Cultural Fund Selection Panel

29 August 2025

Abby Aitcheson has held various editorial roles at independent publishers and Penguin Random House imprints in Aotearoa and London. She has also worked as a freelance editor and as a bookseller for Time Out Books. She now finds herself working as a legal editor in Tokyo, but will always think of Tairāwhiti as home. 2021 was the first year that Abby has been a selection panel member.

Anne has been an active participant in the literature and publishing sector for more than thirty years. She has worked for major publishing houses in Aotearoa New Zealand and was Association Director of the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) from 2007 - 2017.

Based in Thames, Coromandel, Anne is currently Executive Officer at Storylines Trust Te Whare Waituhi Tamariki, and acts as a consultant to the publishing industry.

Anne was a selection panel member in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2023 for the Contestable Fund Grants and is now an External Advisor for our Partnership Fund.

Ioana Gordon-Smith is an arts writer and curator. She was assistant curator of New Zealand’s pavilion, Yuki Kihara: Paradise Camp, at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, and co-curator of the international Indigenous triennial Naadohbii: To draw water that toured Canada, Australia and Aotearoa. Together with Lana Lopesi, Ioana is the co-founder and co-editor of Marinade: Aotearoa journal of Moana art. As well as writing for art journals, magazines and exhibition catalogues, Ioana has contributed to publications produced by Thames & Hudson, Routledge, ARP Books and Te Papa Press. She currently works as Lead Curator at Pātaka Art+Museum, Porirua.