The $5,000 grant will be used to fund a road show exhibition kit designed to highlight the history of moonshine in the area and the various attractions of the event.

Melissa King from the festival’s organising committee says they are delighted to receive the funding from the Mazda Foundation.

“The Hokonui Moonshiners Festival is a great event that attracts a large number of local people. With this generous funding from the Mazda Foundation we aim to encourage more Kiwis to come and embrace our heritage and celebrate our unique culture and Moonshining past.”

The festival is held annually in late February and is a highlight on Gore’s event calendar, attracting locals and international travellers alike.

The event celebrates Southland’s illicit past and the legend of ‘Hokonui Moonshine’. The legend comes from the early Highland Scottish settlers who flaunted Southland’s early prohibition laws by making their own illicit whisky. Today, elements of traditional recipes and southern game are assembled to give event visitors a taste of true Celtic/South Seas fusion with a hint of days gone by.

The largest grant of $6,059 was given to Auckland-based organisation the Hearing House which supports children who have received a cochlear implant but aren’t learning to listen or speak like their hearing peers. The funds will be used to purchase equipment, resources and a computer to support language and learning at The Hearing House Preschool.

Tara Young, Development Manager for The Hearing House, believes the new resources will be an integral part of the children’s learning. “There are extensive exploration areas where children can make different sounds to encourage them to develop their language skills. The new equipment and resources will provide children with rich opportunities to explore and develop an enthusiasm for learning.”

The preschool’s results speak for themselves. 96% of deaf children who complete The Hearing House programme attend mainstream school and of these children, 91% can listen and speak like their hearing peers. The programme benefits the children in the long term also.

“In later life the children will experience enhanced education and employment opportunities, and will be able to fully participate in, and contribute to, mainstream society,” says Young.

“My goal is to gain a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in photography, film and video at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design. The curriculum includes internship, field work, student exhibitions and studio research. I want to achieve excellence in this field of study so I can become involved in the New Zealand film and television industry,” says Challis.

The Year 13 student at Matamata College is confident of being accepted into the prestigious degree course in 2009. She was the top ranked Year 12 photography student at her school last year, instigated the Visual Arts committee at the College and recently received an Arts Waikato Scholarship to assist in her future studies.

The Mazda Foundation grant along with her Arts Waikato Scholarship and her own savings will cover the costs of the degree and assist with living expenses in Auckland.

Vanessa Cruse, photography teacher at Matamata College believes Michaela has the ability to excel at whatever she puts her mind to. “Michaela has consistently displayed an exceptional work ethic and has a relaxed and open learning style. Her ability to problem solve and communicate her ideas through visual language is outstanding.

The Mazda Foundation grant of $1,760 to Southern REAP (Rural Education & Activities Programme) will mean 12 young people will experience the beautiful Mavora Lakes in Fiordland, National Park on a three day outdoor education camp.

Sue Wilson, sponsorship team leader from Southern REAP who organise the camps says the programmes are aimed at ‘at risk youths’ aged between 13-16 years who have been alienated from mainstream schooling because of a number of personal issues. The camp will allow these people to focus on life skills such as friendship, independence, teamwork, responsibility and exploration.

“The experience of camping, tramping, and generally enjoying our great natural scenic resources can have a life-altering effect on young people. Our programme’s mission is to assist our students to get back into mainstream schooling, into a job at 16; or into further training,” says Wilson.

The camps are run in conjunction with Adventure Southland and led by four tutors who all spend their time between classroom teaching and providing out of classroom excursions covering life skills and social development. Students take part in kayaking, trout fishing, mountain biking and bush craft, amongst other activities.

Mauriceville School’s grant of $3,300 will be used to purchase new gym and sports equipment. The current equipment is in urgent need of replacing.

The 22 pupil, two classroom primary school is located just north of Masterton.

Mauriceville School Principal Rebecca Stevens hopes the new gym equipment will mean the school can provide the children with high quality sports education while still meeting their individual needs.

“Physical education is a required part of the curriculum. We feel that upgrading our equipment will inspire more students to participate in physical education programmes.”

The school’s motto is ‘Learning Together, Learning Forever’ which emphasises their belief that learning is a life long process and enhanced when families are involved. Stevens says they aim to see increased fitness and physical confidence in the children and this will be communicated to parents through school reports and assessments.

25 young people with disabilities will be given the opportunity to participate in StarJam’s Talent Expansion Programme thanks to a grant from the Mazda Foundation.

The $25,600 grant was the largest of the 17 grants given out in the June 2008 funding round.

CEO and founder Julie Bartlett believes StarJam’s objectives are closely aligned to those of the Mazda Foundation’s. “We were excited to hear we were receiving a grant from the Mazda Foundation. Like the Foundation, we work hard to assist the advancement of culture and arts in the community. The kids in our programmes gain an idea of what excellence is and learn so much from being involved,” she says.

StarJam was launched in 2002 to create opportunities for young people with disabilities to develop confidence and have fun through participating in performance activities, stage productions and other creative pursuits.

The Talent Expansion Programme consists of weekly ‘CoolJam’ workshops across a range of performing arts – Groovy Guitar, Dynamic Drumming, Singing Sensation, Dazzling Dance and Rockin’ Hip Hop.

The workshops are open to all young people up to the age of 25 and are an opportunity for them to develop their creative talents, learn new skills, make new friends and have fun.

“StarJam’s Talent Expansion Programme provides a platform for our young people to achieve excellence in their chosen performance or creative activity,” says Julie.

A Mazda Foundation grant of $20,000.00 to Jensen Downes Picture Company will be used to fund a short film entitled ‘Station’.

Writer and director Stephen Ballantyne says that ‘Station is an ambitious script. “We believe it has the potential to succeed within the short film festival circuit and to thrill audiences with its innovative mash of genres, colloquial humour, distortion of familiar situations and magnificent and unexpected locations.”

The film which is to be 12-15 minutes in length, will be shot in January 2009 and funds from the grant will be used to cover the costs of filming on location in Central Otago as well as special effects, makeup and costuming.

“As young and up-and-coming filmmakers, our ultimate goal is to forge sustainable careers in feature filmmaking, ensuring that New Zealand stories, such as ‘Station’, make it to the screen. Our work aims to take universal themes, filter them through a New Zealand perspective and play them out within recognisable genres to create work that is fresh and accessible to national and international audiences,” says co-producer Carla Brereton.

The aim for ‘Station’ is to have it showcased at film festivals at home and around the world including Sundance, Cannes, Rotterdam and London. Stephen and Carla’s mentor, Heather Lee of Zoomslide Media, believes this is an achievable goal.

“They have a rare combination of skills between them including writing, directing and producing, and together they create a dynamic force. Most importantly all their work achieves a level of artistic excellence”.

A Mazda Foundation grant will soon help seven-year-old Alesia Peng from Hamilton get to school.

The grant of $1,800.00 will be used to purchase a tricycle for Alesia who has suffered from diplegic cerebral palsy since birth – a form of cerebral palsy which primarily affects the legs.

Yvonne Peng, Alesia’s mother, says her daughter has used her current tricycle since she was a toddler for transport but has outgrown it. Cycling also ensures Alesia is continually exercising her leg muscles.

“The tricycle is important for social integration, strengthening the weaker muscles, developing speed and coordination and to improve her physical fitness” says Alesia’s physiotherapist, Louise Thomson Rudge.

With the help of a grant from the Mazda Foundation, Tara Randell will soon be the first New Zealander to train at the prestigious Laine Theatre Arts in London.

The Ngaruawahia local received a grant of $2,000.00 to fund uniform requirements and dance shoes.

Tara says she has been offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and aims to be an elite triple-threat (dancer/singer/actor) on the world stage and to pass on her knowledge to future young achievers in New Zealand.

“I’m privileged to have my potential recognised as being the first New Zealander accepted to train at Laine Theatre Arts. The technical, theoretical and business skills that I will gain from a place of this calibre will be invaluable” she says.

Tara already has a Diploma of Commercial Dance with Distinction from the Wellington Performing Arts Centre and has had an eight month stint as Dance Captain on board the Tahitian Princess Cruise Ship. She sets off for the United Kingdom at the end of August.

Laine Theatre Arts is considered a centre of excellence for performing arts and many of its students end up performing on the West End. The year starts on 3 September 2008 with 35+ hours per week over 36 weeks studying classical ballet, contemporary modern, jazz, tap, pas de deux, singing, drama, musical theatre, anatomy and business related skills.

Volunteer fire fighters in Woodend will be much better equipped to respond to emergencies with the help of a Mazda Foundation grant.

The grant of $2,025.00 will be used to install GPS navigation systems in the brigade’s four vehicles to enable a more accurate method of navigation for response to fires and motor vehicle accidents in the rural community they serve.

Woodend fire fighter Wayne McLellan says that being in a rural area, the brigade covers a large amount of country roads and the GPS navigation units will allow response drivers to more accurately get to a call and free up fire fighters from map reading and prepare for the incident.

“North Canterbury is undergoing some massive residential developments at present and as such we are faced with lack of geographical knowledge of our fire district. At present when we are on the way to a 111 call, we rely on someone’s local knowledge of the streets or a map/card system to get us to the incident” he said.

Established in 1960, the Woodend Volunteer Fire Brigade responds to over 150 calls per year. The brigade works to reduce the incidence and consequences.