25 Foundation Grantees


25FoundationGrantees
About the 25 grantees

To mark the Foundation's 25th anniversary, we're looking back on some of the amazing individuals we've supported over the years, be it through grants, internships, residencies or other opportunities.

25FoundationGrantees
Tarek Bazley,
Media

It’s a career path most New Zealand journalists could only dream of. Massey journalism graduate Tarek Bazley set out on that path in 2000, when he applied for the Foundation’s inaugural internship at the Phnom Penh Post in Cambodia.

25FoundationGrantees
Tiffany Singh,
Arts

Sensual, exuberant and optimistic. These are adjectives used by one New Zealand gallery to describe the engaging works of social practice artist Tiffany Singh – works to be “encountered with joy”.

25FoundationGrantees
Angela Lim,
Leadership

In 2018 Angela was one of five Kiwi Young Business Leaders selected by the Foundation to visit Indonesia to learn about its business and tech environment.

25FoundationGrantees
CHIA Sisters Chloe and Florence van Dyke,
Entrepreneurship

High achievers is putting it mildly when describing Chloe and Florence van Dyke, the brains behind the very successful CHIA Sisters juice drinks.

25FoundationGrantees
Brent Strathdee-Pehi,
Education

Music teacher Brent Strathdee-Pehi already had an interest in Asia when he was picked to take part in the Foundation’s Indonesia Cultural Connections trip in 2017, but he was still unprepared for what he found.

25FoundationGrantees
Sunday programme,
Media

Securing the funding to make a feature is just the starting point for TVNZ’s Sunday programme. It’s then that the hard work begins.

25FoundationGrantees
New Zealand School of Dance,
Arts

The New Zealand School of Dance applied for its first grant in 1994 to send three students to the 5th Asian Pacific Ballet competition in Tokyo.

25FoundationGrantees
Paul Winter,
Research

A spy story with all the ingredients for a best-selling novel provided the inspiration for Paul Winter’s 2018 doctoral research project, funded in part by a Foundation research grant.

25FoundationGrantees
Andrea Vance,
Media

Award-winning political journalist Andrea Vance says she’s had “a lot of amazing adventures and stories” in her time, but her Jefferson Fellowship funded by the Foundation was one of the best.

25FoundationGrantees
Simon Kaan,
Arts

In 2004 Dunedin-based painter and printmaker Simon Kaan was the first recipient of an Asia:NZ/Creative New Zealand (CNZ) residency at Beijing’s Red Gate Gallery.

25FoundationGrantees
Vanessa Bramwell,
Track II

Massey PhD student Vanessa Bramwell was privately a bit daunted when she was invited to her first offshore Track II event as one of the Foundation’s “genepool” of NextGen candidates.

25FoundationGrantees
Bridget Rothbart and Pritika Harduar,
Education

Gaining first-hand experience of the way businesses operate in China proved a turning point in the careers of Glendowie College teachers Bridget Rothbart and Pritika Harduar in Auckland.

25FoundationGrantees
Ashalyna Noa,
Research

Canterbury University PhD student Ashalyna Noa’s fascination with foreign aid and soft power in the Pacific stems from what she terms “The complexities of my own cultural identity”.

25FoundationGrantees
Sarah Pereira,
Track II

The biggest lesson “NextGen” postgraduate student Sarah Pereira took away from her first real-life  Track II event in Vietnam was that young as she is, she still has something valuable to contribute.

25FoundationGrantees
Julia Hollingsworth,
Media

It was a lingering curiosity about China that led Massey journalism student Julia Hollingsworth to put her hand up for an internship at the Shanghai Daily. That decision in 2012 was to change her life.

25FoundationGrantees
Edward Smith,
Business

When you’re starting out in your career, being able to demonstrate that you’ve got some experience can make all the difference, as former business intern Edward Smith has found.

25FoundationGrantees
Josh Wharehinga,
Leadership Network

Josh Wharehinga has a policy for the Foundation’s Leadership Network: “The answer is always yes”.

25FoundationGrantees
Pang Suwanaposee,
Business

Between trying out ice-fishing and being wowed by virtual reality technology, it’s safe to say the three months Pang Suwanaposee spent in South Korea was varied.

25FoundationGrantees
Tim McCready,
Leadership Network

Leadership Network member Tim McCready says the experiences he has had with the Asia New Zealand Foundation have gone on to unlock bigger opportunities and shape his career.

25FoundationGrantees
Fiona Natusch,
Leadership Network, Business

Fiona Natusch says she remembers being intimidated when she attended her first Leadership Network event in 2011.

25FoundationGrantees
Sharee Wilkinson,
Entrepreneurship

Make-up artist and eyelash specialist Sharee Wilkinson is a woman on a mission now she’s seen for herself the opportunities in Asia for her luxury possum fur lashes.

25FoundationGrantees
Frances Brown,
Business/Leadership Network

Frances Brown was no stranger to Japan when she took up the Foundation’s opportunity to intern at the Kyushu Railway Company in 2009.

25FoundationGrantees
Graci Kim,
Leadership Network

You could say that Graci Kim has grown up with the Asia New Zealand Foundation.