Agency tells how cash for hip-hop trip doled out

By MONIQUE DEVEREUX and ANNE BESTON

The community funding agency that put $26,000 into a hip-hop trip for an aunt of artist Scribe is defending its role in helping groups "on the margins" who might not always succeed.

Government ministers are due to consider a recommendation that the Community Employment Group's grants criteria focus more closely on supporting key people who are making a positive difference in their communities.

This stems from a Government-ordered review last year into how the social entrepreneur fund is allocated.

General manager Charlie Moore said the support was not just about funding.

"We often work with groups over a number of years. They start from behind - we don't expect 100 per cent success immediately or in all cases."

The group says more than 3000 community groups get support each year - 1334 projects were funded in the past financial year.

Each year $750,000 is given to "community champions" in order to "improve the economic and social wellbeing of communities by investing in the capacity of their present and potential leaders as social entrepreneurs".

To be eligible for funding, applicants must provide a CV and information about their role, project details and references.

A national panel of Government officials and non-government representatives then assesses the applications against the fund's criteria.

This process differs from most funding decisions by the agency, which go through several stages from field workers, regional heads and national office. Mr Moore said the case of Fuarosa and Saralia Tamati would be reviewed.

The basis of their 70-day tour was to research how the America hip-hop culture has travelled from New York to New Zealand.

But National MP Katherine Rich this week cried foul and called the trip a junket.

"If New Zealanders were given a choice I suspect most would prefer their tax dollars to go on hip operations rather than hip-hop."

Fuarosa Tamati, an aunt of acclaimed hip-hop artist Scribe, works at a health clinic in Christchurch.

She declined to speak to the Weekend Herald but told National Radio she needed to learn more about "what the young people are up to and what they are into".

"It's become quite prolific here in New Zealand, the whole hip-hop scene. And as a parent I like to be involved in what my children and other young people are involved in. And that's just the way it is."

This week, she was reported as saying that she and her daughter "went to Hawaii and Fiji, but that was basically to chill out".

"Nothing major came of the trip, apart from seeing it all happen.

"What we wanted to figure out was if hip-hop went through the islands before it arrived in New Zealand, and we found that it did, which is probably quite logical."

The Tamatis blew their budget by nearly $8000, which they had to cover themselves.

The 70 days cost $9000 in airfares, $8500 in accommodation, $7300 in food and $1700 in stationery and resources, as well as $3000 for "internal transport" and $500 for entry fees to events.