Elisabeth Vaneveld

Former director of Creative Entrepreneurship at The University of Auckland, Elisabeth Vaneveld holds the role of Executive Chair, New Zealand Dance Festival Trust. In 2019, she was awarded an MNZM for her services to arts management.

A pioneer in community cultural development and creative entrepreneurship, Elisabeth began her career at the University of Auckland in 1976 and has continued in the arts and culture sector ever since.

As a strategic response to high unemployment rates for arts graduates, she established the Arts Work Partnership in 1999 while at Creative New Zealand. The Partnership’s major innovation was The Big Idea | Te Aria Nui – the online creative home for over 30,000 registered creative professionals since 2001.

As the Executive Director of The Big Idea Charitable Trust from 2006 to 2016, Elisabeth established TBI Assist, a social enterprise that generated income to support The Big Idea online. TBI Assist was contracted to design and deliver ART Venture for Arts Regional Trust, which became a world-leading acceleration programme for creative entrepreneurs.

Elisabeth is committed to co-creating arts and cultural projects that provide the means for creative professionals in every industry to join forces to innovate to benefit the future of humanity and the biosphere.