Visions of inspiration
It is the Museum of New Zealand and outlines its key tasks as preserving and presenting the taonga (treasures) of New Zealands people and to interpret the countrys heritage for national and international audiences.
However, one look at the sub-headings on Te Papas website reminds us that museums are no longer about dusty vaults and cob-webbed corridors. The sub-headings include: kids, shopping, food and drink and functions.
The proponents of the proposed $24.6 million upgrade of Southland Museum and Art Gallery_ particularly the museums trust board_ no doubt have some vision of a smaller Te Papa-like asset for the region.
Board chairman Cr Darren Ludlow has already talked about interactive displays for kids.
In relative terms, theres no doubt about the enormity of the Southland Museum upgrade proposal.
You need only look at the scale of other capital developments in the city to get a sense of context.
Stadium Southland, built in 2000, and the Velodrome, built in 2006, came at a combined pricetag of $21.5 million, while the Civic Theatre upgrade weighed in at $16 million.
The museum trust board handily points out that other regions are investing heavily in heritage and the arts_ just look at New Plymouths Puki Ariki Museum, which cost $27 million to build from scratch.
Elsewhere in Southland, it notes developments such as Te Hikoi (Riverton Heritage Centre), Discover Fiordland in Te Anau and the Hokonui Heritage Centre and Eastern Southland Gallery in Gore as examples of areas forging ahead with cultural projects. The board also notes that the region has a rich history of celebrating cultural and philanthropic pursuits.
Southlands first museum was opened in 1872 by entrepreneur Andrew McKenzie who billed his home display as a collection of New Zealand and Australian curiosities, mostly stuffed animals.
In 1942, the Southland Museum opened on the Queens Park site where it still sits today_ although back then its founders may not have envisaged that one day a gigantic pyramid roof would be added.
Between 1960 and 1980 additions were made to the museum, including the tuatarium, observatory and a workshop.
In 1990, the pyramid roof was added.
In its presentation to community funders, councils and interest groups last week, the museum board restated its mission_ that of preserving and telling the story of Southland. This means charting peoples experiences and inspiring Southlanders to explore and understand the world around them.
It wants the museums collection to be managed and developed and public programmes to be maintained. Interestingly, the museum board also notes widening its community support base as a key goal_ somewhat of a necessity when the public purse is about to be raided.
The importance of the museum is being driven home by the board, which argues that people move to centres where heritage and culture are valued.
The 1990 museum model presents not only exhibition and storage space shortages, but the lack of space also limits the preparation of items, research opportunities for the public and commercial activities.
As well as more exhibition and storage space, the board wants improved educational areas, additional commercial space, an environmentally green energy-efficient building_ and, of course, more visitors.
It also needs to be a desirable destination for New Zealands best touring exhibitions, the board says.
Throughout the presentation pictures of Te Papa were used and its development is cited alongside that of more than 50 other museum redevelopments around the country as evidence of the importance of having a contemporary cultural asset.
Three options for the redevelopment were considered by the board.
The first was removing the pyramid structure, leaving a 2500 square metre core and constructing a new four level building, adding another 6000 square metres. The ball park figure for this would be $21.5 million, before additional costs.
The second option_ and that favoured by the board — is refurbishing the existing 4500 square metre building and creating a 4000 square metre extension on the adjacent tennis court site. This would come at a cost of $20.2 million.
The price tag for the latter ends up at $24.6 million after fitout costs ($1.1 million) and inflation at 5 percent for three years ($3.3 million) are added.
The third option was building a new museum on a central business district site within the city centre. This would cost about $25 million, plus the price to buy the land, plus the additional costs.
The board supports its preference by saying it would create the least disruption to the operation of the museum, the tuataras would remain on site_ and importantly no resource consent would be needed as a museum is already allowed for in the Queens Park Reserve Management Plan.
About $600,000 more a year would be needed to run the redeveloped museum. At the moment the museum has a $1.29 million annual operational budget, which would increase to $1.90 million.
As far as timelines go, the board wants a feasibility study completed by May, planning approvals secured by the end of next year, have detailed design and tendering done in early 2009 and construct the new building from late 2009 to an early 2011 deadline_ in time for the Southland sesquicentenary in April 2011.
