The Excellence in Community Engagement Award

Recognises an individual, group or initiative that strengthens improv communities through inclusion, participation, outreach, education or community-building.

Criteria for consideration

  • Have worked as an individual or ensemble in Aotearoa New Zealand during the 1 June 2026 to 1 May 2027 eligibility period.

  • Demonstrates meaningful contribution to community connection, access, inclusion or participation in improv, especially for improvisers who may otherwise be excluded or marginalised.

  • Builds safe, respectful and equitable spaces that support trust, belonging and positive relationships across participants, audiences, groups or regions.

  • Shows evidence of sustained effort, thoughtful practice or a clear response to community need.

  • Empowers new, emerging or under-represented voices through opportunities for education, creativity, collaboration or leadership in improv.

  • Optional: supports tangata whenua engagement in improv, including through respectful relationships, culturally grounded practice, or opportunities for Māori participation and leadership.

Tara McEntee

Tara McEntee (Board Secretary) is an experienced improvisor, actor, teacher, and professional lady working in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington. She has been performing improv professionally for over 15 years, and is a bold, unabashed loudmouth about how improv improves lives.She has been part of Improsaurus in Dunedin, the Court Jesters in Christchurch, and is currently a performer and former Board Member of Poprox Improv in Wellington. By day, Tara works as a senior civil servant in the health sector. Wherever she goes, Tara inevitably gets her hands dirty in the nitty gritty of how to do things better, be it in performance, production, administration, or pandemics. She is passionate about the art form of improv, the community, and the potential for improv to be cemented as a core art form in New Zealand.

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The Excellence in Technical Craft Award

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The Excellence in Improvised Performance Award