Editorial: D-day looms for gallery cash boost

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

IT IS like a game of Russian roulette - and a rather fraught one for the people of Whanganui.

A quick glance at the top of this page reveals that there are just seven days left in June - that is seven days for the Sarjeant Gallery Trust to come up with $3.4 million and thus unlock $10 million of government cash and several million more from various funders.

The looming deadline prompts a bout of "Will they? Won't they?" anxiety.

If trust chair Nicola Williams and her team of fervent fundraisers are staring down the barrel of a gun, they are not showing it. Instead, they are pressing on, with the focus of getting the $34 million Sarjeant redevelopment project over the line. God speed. Their efforts deserve success.

It is true that there are a number of people in Whanganui who could not tell a Van Gogh from a Van Halen, and aren't too fussed about the Sarjeant and the plans to earthquake-proof and extend that iconic building.

But the numbers speak eloquently enough ...

If the trust adds $3.4 million to hit its $10 million target and the government's pledge is added in, that is $20 million of outside money coming into the district. Not enough for a new wastewater treatment plant, but still a tidy sum. Plus, hitting that milestone will help open up the chequebooks of other outside funding bodies - so, in broad brushstrokes, the Sarjeant project will be a big boost to the local economy. Add to that the ability of a wonderful upgraded gallery to pull in visitors from around New Zealand and overseas, and the dollars paint a pretty impressive picture.

Yes, some ratepayer funds will have paved the way, and that irks folk who can't tell a Collier from a coalminer.

But if this project does not go ahead, the burden of getting the Sarjeant useable will fall more heavily on ratepayers. Or, alternatively, the Sarjeant will sit empty atop Queen's Park as Whanganui's most handsome eyesore.