for maximum impact, nurturing talent, and reducing barriers to growth.

Targets to reach by the year 2030 have been set. The Government wants the economic contribution of the arts and creative sectors to grow to at least $22B of GDP, with a focus on cultural exports and tourism.

The strategy also proposes a 10% increase in the number of New Zealanders engaging with New Zealand arts, culture and heritage. And it wants 5000 more people to be working in the creative and cultural sectors.

To achieve the goals, work will be implemented across various government departments, ministries and Crown entities in phases over the next five years.

The first phase looks at short-term actions, the second phase involves actions where lead-in time is needed, and the final phase involves actions that require additional funding or significant collaboration with stakeholders.

Some of the actions include: simplifying Creative NZ funding support; increasing philanthropic and private investment in the creative sectors; and working to ensure cultural organisations can more easily apply for social sector funding.

It also talks of helping creative organisations be included in international missions; exploring the possibility of hosting the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture in 2036; working to find alternative funding sources for live performance infrastructure; improving New Zealanders’ access to the national collections; and ensuring creative thinking and skills are embedded in the curriculum.

A range of regulatory solutions have been proposed, covering everything from seismic risk in heritage buildings, to streamlining the indemnity scheme for touring exhibitions, to removing barriers for cultural events to get liquor licenses.

The best thing about the Cabinet-approved strategy was that agencies other than the culture ministry would have to contribute to its actions and outcomes, said Paula Browning, the executive director of WeCreate, the alliance of creative industries.

Agencies named in the strategy range from the education, health, justice, environment, social development, disabled people, children and foreign affairs ministries, through to NZ Trade and Enterprise, the Tertiary Education Commission, Sport NZ and the departments of internal affairs, corrections and conservation.

Browning said the culture ministry did not have this kind of leverage previously. “This has been the challenge ‒ connecting up the different parts of government to achieve all these things. … It was the bit that was missing,” she said.

No new investment has been announced alongside the strategy.