Oro Hāpai

For organisations running wānanga that develop new waiata reo Māori and the writers behind them.

Closes

Annual round. The 2026-27 round has closed

Who can apply

Organisations with a track record in the music business, running wānanga and collaborative initiatives to develop popular and contemporary waiata reo Māori.

Amount

Set by the round

Funding route

Grant

Applicants

Organisations & providers, Iwi & Māori organisations, Businesses & land trusts

Before you apply

The only one of the five aimed at organisations rather than artists, and it is worth knowing about if you run a rōpū, a label or a wānanga.

Funded initiatives must create new waiata reo Māori with a focus on song structure, melody and well-crafted reo lyrics, return a minimum number of demo recordings that participants can then use in their own Waiata Reo Māori and Waiata Tuarea applications, and grow participants’ confidence in expressing themselves in waiata reo Māori.

That demo requirement is the clever part — it feeds artists into the other funds with something already recorded.

The 2026-27 round ran 4 June to 8 July 2026, decided 21 August.

Official source →

Checked 17 September 2026

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Details change without notice. Check the funder's own page before you apply. Tōku Waka does not administer, assess or award this funding.