In an effort to showcase Australian and New Zealand artists that may have been impact by the spread of coronavirus, Twitch has launched a new creative showcase to enable artists of all kinds to share their works with a wider audience, according to Kotaku reporter Leah Williams.

Twitch’s ANZ Creative Showcase enables artists to take advantage of front page positioning on Twitch and social media support from the Twitch ANZ’s community team over a two week period. This ensures a level of visibility for these artists, and works similarly to Twitch’s grass roots program that highlights non-partnered Twitch streamers.

The first stream kicked off this week with Māori wood carver Daytona Taputu, who goes by broxh_ on Twitch. Taputu is a specialist in ‘whakairo’ and normally works at the Maori village in Rotorua which has been shut due to the coronavirus epidemic.

Through the support of Twitch’s ANZ Creative Showcase, Taputu has been able to share his cultural heritage and impressive talent with a wider audience. Clips of his streams have since reached 13,700 upvotes on Reddit and he’s gained an additional 25,000 followers on his Twitch channel. A clip from Taputu’s livestream has been viewed over 100,000 times and shared widely.

The showcases present a unique opportunity for viewers to learn more about these talented local streamers, as well as learn new skills while stuck in isolation.

In total, there are ten talent showcases planned with skills ranging from photography to chalk drawing, digital art and DJ-ing.

List of Streamers

• broxh_ — showcasing traditional Māori wood carving
• michelleghunder — showcasing photography and editing
• Mikpwn — showcasing DJ skills
• cmillermusic — showcasing musical performance
• Professor_S_Huntington — showcasing chalk art
• ozfiz_rox — showcasing drawing and painting
• trinityflynn — showcasing musical performance
• DioramaLama — showcasing marionette puppets, dolls, miniature props and large dioramas
• Soulis_Grey — showcasing digital art
• Alusam — showcasing musical performance

The Twitch ANZ Creative Showcase is set to continue over 20 weeks, with a new artist showcased every two weeks. Stay tuned to the Twitch ANZ Twitter page to keep up with streamers going live — you might learn a thing or two while you’re at it.