Rugby attraction struggles in financial limbo
The New Zealand Rugby Museum has taken a triple hit to its fortunes.
The New Zealand Rugby Union has slashed its $35,000 grant for the coming year, it will not get $20,000 from the Palmerston North City Council as it had before, and its ticket sales to international visitors have plunged. Director Stephen Berg told the city council’s art, culture and heritage committee on Wednesday the museum was in a challenging position.
The museum is Palmerston North’s leading international visitor attraction, usually making $80,000 a year from admissions from overseas fans. The Covid-19 fallout has slashed visitor numbers to about 20 per cent of normal.
‘‘We have lost all three sources of income in one hit.’’
Between 85 and 90 per cent of the museum’s visitors were tourists, and apart from a smattering of people on long stays who sat out the lockdown in New Zealand, that market had almost disappeared.
Berg said the museum would be surviving on reserves it had built up to pay one-third of the costs of a $250,000 project to install new display cabinets.
It had applied for funding for the balance just the day before lockdown.
Making the museum’s position even more precarious was its lease for a gallery at Te Manawa had expired, the building was earthquake prone, and it had no certainty about where it would be housed in the future.
‘‘We are in limbo.’’ However, the museum has received some comfort from the city council. The arts, culture and heritage committee has recommended working to formalise a relationship between the council and museum that would give it more certainty about funding in the future.
Committee chairperson Rachel Bowen said the relationship could be a memorandum of understanding, or some less formal arrangement based on its track record of trust.
She said the council provided a rent-free base for the museum at Te Manawa, and that situation was not under threat.
Plans to develop Te Manawa, a project known as TM2025, had been superseded by work the council was doing to plan a cultural and civic precinct in the area.
‘‘That will include the rugby museum. It is an integral, valued part of it, with its strong tourism offering,’’ Bowen said.
The council is also prepared to support any application the rugby museum makes to the Government’s $2m hardship fund for museums nationwide.