I believe that the Invercargill City Council
currently has the opportunity to lead a new approach to arts and culture in the
city. On very rare occasions the stars align and reveal the potential of a
previously unconsidered direction. In such exceptional circumstances I propose
that further consideration be given to advancing conversations with the
Southland Museum and Art Gallery, Anderson’s Park and City Gallery to progress
a proposal for a purpose-built, multi-disciplinary, arts and cultural facility
in the vicinity of Wachner Place & Esk St. Given the Southland Museum &
Art Gallery status as a Council Controlled Organization I believe it is
essential for Council to adopt a proactive stance in facilitating an inclusive
and rigorous explorative process that works alongside the big picture issues
impacting Invercargill to determine that measurable value can be determined and
communicated effectively to stakeholders. The city’s public cultural
institutions are as important as the city’s swimming pool, stadium and library
and should receive the same level of council engagement to ensure their
productive development. I propose that the way forward is the implementation of
a visioning process to ascertain what a new museum in the city could be and do.
This vision would form a map of sorts which ensures that the purpose of a
museum is a central driving force in its design.
To provide an example of why a museum
redevelopment should be driven by its purpose, I will talk a little about
museum collections. The protection and preservation of collections is related
to a museum’s core value system. However without a clear strategy, collections
can becoming a drain on a museums resources while providing little evident
value to members of a community. Collections can occupy a significant
proportion of museum buildings and are costly to maintain. Have you ever asked
yourself when collecting ends – history is being made every day so what is
significant and worthy of preservation and what is not? Think about the
potential growth of collections over the next 50 years if there was
indiscriminate and ongoing collecting. In the 2012 year museums in New Zealand
acquired almost 100,000 new collection items, 96% of which were donated or
gifted however well over half of museums have not had their collections valued
as heritage assets.[1]
Much of a museum’s collection is never seen,
typically around 20% or less is accessible to the public via exhibition and
even less online at around 10%. [2]
The reality is that our museums in New Zealand as we know them today are
relatively new. Many museums have transitioned through periods of
indiscriminate collecting and as a consequence have a backlog of cataloging and
may have items which are inadequately documented or not documented at all.
Given the recourses and physical space required to house collections, it should
be clear to communities why and how a museum collects. Without a detailed
analysis of a museum’s collection and a strategic and focused future direction,
any building development can only assume what future space might be required to
accommodate a collection.
Museum practices are changing, the
expectations of publics are changing and the world has been opened up to allow
for greater potential in remote visitation. At this point in time there is an
opportunity to reimagine what a city museum could be and do. I have found some
examples that I believe may be useful in the respect that they are cultural
facilities located in areas with population bases similar to that of
Invercargill. So why does population base matter? Well because the reality is
that any public facility needs to take into account what their relative
communities can afford to expend in terms capital redevelopment as well as and
most importantly on the ongoing operation of their facilities. Amalgamation of
purpose, for example, can provide a consolidation of resources, skills,
volunteer energy, and visitation but should also accentuate the unique
attributes and needs of the community.
·
The New Plymouth District Council amalgamated the
public library, museum and i-site into the institution which we now know as Puke
Ariki. Puke Ariki also has a restaurant, café, retail and capacity for venue
hire.
·
The Porirua City Council amalgamated the Museum and
Art Gallery into the purpose built complex, alongside the library, that became
Pataka in 1998. Pataka has retail, a café and a number of venues for hire
including a performing arts studio.
·
Te Manawa is a CCO in Palmeston North which reinvented
itself as a Museum of Art, Science and History. Te Manawa venues can
accommodate functions of up to 200 people.
·
The Rotorua Bathhouse administered by the Rotorua
District Council is a museum, art gallery and historic place and also has a
café.
·
MTG Hawke’s Bay administered by the Napier City
Council is a museum, theatre and art gallery. MTG also has a reading/research
room.
In closing I will
reference an excerpt from the MTGs vision:
“MTG Hawke’s Bay is more than a museum, theatre and
art gallery; it is realising its ambition of becoming a centre of
thought-leadership through symposiums, conferences, film programmes, talks and
debate. Today MTG Hawke’s Bay embodies much of what its forefathers wanted it
to be. Its William Colenso’s home of ideas, Leo Bestall’s full museum in the
miniature, Augustus Hamilton’s keeper of local taonga, James Munro’s collector
of New Zealand applied arts and crafts. And alongside this rich history, MTG Hawke’s
Bay is a trend-spotter, adroit at reinvention: responsive, smart-thinking and
worldly”
Thank
you for listening
