From the MTG: Planning for serious conversations and lifelong learning

Marine Parade, 1930s. Photo / Michael Fowler Collection

At MTG Hawke’s Bay Tai Ahuriri we’re always looking for new ways to ensure we’re welcoming and engaging for all our community. From having a lovely, warm customer service team who greet you on arrival, to providing accessible facilities, we aim to make MTG a place that everyone and anyone can enjoy.

We’ve had lovely feedback about various changes we’ve made over the years. People love having kaumatua talking to them directly through film in Kuru Taonga: Voices of Kahungunu and so we added more of this in Pūkākau o te Whenua.

Two community arts and culture evening events have become the norm at MTG — Nuit Blanche and Matariki. Sunday cinema, Art Beats (Maverick Modigliani on Thursday, May 9, 7pm), the International Film Festival, along with other cinema screenings, have been popular and have been provided in direct response to community requests.

Families continue to love the Activity Trails, and the Drop-in-Zone on weekends and school holidays, so these remain a staple. At times these are linked to other themes in the country — for example, May 6-12 is Sign Language Week, so our Drop-in-Zone will be focused on learning some simple signs including how to spell your name. The theme for Sign Language Week this year is “An Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere”, so why not come in and participate.

We’re also wanting to create more space for serious conversations and lifelong learning. To that end, councillor Michael Fowler, who many of you will know from his columns in this paper, is giving a talk on the legendary 30,000 Club that looks set to be full of interesting and amusing tales.

The 30,000 Club shaped much of what we enjoy in Napier today, so I for one can’t wait to hear it. Michael is generously donating funds from his talk for our new collection storage and access facility in Hastings, so please do come along and support us while having an entertaining and informative experience. Michael’s talk will be in the Century Theatre on Wednesday, May 15, at 5.30pm; tickets are available through our website, at the museum or at the door.

We’ve also partnered with the EIT (Eastern Institute of Technology) on a series of public lectures from senior academic staff. These will cover areas of research relevant to Te Matau-a-Māui — with a range of interesting subjects, from health and wellbeing, through to IT (information technology) and AI (artificial intelligence), to locally and globally sustainable futures. Keep an eye on our website for upcoming lectures.

There’s always so much more we could be doing and we’re very aware of this — every year we try to expand a little more on what was done the previous year, and hopefully there’s something in there that resonates with you. As always, we welcome your feedback so please do come in and share your thoughts.

Laura Vodanovich is MTG director