Arts, culture and heritage organisations across Southland are being backed with $645,000 of Government funding. 

Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage has selected two major projects and 18 seed proposals for windfalls from the Cultural Sector Innovation Fund.

The Southland Regional Heritage Committee is the main recipient. 

It will be granted $285,000 to support work improving public access to collections at Riverton's Te Hikoi Museum and other cultural institutions within Murihiku (Southland) over a three-year period. 

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Project Ark is researching, cataloguing and imaging Te Hikoi's collections, so they shared online via eHive. 

The South Sea Spray Trust, meanwhile, is being granted $180,000 to deliver a large, annual mural festival and associated workshops, for the next three years. 

The 18 seed projects will receive $20k each.

They include a project teach the craft of producing authentic Tongan mats and make them more accessible for Tongan people, and a project to establish a 2D/3D animation studio in Invercargill for the purpose of creating high-quality children’s screen content for local and international audiences.

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The Murihiku recipients were published alongside other Te Wai Pounamu (South Island) centres where outcomes have been finalised, Ōtautahi and Ōtepoti.

Deputy Chief Executive Te Aka Tūhono Investment and Outcomes Joe Fowler said: "The strength of the proposals submitted by participants in Te Waipounamu so far has shown us that the sector, while challenged under the COVID-19 response, is ambitious about its future.

"It’s particularly pleasing to see seed funding awarded to nine early-stage proposals received in Murihiku to develop the ideas and test opportunities. This funding gives organisations the resources and time to take their next steps towards really innovative work for their community and the sector.

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"We are excited to see where these unique, locally significant projects could go."

The proposals being funded often have innovative approaches to systems and support networks, including the development of new models that could support a more sustainable future, Fowler said. 

Several participants also identified innovative ways of transmitting mātauranga Māori, and others identified ways to support Pacific practitioners and their audiences.

Details of all the projects are available on the Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage website.