Te Manawa Art Society wants council to take more notice of art gallery

Some art lovers say not enough works are being displayed at the Te Manawa Art Gallery. Photo / Supplied

In three days of hearings dominated by submitters asking for money to be spent on x, y or z, or for the council to stick to its knitting, David Crowley's oral submission stood out.

The chairman of the Te Manawa Art Society told Palmerston North City Council at last week's final 10-Year Plan hearing said he respected there were not unlimited resources. He was there to give them some "easy runs on the board". The society was not asking for money but for the council to pay attention to what is going on within the arts community.

Crowley said behind the four walls of the Te Manawa Art Gallery, tucked away in a back corner, there is a concrete bunker housing more than $20 million worth of art.

Crowley said the reality was the works were not being seen enough, yet they are one of regional New Zealand's best collections.

"We're really hoping that you see this now as an opportunity to actually get this out and showcase it. We've got a lot of situations in New Zealand where people are looking for attractions to come to, not only as regional visitors but also here locally as well."

The business owner asked councillors to get curious about what is in the gallery cupboards and set expectations for the Te Manawa Museums Trust, which runs the gallery, to display more of the collection and generate revenue.

"We've got an asset down there that's not being utilised well enough."

Monthly exhibitions would be ideal but may not be realistic given Te Manawa's current level of resources.

Per capita gallery visitor numbers were lower than other regions. "And that's because we just don't have enough energy and passion running in there."

Cr Vaughan Dennison said he attended the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition and the art gallery seemed "quite barren".

Referring to Te Manawa chief executive Andy Lowe's use of the word tension in his 10-Year Plan submission, Dennison asked how Crowley would describe the relationship between the art society and Te Manawa.

Crowley said the committee is positive about the way it is moving forward and sees its role as to support Lowe and his team. The committee was only looking forward, not backwards. He thought tension related to allocation of resources as Te Manawa is stretched.

In his submission Lowe wrote: "We would like to make it clear that there will always be tension in working with the founding societies [art, museum, science] as we move into the future. The board and staff of Te Manawa will continue to work collaboratively to meet the aspirations of our societies where possible."