Council support stays but 'miracle' art studio fighting for future

Attendees of a life-changing art studio for those experiencing mental distress say it would be "a crime" if a funding shortfall forced it to make cuts.

Nelson's Magenta Creative Space is fully resourced with art supplies for its visitors, who don't need a referral to show up, and currently has 220 artists on its books who find therapy in the studio's non-clinical social environment.

Phill Sigglekow has been going to Magenta since it opened 24 years ago and describes the studio as his "second home".

"I was very unwell from an early age, with my mental health. I was in Ngawhatu [Psychiatric Hospital] when I was 14," he said.

"It's a miracle, this place, it really is. It's changed so many lives, and it changes mine every day ... It'd be a crime to shut it down."

Fellow artist Alicia Rocha attends Magenta after she collapsed at work with a seizure and subsequently found light, noise, and people overwhelming.

"Until today, I still have that - [it] just prevented me to live that whole life that I was having."

Rocha credits the "very welcoming" studio and its "beautiful community" for helping to get out of depressive and isolating cycles.

"You can't come here and not live better," she said.

"It's really something special. It's not just a studio, it is a heart."

Their art skills have also developed since they started attending, with Sigglekow regularly selling his paintings of pop culture figures and Rocha acting as a relief tutor at the studio. They both have also had their own exhibitions.

But the Magenta Creative Space is now facing an annual shortfall of $50,000.

Nelson City Council provides Magenta with a three-year grant of $10,000 per year to support operational costs, and also awarded it a separate $10,000 grant last year to aid with its programmes for vulnerable seniors and at-risk youth.

Group manager community services Martin Croft said the council highly values Magenta's work and was proud to support the organisation.

A three-year grant from the Ministry of Culture and Heritage's post-Covid Creative Arts Recovery Employment (CARE) Fund allowed Magenta to expand its services, but the grant ended in November 2024.

Since then, strategic director Maria Anderson has been seeking funding.

"For every four applications that I've submitted, I've had three declined ... the funding environment out there is just really tricky."

While Magenta has ongoing support from existing funders, "it's the new money that we're finding really difficult to secure".

Board chair Matty Anderson said the studio will need to scale back if it can't plug its shortfall.

"It's really something we don't want to do, but the reality is we don't have the money to keep the doors open six days a week or have it… safely and correctly staffed," he said.

"As long as people are coming in the door and the building's packed, I think we're creating value and service."

Magenta was now seeking donations from the public to plug the hole.

Nelson MP Rachel Boyack, the Labour Party's spokesperson for Arts, Culture, and Heritage, said around 50 creative spaces nationally were facing similar challenges to Magenta after the CARE Fund closed.

"Government did have an opportunity, when they set up the Mental Health [and Addiction Community Sector] Innovation Fund, to be a little bit more creative about how the funding could apply."

The Innovation Fund initially required at least $250,000 of co-funding from the recipient organisations, lowered to $100,000 in the second round.

But Magenta, which runs on less than $200,000 each year, didn't have the requisite money in the bank.

Providing groups like Magenta with funding would make a "real difference" to many people and would ultimately cost less for the government in the long run, Boyack said.

"It stopped some people from committing suicide, it stopped some people from accessing more severe mental health services. It's just a no-brainer."

She has urged the government to make mental health funding more accessible and hoped the local community would get on board with Magenta's fundraising in the meantime.

Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey said the Innovation Fund's criteria was developed after engaging directly with the sector, which had requested matched-funding requirements.

"I continue to work closely with the sector, which is evident by the recently announced lower matched-funding limit."

However, the Innovation Fund was not for covering shortfalls and was instead for organisations to scale up existing time-limited projects.

The fund has made $10 million available thus far and Doocey said it would open for a third round of funding next year.

Health New Zealand already funds three Nelson organisations - Health Action Trust, Gateway Housing Trust and The White House - to deliver day activity services, he added.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.