Our Sponsors and Supporters
In 2026 we established the Friends of RAWA initiative, that enables advocates of the arts to partner with us to support New Zealand writers. Donations critically contribute to our RAWA Fellowship Scheme. It is a gift that recognises and encourages writers, who themselves contribute to the enrichment of our lives through their work. The Friends of RAWA 2026 are: Meredith Osmond, Deborah Morgan, Peter Guthrey, George Hook and Marie Connolly. Their contributions will support four full RAWA Fellowships in 2026, plus other areas of the RAWA programme that has engaged their particular interests. If you would like to become a Friend of RAWA, contact our Chair, Marie Connolly (dr.marieconnolly@icloud.com).
Sponsors
The Orion Powerhouse Gallery has been a leader in the arts for many years, providing support for artistic events and community activities. We are deeply appreciative of their support again in 2026 as sponsors of RAWA’s school programme.
We are grateful to the Christchurch City Council for their support and in particular the Citywide Discretionary Response Fund that has been essential in establishing the RAWA programme. We thank the CCC for their ongoing support and of the arts community more broadly.
In 2024 the Gough Family Foundation sponsored RAWA’s inaugural Young Writers Fellowships, allowing ten young writers to fully experience the festival. We are incredibly grateful that the Foundation is continuing their support in 2026. The Young Writer Fellowships enable our rangitahi to learn from some of the very best authors in Aotearoa.
Our grateful thanks to the Akaroa Waterfront Hotels, located in the heart of beautiful Akaroa that has generously sponsored accommodation for our speakers, ensuring that they have a comfortable place to stay while sharing their insights and creativity with our communities.
Booksellers Aotearoa NZ has been a generous supporter of RAWA. Once again they will be donating book tokens that we will be gifting during the festival. We greatly appreciate their support.
Chris Mangels at Bayleys sponsored our inaugural RAWA Flash Fiction Prize in 2024. We are delighted that he will continue this support in 2026. The RAWA Flash Fiction Prize is an significant addition to the literary prizes in Aotearoa.
Our grateful thanks also to the Akaroa and the Bays Lions whose generosity has supported the cost of RAWA’s venues. The Lions play an important role in supporting communities and we are so pleased for their support of RAWA.
Supporters
In addition to this vital sponsorship support, the RAWA festival would not be possible without the generous contributions of volunteers and partnering organisations that are critical to RAWA’s success. We are indebted to Rebekah Proffit, from Content Proof, who built and maintains our wonderful website. Rebekah has volunteered many hours of her expertise in the task, something we appreciate immensely. Our deepest thanks also to Tim Hennessy and Hullabaloo for designing our logo and colour palette. We also couldn’t have done without the support of Nicole Locke who has developed our newsletters and has provided social media support. Nicole will also be our ‘Front-of-House’ coordinator during the days of the festival, a critical role in any event such as this. Also, our enduring thanks to our loyal volunteers who work enthusiastically to facilitate the smooth running of the festival, and a collective call-out to our Board of Trustees who have worked tirelessly to bring RAWA together.
RAWA is also enriched by the cooperation of national and local organisations that support the success of our festival. These include the fabulous photographers Emma and Jason Crew (link) who allowed us to use their photographs on our website, and our local business community that has rallied in support of our speakers and festival participants. Special thanks to the Hagley Writers Institute who has helped to facilitate the RAWA Flash Fiction prizes, to our sister festival WORD and to the New Zealand Society of Authors. All have been invaluable in promoting RAWA in the spirit of partnership.