Te Papa has shelved plans for a national art gallery but private investors may fund the initiative, Te Papa's board chairman says.
In November, Te Papa chairman Sir Wira Gardiner had said a national art gallery was high on his personal agenda and he planned to use his position to ``move
it forward expeditiously''.
Sir Wira had said that Te Papa, the national museum, did not do its collection of 14,000 artworks justice.
Yesterday, Sir Wira told Parliament's government administration committee that plans for a national gallery had been shelved, the Dominion Post reported.
``The board has made the decision that if private interests want to pursue it, they can, and if they later want to approach us to use some of the collection, that's another matter -- but from a board point of view, we're getting on with our vision,'' he said.
The museum's 10-year plan, due in May, will focus on ways to provide better access to Te Papa's extensive collection of artefacts. Only 3 percent of Te Papa's collection is on display at any one time.
One option is to share art with other centres.
Board member Chris Parkin told the paper that he had never expected Te Papa to play ``more than a minor role'' in getting a national gallery up and running.
After speaking to potential private investors, Mr Parkin said he believed Wellington's movers and shakers could fund the gallery themselves.
``Talk is cheap, but we're at the stage now where there's a significant amount of interest but it needs some official sanction, and someone to pull it all together.''
