Napier MTG & Hastings City Art Gallery named winners out of 60 entries

The MTG team celebrate their joint win of the Exhibition Excellence award for the Taonga Maori category at the 2018 IQ Service Awards in Christchurch.

Two Hawke's Bay art galleries had reason to celebrate after a night out at the 2018 Service IQ New Zealand Museum Awards.

Competition was strong this year as judges assesed entries from over 60 art galleries and museums across the country.

Executive Director, Museums Aoteraroa Phillipa Tocker said that every year the judges faced tough decisions in shortlisting and awarding winners.

"What all winners did have in common were inspired approaches to engaging our communities in art, science, history and culture."

MTG Hawke's Bay was a joint winner in Exhibition Excellence -Taonga Māori, for its exhibition He Manu Tioriori 100 Years of Ngāti Kahungunu Music. The exhibition explores how Ngāti Kahungunu has been at the forefront of it all, from the Māori Jazz Orchestras of the 1920s and 1930s to the emergence of the Māori show band era of the 1960s and 1970s.

Judges concluded that the exhibition eptimomises the way in which musuems in New Zealand can and should be by, for and about Maori, and more specificially iwi, hapū and whānau. MTG shared the award with Otago Museum's Tūhura Otago Community Trust Science Centre.

Hastings City Art Gallery's co-curated exhibition #keeponkimiora also took out Exhibition Excellence in the Art category.

The project brought together students of Kimi Ora Community School and photographer Edith Amituanai, to present a series of powerful images of the students in their everyday life and play.

The judges admired the collaborative ethos of the project that saw students involved in all aspects of the exhibition. Phillipa Tocker said they were particularly impressed that the students were involved with all parts of the exhibition development from concept to delivery.

Hastings Art Gallery Director Toni MacKinnon said it was a huge achievement and great reward for their little art gallery.

"Edith Amituanai spent a great deal of time with the children and even let them take her camera home so they could take their own photos and tell their own stories.

"She spent a great deal of time connecting with the students and hours filtering through hundreds of photographs, ensuring she selected the right ones," MacKinnon said.

Service IQ representative Abbe Todd congratulated all the finalists and said the winners of every category should be congratulated and seen as an inspiring example of what could be achieved when dedication, education and entertainment combined.