Sheilah Winn

Notably, she was the founding donor of the Hannah Playhouse in 1966, co-founder of the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship in 1970, and principal sponsor of the National SGCNZ Sheilah Winn Festivals of Shakespeare in Schools (SSGCNZ SWFSS) in 1992.

[1] When asked why she contributed so generously to the arts, she said: "Because I derive so much pleasure from seeing artists displaying their talents and wares and anyway, what else could I do with my money?

"[9] The delays and stress of building, however, led her to decide that she would in future donate to artists and art organisations directly.

They conceived the fellowship together in the 1960s, after Manson and her husband discovered that a room was available for rent at the Villa Isola Bella in Menton where Mansfield did some of her most significant writing.

Their vision was "to give a selected New Zealand writer a period of leisure to write or study [in] a different and more ancient culture, and thereby to see [their] own remote country in a better perspective".

[1] In 1993 she supported the Women's Suffrage Centennial Year commemorations in New Zealand, marking 100 years of women's suffrage,[6] and helped fund New Zealand's artistic contribution of embroidered stage hangings for Shakespeare's Globe in London, which opened in 1997.

"[11] Winn was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1980 Birthday Honours for her services to the arts.

[18] In the same year she was presented with a Civic Award by the Christchurch City Council for her work promoting Shakespeare in schools.