PAT's PAT-ron era is here!

PAT opens its doors to patronage

After 10 years of hard mahi, PAT is opening its doors to a new era of PAT-ronage.

The past few years have tested the entire arts ecosystem. With the recession biting hard, many creative organisations across the motu have closed or lost funding, and long-standing support structures are being dissolved by 2026, leaving companies scrambling for stability.

• In a 2024 CNZ funding round, organisations requested $27.9 million, but only $6.94 million was available

• The 2024 Budget required the Ministry for Culture & Heritage to find $42 million in savings over four years, tightening already thin arts funding.

• The cost of living crisis has hit both artists and audiences: with surveys showing seven in ten New Zealanders want to attend more arts events but say cost is the biggest barrier.

• Inflation (7%+) and stagnant pay have meant a real-terms pay cut for most artists; the median creative income in NZ remains well below a living wage.

Our purpose is clearer than ever, and the need to diversify our revenue is crucial to survival. When arts organisations disappear, we lose jobs, apprenticeships, training, and spaces where new voices can be heard.

That’s why PAT is launching our PAT-ronage drive; a new model of community support that keeps artists working, tickets accessible, and opportunities open for the next generation. We’re excited to strengthen our infrastructure and prove that sustainability in the arts isn’t impossible — it just needs champions.

Join us - check out our new ‘how to Support’ page or our video series for more!

PAT's 10 year celebration and fundraiser success

Proudly Asian theatre turned 10 this year! This epic milestone was marked with a night of celebrating how far we’ve come, hope for the future and a 20k fundraising effort this February.

What a night it was! A heart-fuelled ride, generously supported by Q Theatre, through the last ten years of Proudly Asian Theatre, featured guest cameos, performances from our amazing artists, and an epic afterparty ending up at our OG supporters over at Basement Theatre. Even co-founder James Roque flew in all the way from Canada to join the celebration!

The evening was not just a reflection on our beautiful mahi, talented artists, and the vibrant community that has shaped us, but also a pivotal moment for our future. We launched a fundraiser aimed at engaging top-notch advisors and providing crucial support for Marianne and Chye-Ling as they develop our business and revenue strategies during this hiatus in 2024.

We couldn't have come this far without your continued support and collaboration. Our community truly is the heart and soul of Proudly Asian Theatre, and seeing you all there made the night unforgettable.

With endless gratitude, see you all again soon!

Black Creatives Aotearoa producer Daisy Remington on the art of producing and finding her community

The art of producing is such a beautiful thing to me. It is an ability to move with the rhythm of the work itself. It is the connecting of an open and creative approach to things that can be seen as more rigid and systematic. Like a dance between the hemispheres of the brain and time itself, a producer weaves the behind the scenes tapestry from the many pieces creating the whole; it is facilitating the materialization of dreams.

As creatives, this dream making is done in community. Each member of the community brings an important piece. However, I have noticed that creatives are often stretched thinly to accommodate a shortage of community. The result can be burn out or even the loss of drive. Creatives need support, they need to have community they can trust. One that supports the vision.

I have a saying, ‘the vibe is in the details’. For me, this means that the subtleties and nuance are often poignant. These seemingly small parts are the building blocks of shared experience. They are body language or mannerisms, phrases or speed of speech, they are the cultural pieces. As someone who has relocated to Aotearoa it was these small details that I found I missed the most. It felt like years before I was able to find my community, the ones who seemed to know the language of these small things with me.

Finding my community was like a missing piece, because while there are many wonderful folks, my community did not require me to explain why something held such deep meaning. Instead of trying to contort myself to fit into spaces that did not value the things that made me; me. I was able to show up full. Our creative work, our stories, our dreams deserve the same. They deserve to be told in their fullness, without apology. The subtle and not so subtle things that breathe the life of our culture into what we do, needs to be able to shine completely.

The Producers in Training (PIT) programme is about growing a community of producers who can support diverse creatives and their stories. Our unique perspectives are needed but they should not come at the cost of our wellbeing. The process of dream creation should not be extractive, it should be fulfilling. PIT is unique, it is teaching from a POC perspective, uses a holistic framework, and supports more inclusive storytelling. 

Black Creatives Aotearoa, Proudly Asian Theatre, and Alif Theatre have come together to support new and aspiring producers from Asian, Black, and Middle Eastern communities in Tāmaki Makaurau, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, and Ōtautahi. This collaboration seeks to empower our communities in sustainable ways. Ensuring the future of diverse stories throughout Aotearoa.

Are you an aspiring Asian, Black or Middle Eastern producer?

Find out more about the Producers In Training programme HERE

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Raised in the well irrigated coastal desert of Southern California, Daisy, has had a wide range of experience, including published writer, book-keeper, human resource manager, planning and logistics, project manager, and marketer. She is a learner, builder and innovator able to bring together creativity and strategy. Daisy took her wide range of skills and turned them to production, marketing, and design. In the role of Producer, she has been the linchpin in over 8 productions, all while navigating lockdowns and digital pivots.

She has successfully developed and implemented social media strategies and designed various marketing campaigns resulting in high turnout and engagement.

Malaysian Kiwi pop-star Reshma releases her newest music video!

Alt-Pop New Zealand-based Malavsian pop star Reshma is excited to release her newest single and music video titled 'Where My Asians At?!?’ The bold single is a call to action to shed light on the lack of representation of marginalised communities in the local commercial music and arts scenes, alongside prejudices she has encountered from her own community.

"It's still important to ask auestions and spark discussions about representation, what community means for those who come from different backgrounds, and how to bridge that gap to connect with evervone equally." savs Reshma.

'Where My Asians At?!' is a reflection of Reshma's personal experiences as a woman navigating the music industry and her search for community after relocating back to Aotearoa New Zealand.

"There's a line in the song where I mention the personal stereotypes people have placed against me, specifically the assumption that I'm Gujarati, which I'm not. I was nervous about putting it in the track in case it got misunderstood," she says. "The idea behind that lyric is to challenge the mistaken stereotypes people put on us based on how we might look."

The track is paired with a bold music video directed by Jolin Lee, a writer-director based in Auckland. The choreography for the video was done by well-known K-Pop dancer and choreographer Rina Chae. The Auckland City of Music, Boosted, and the POC community provided support for the production, both in front of and behind the camera.

Reshma thinks of 'Where My Asians At?!' as "a fun, upbeat, feminine rage song, perfect for a gym session or walking into a job interview thinking yeah, I got this!" She emphasises vou don't have to be Asian to appreciate the track, and hopes that it inspires questions about representation and inclusion for all communities.

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RESHMA is an alt-pop performer, singer and songwriter residing in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (Auckland, New Zealand).

Born in Klang, Malaysia and raised in Taranaki, New Zealand. Malaysian pop sensation RESHMA rose to fame when she appeared on Akademi Fantasia, a popular Malaysian music reality show, in 2016. Her powerful vocals, bubbly personality, and undeniable stage presence quickly established her as a rising star in Malavsia.

As her popularity soared, the popstar moved back to Aotearoa to work on her next project and introduce herself to an English-speaking audience. With a sound that fuses her diverse musical influences, RESHMA challenges the norms and expectations of pop music, drawing inspiration from artists like Kimbra, Thabani Gapara, No Frills Twins, and Marina and The Diamonds.

Now known for her code-switching, the artist has worked alongside artists such as Sasi the Don, Lauren Gin, An Honest Mistake, Mazbou Q and more. She toured Japan, kick started her music career on Malavsian television show Akademi Fantasia and competed on New Zealand' Popstars series.

Follow her at @reshmamartin

Egyptian actor Ahmed Youssef on his journey into acting

Creativity and the craft of performing have always been about service first and foremost to me. It is the holding space, offering energy, creating curious stories, and allowing a process of self-reflection for the audience. This can be done through healing, revealing, and sometimes even confronting. However, this can't be done through a superficial lens, especially when the said lens becomes diluted by presumptions.

My journey into acting was a very unorthodox one and it felt a lot like jumping into the deep end. The great thing was that instead of flailing to survive, I was lucky enough to have mentors who swam calmly beside me. They showed me that there was beauty beyond fear.

I was initially an architecture school graduate, something I fell into instead of jumping in on purpose. Surrendering myself to the classic Middle Eastern migrant narrative. Finish school, excel in University, and get a prestigious job to survive. The difference for me was the concept of safety wasn't always going to be present, so I challenged that, and often. During university, I also played and toured with a punk band in an unconscious attempt to cradle both my adolescent fire and my dormant need to tell stories and find experiences that will test me. Let's just say in short, they did.

Thriving was never part of the equation. Later I understood why, as that was the pattern that my parent's generation had to fight to attain, to always be on guard. Surrendering wasn't an option, especially with the addition of my mother going through cancer at the time when we arrived in Aotearoa. Though her words of advice differed after she recovered, and are still repeated by her today to me and those she cares about. "Nothing in life matters but the love you're willing to cultivate". This later became one of my mantras and the essence of why I chose acting.

The concept of struggle is often the first to be framed when it comes to the stories of POCs and migrants, and this narrative indeed has its place, as our struggles are greatly diverse and carry great lessons. Though the innovation, the intimate, the mundane, and the soft are often forgotten. We are more than just our pain of transitioning, we are hundreds, sometimes thousands of years of history and experiences. At the moment this is one of my primary interests as a creative person; the intimacy of honesty, and our multifaceted histories. How we choose to create our own myths in this modern world and how we can integrate tales from our rich past. No matter how benign the story may seem. We often don't have the privilege of seeing these stories from POCs, especially migrants from the Middle East here, which can help us understand one another and find our places within the social gardens we choose to grow.

Without understanding each other or our complexities, audiences won't get to see qualities such as the wisdom of our matriarchs, the gorgeousness of our language, or our almost inherent ability to find humor in just about every situation that we face. They don't see Egypt and her culture as the giant melting pot of migrants that it is, similarly to Aotearoa. They only see the Hollywood orientalized sepia version of her, not as the mother of the world as we affectionately like to call her. I've always carved this clarity to see each others' stories not only for Egyptians but all Middle Eastern and North African folk. It saddened me that there haven't been enough beautiful tales that have been told through us, or for us and this is our chance to change that.

So if you happen to be on the fence diving in like I was, my advice to you is to leap. This time we have many mentors to guide you through the waters, and in time you'll become one yourself.

Click here to learn more about the Producers In Training programme

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About Ahmed:

Ahmed Youssef is an Egyptian actor and writer. After studying the Micheal Chekov technique extensively, he then graduated from Unitec and continues to find different avenues to stretch his range. Gaining roles in projects such as Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, and more recently in the upcoming TV show Miles From Nowhere. He was also in the stage adaptation of the book The Girl On A Train at The Court Theatre last year.

Living an eclectic life, he previously played and toured in a punk band, before dedicating himself to the craft. He's also a trained architect, visual artist, and speaks fluent Arabic. His diverse experiences and traveling during his youth have led him to be a highly versatile and adaptable actor.