Whanganui Regional Museum director Bronwyn Labrum resigns

Dr Bronwyn Labrum at the museum in 2021. Photo / NZME

Dr Bronwyn Labrum has resigned as director of Whanganui Regional Museum after five years in the role.

In an email to the Museum Friends group last month, museum joint council chairman Dr John Smart said Labrum and her team had accomplished a lot, with “substantial transformation of the museum, inside and out”.

The original museum building, constructed in 1928, was painted last year.

“We are all very proud of the museum and its staff, which Brownyn has contributed to significantly,” Smart said.

“Brownyn has asked us to pass on her sincere thanks to our major funders the Whanganui District Council, the Friends of the Museum and our iwi and hapū stakeholders, all of whom have supported our wonderful institution.”

Smart said Labrum was “looking forward to a well-earned break, knowing that she will be leaving the museum in good heart”.

The Chronicle could not reach Labrum for comment on her resignation.

Labrum, previously a senior manager at Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand and special projects lead at Canterbury Museum, started as Whanganui director at the end of 2020.

She took over from acting director Libby Sharpe.

Speaking to the Chronicle in 2021, Labrum said she wanted to “demystify” exactly what a museum did.

“We’ve got to remember that we are preserving this for the future as well, it’s not just about the front-of-house experience.

“There’s the safe housing of the collection, looking after it, cataloguing it and making sure it’s accessible when people want to come and view it.”

A joint council of representatives from the Tikanga Māori House and the Civic House runs the museum, although operations could be handed to Whanganui District Council.

The museum has agreed to the move in principle but it requires a change to its 25-year-old constitution, with a review and consultation process underway.

Moving operations in-house to the council was the recommendation of consultant Anthony Smith, who completed a review after the council provided emergency funding of up to $250,000 to the museum in 2024.

The council provides the museum with an annual grant of $1.3 million.

Smart told the Chronicle Labrum would leave the role on January 16 and no decisions had been made about her replacement.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.