Otago congratulates 2027 Arts Fellows

The University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka will host a full contingent of Arts Fellows in 2027.

The Fellows will receive a stipend for up to one year and space on campus to pursue their creative projects.

Four of the five Fellows have been confirmed:

The Frances Hodgkins Fellow is Simon Kaan

The Caroline Plummer Fellowship in Community Dance goes to Tess Hazelhurst

The Robert Burns Fellow is Emma Hislop

The Mozart Fellow is Glen Downie

The University of Otago College of Education Children’s Writer in Residence will also resume its vital role in supporting children’s literature in 2027, in partnership with Robert Lord Writers Cottage Trust, after receiving Creative New Zealand funding.

Read more and apply here: Otago celebrates return of Children’s Writer in Residence

Te Kete Aronui – Division of Humanities Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor Hugh Campbell says he is excited to announce the appointment of the confirmed 2027 Arts Fellows.

“It’s fantastic to be able to welcome a full contingent of Arts Fellows to Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka in 2027, and I include the return of our College of Education Children’s Writer in Residence in this celebration.

“It is such a joy to be able to offer these talented artists the space and time to pursue their passion, and to see how much they enrich our creative community. I congratulate the successful applicants and look forward to welcoming them here and seeing their journey unfold.”

Professor Campbell says the University continues to seek further community and philanthropic support to build University trust funds and bring Arts fellowships to a place of secure and ongoing resilience for 2028 and beyond.

Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson says having five Arts Fellows on campus in 2027 will bring much joy to the University and the wider arts community.

“This is a moment to celebrate and I thank everyone who has put us in this position.  I am thrilled Otago can offer these extremely talented Fellows dedicated time and space to pursue their craft.

“I am particularly pleased to see the Robert Burns Fellowship and the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship go to Ngāi Tahu creatives and ngā uri o te mana whenua, which will also help deepen our partnership.”

The Frances Hodgkins Fellow: Simon Kaan

Ōtepoti artist Simon Kaan’s (Waitaha, Kāti Mamoe, Kāi Tahu) practice sits within spaces that navigate both his Kāi Tahu and Chinese whakapapa.

Simon Kaan

“Growing up and making work here in Ōtepoti, my practice has been shaped by place and belonging,” he says.

“This grounds my work, where I am continually influenced by light, shifting rhythms and the surrounding land and water, providing a kaupapa from which to explore and develop.”

Over his art career, Kaan has naturally gravitated towards connecting art communities.

He was a co-founder of the artists’ collective, Paemanu Ngāi Tahu Contemporary Visual Arts, helping lead large-group curatorial projects that strengthened Ngāi Tahu artists' connections to their iwi and hapū.

“I love working in a collective environment with our Ngāi Tahu artists.

“I have also been involved with the NZ Asian arts community and enjoy meeting up with my whanauka from that side of my whakapapa.”

He helped initiate The Aotearoa Chinese Artists Collective (AChA), a grassroots network that brought together artists of Chinese whakapapa for the first time in Aotearoa, starting conversations around Chinese diasporic art practices and connection to place.

The Frances Hodgkins Fellowship represents a pivotal moment in his art career to consolidate and develop a new, focused body of work, he says.

“It offers me the time, space, and context to refine my visual language, and look at new ways to deepen my understanding of my practice.”

During his Fellowship, he plans to develop some larger-scale artworks and collaborate with some writers and researchers at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka.

One aspect he is particularly looking forward to is spending time in the Hocken Collections using their art archives to research works that explore place and belonging, including works from two of his mentors Ralph Hotere and Marilynn Webb.

The Caroline Plummer Community Dance Fellow: Tess Hazelhurst

Multi-talented Otago alumna and academic staff member Tess Hazelhurst is returning to her first love of dance with this six-month Fellowship.

Tess Hazelhurst

“To receive this Fellowship is such an honour,” she says.

“As an Otago performing arts and dance alum, I remember meeting Arts Fellows during my undergraduate studies and admiring their mahi and the Fellowship principles.

“To join this cohort of distinguished and accomplished pioneers of community dance means a lot to me as an academic and dance practitioner.”

Over the past decade, Hazelhurst has been both a professional performer and creative practitioner, working across cabaret, drag, burlesque, contemporary dance, and aerial performance.

“I'm often blown away by the energy and vibrancy in my performing arts community,” she says.

“Our community of drag, theatre, and cabaret performers utilise movement to showcase who they are and the narratives they wish to tell; they are bold, brave, and beautiful.

“Receiving this Fellowship recognises that this kaupapa of identity and expression should be explored and made more visible in community dance practices, which is very exciting.”

Her connection to Otago stretches back about 16 years, with an array of academic achievements.

She first completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Commerce and went on to complete a Master of Sustainable Business.

Hazelhurst has since worked as a research assistant and teaching fellow for the Department of Management and is currently in the final stages of a Management PhD.

“It might seem like an odd juxtaposition to work in a social science space as a researcher and move into this Fellowship, but I am enthusiastic to approach the Fellowship from this unique position,” she says.

“In using a co-design methodology, I hope to give our drag performers increased visibility and facilitate conversations about how niche community artforms can create long-lasting community benefit.”

She approaches dance from a place of joy.

“It's something everyone has access to, whether you strum your fingers on the steering wheel on the way to work, have a cheeky wiggle at home with the radio on, or watch a dance performance that makes you feel something.

“Teaching dance in community spaces, for example, university dance clubs, arts festivals, open access classes, allows me to say that expression of joy in movement is valid - it's dance!

“It's a highlight of my practice to permit people to experience that.”

The Robert Burns Fellow: Emma Hislop

Writer Emma Hislop (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha) says she is still “quietly processing” the news of receiving the Robert Burns Fellowship for 2027.

Emma Hislop

Although her debut short story collection, Ruin, won the Hubert Church Best First Book of Fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards in 2024, she says looking at the list of writers who have held the Fellowship before is humbling.

“It feels like an incredible vote of trust, and I’m just keen to get to work. I wouldn’t be here without the ongoing support of my whānau and the wider arts community.”

Making the move to Ōtepoti from her base in Taranaki will be a kind of homecoming for Hislop.

“On my dad’s side we are Kāi Tahu, and whakapapa to Puketeraki Marae, so bringing my whānau home to Te Wai Pounamu for a year is a big deal for us.”

While she has been “deeply grateful” for previous short residencies such as the Robert Lord Cottage, and a summer residence through artists’ collective Paemanu Ngāi Tahu Contemporary Visual Arts, she rarely gets a chance to bring her family down south.

“When we do stand in Dunedin, at Puketeraki, or at our whanauka’s crib at Pūrākaunui, that sense of distance just collapses.

“Being present triggers a sensory reawakening where the body remembers things the intellect forgot—a certain way of standing, or why a story happened in one specific place and not another.

“The land holds its own archive, and being there lets me actually read the stories stored in the topography.”

Hislop is currently finishing her second project, a novel, and plans to begin her third book during her Fellowship.

It will be shaped by Ōtepoti from the start through research at the Hocken Collections and University archives, she says.

“Writing from Taranaki meant my first two books were both written across a physical distance, relying heavily on memory and imagination.

“This third book will no longer be a reconstruction from afar—it will be grounded directly on the whenua.

“Being in Ōtepoti brings the work into the physical realm. It’s about kanohi kitea—being present with the landscape and letting the manuscript grow out of daily, living connection.”

The Mozart Fellow: Glen Downie

For composer Glen Downie, the chance to dedicate a year to his craft without juggling multiple jobs is an incredible opportunity.

Glen Downie

Originally based in Wellington, Downie has almost completed a PhD in composition at the University of Cambridge, and the move to Ōtepoti for the Mozart Fellowship will follow soon after.

It’s been an action-packed few years building technique and exploring his ideas in a university environment while being close to the musical hub of London, he says.

“To be able to continue this momentum in Dunedin, a city which is replete with inspiring natural beauty, a strong university and music faculty, plus a wide appreciation of the arts generally, is an honour.

“Looking at the names of the previous Fellows, there are many who have inspired me and who I have learnt from by listening to their music and studying their scores and it's an honour to be in their company.”

Downie has a string of musical achievements to his name, working with orchestras including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic, The NZSO, The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and Orchestra Wellington.

He held the position of composer in residence for the NZSO National Youth Orchestra in 2019, culminating in Light Speckled Droplet for orchestra and chorus, conducted by James Judd.

He has received commissions from The Australian National Academy of Music, Chamber Music New Zealand, Stroma, Ghost Trio and was the 2022 recipient of the SOUNZ Sistema commission for Sistema Youth Orchestra and Professional Orchestra.

During his Fellowship year he aims to complete a variety of orchestra compositions, including one for string orchestra and another for a solo work with wind instruments.

“But I'm also looking forward to meeting and collaborating with local musicians on some smaller chamber works and share them in concerts of contemporary music with students, as well as engage in some free improvisation, he says.”

“Some of my professional concert music can be very challenging technically, which relates to that desire for exploration, so writing something that everyone can enjoy and participate in and find that balance between expression and engaging the community is something powerful that is important and I would like to do more of.

“This is also something I like about free improvising, is it's an activity that can involve wide ranges of ability but still create something magical.”

He hopes that his love of musical exploration will inspire up and coming Otago students to explore for themselves with open mindset, and follow their own musical passion.