From the MTG: Unusual end to a strange year

MTG curators Te Hira Henderson (left) and Gail Pope pictured before the launch of A Bloody Business: the history of five Hawke's Bay freezing works.

As we come to the end of the strangest of years, it's interesting to reflect back on what the year's been like and what has been achieved, despite everything, over the last 12 months.

Like everyone, the team at MTG Hawke's Bay was impacted by Covid-19. Staff set up offices from home, took piles of work with them and focused on getting everything done and ready for when we could get back in the building and reopen to the community.

Staff also used this time to add a significant number of records to the online catalogue and even provided education lessons online.

We all became adept at using Teams and Zoom along with other programmes and tried to create some sense of 'normal' from home.

Of course it wasn't normal.

Lots of time was spent ensuring each other was okay and I was super impressed with how the team came together to look out for their colleagues. Some of our staff also helped with welfare calls, led by council, to ensure the wider community were being looked after and had what they needed.

Coming back to work was a surreal experience – it took a few days to readjust and then everyone was full steam ahead meeting our exhibition, education and other commitments. Despite the interruption of Covid-19, the team still pulled together five amazing exhibitions.

Waka Kōrero Māori, a long-term display in the MTG Century Theatre foyer, features animals from the collection and their te reo Māori names, including audio of pronunciation and a fun 'chatterbox' game – this has been a particularly popular and fun show.

Toni MacKinnon, art curator, had her first display On Art and Activism, quickly followed by Billy Apple® A Brand Looking for a Product exhibition.

We've also hosted the poignant Children's Holocaust Memorial which remembers and honours 1.5 million children murdered during the Holocaust. A smaller display showcases the works of Lewis Evans who painted pre-earthquake scenes around Napier.

Our last exhibition for this year, A Bloody Business: the history of five Hawke's Bay freezing works, opened earlier this month and was inspired by the closures of Whakatū and Tomoana freezing works and the ongoing impact of this on the Hawke's Bay community.

We've won more awards this year, with our Turuturu: Fingers, Feathers and Fibre exhibition winning bronze in the Best Design Awards, Spatial Design Colour category and gold in the Installation category of the Resene Total Colour Awards.

This is continued testament to the incredible talents of our team and I feel so very lucky to have such amazing people to work with!

Other work continues on the Joint Working Group (involving Hastings District Council, Napier City Council, Hawke's Bay Museums Trust and Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi) looking at long-term storage and governance.

We've drafted a Strategic Plan which will go out for consultation in 2021 and have been contributing to the Council's Long Term Plan (2021-2031).

Unfortunately MTG Hawke's Bay is now closed due to unforeseen maintenance requirements. Our team is working hard with support from colleagues within Napier City Council and external contractors to resolve issues as quickly as we can.

In the meantime access to the archives and off-site collections continues as normal.

Some unexpected news at the end of a very strange year but we aim to welcome you back as soon as possible.

As always we're incredibly grateful for the ongoing support of the community, which takes many forms – from visitors coming to see our exhibitions and participate in programmes, to volunteers, to fundraisers, to governance bodies.

Each and every one of you is an important part of making the museum flourish and we thank you for that.

From all of us at MTG we wish you a safe and happy holiday season.

WHAT'S ON

· Napier Hill Cemetery Tour. Old Napier Cemetery, Sunday, January 24, 2021, 2pm. Discover tales of tragedy and bravery as the tour winds its way through this historic cemetery guided by MTG's Curator of Social History Gail Pope. Tickets available through Eventfinda.