High praise for museum from councillors

Tairāwhiti Museum director Eloise Wallace is pictured with a display from the Anne Frank exhibition last year. She presented the museum’s 2023-24 annual plan to the council’s operations committee this week. File picture

“I can’t believe you get 45,000 visitors a year. That’s nearly a thousand a week.”

Those comments from Gisborne district councillor Teddy Thompson were among many similarly positive comments from councillors as Tairāwhiti Museum director Eloise Wallace presented its 2023-2024 annual plan to the council’s operations committee.

Cr Rawinia Parata thanked Mrs Wallace for the mahi at a museum which provided cultural richness.

Cr Aubrey Ria said she enjoyed visiting the museum every six weeks while Cr Colin Alder said visiting the museum was “a highlight of Gisborne”.

Mrs Wallace said a “really important” highlight of the year would be the delivery of He Kākahu Rerehua.

She described this as a combined exhibition/collection-care project and wānanga involving the care of kakahu or Māori garments.

He Kākahu Rerehua was supported by a $325,000 grant from the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s Covid-19 Cultural Recovery Programme and also provides two new assistants.

Other highlights for 2023-2024 include:

■  Delivery of a diverse programme of exhibitions, with highlights to include the national touring exhibition Toi Koru; the first major survey of paintings by Dr Sandy Adsett, one of the co-founders of Toihoukura; and a major exhibition of photographs and paintings recently donated to the museum which tell the fascinating story of Gisborne photographer Edward Arthur Millar and his family.

■ Continue to support Cyclone Gabrielle recovery work in the community, particularly the care and conservation of taonga Māori.

■ Development of a business plan for 2024-2027 and an asset management plan for the museum site and buildings, and an updated disaster management plan.

The annual plan projected budget for the year shows expenditure of $1.306m and income of $1.224m, including ministry grants of $164,000, council grants and insurance of $780,000, and other grants of $192,000.

Replying to a deficit query from Cr Larry Foster, Mrs Wallace said the budget did not necessarily show grants being carried forward from the previous year or other grants that had not yet been confirmed.

Staff worked hard on grant applications, but the budget was a challenge during a bad summer.

Replying to a query from Cr Thompson about the high cost of power, Mrs Wallace said the museum was a large building.

The museum needed an environmental control system to control temperature and humidity.

As a museum there were international standards to maintain to ensure photographs and other fragile items were protected, she said.