‘Not enough about art’
The husband-and-wife codirectors of New Plymouth’s GovettBrewster Art Gallery/ Len Lye Centre say they are happy to take on board criticism about missed visitor targets, but believe there is a more to a successful attraction than numbers.
‘‘There has been so much, no offence to the press, but there has been so much negativity,’’ Johan Lundh says with a laugh. ‘‘It’s not a good story, ‘people love local art gallery’."
‘‘There is so much about numbers and not enough about art,’’ Aileen Burns adds.
The couple have been in their respective roles since March, after becoming the first codirectors the gallery has ever had.
The past nine months had been busy as they started their new life in New Plymouth with their one-year-old daughter, Hilma, and worked towards building the gallery into something they are proud of.
‘‘It’s been amazing. It’s a very intense period getting to know a place, a team and a collection,’’ Burns says.
They have carried out a realignment of staffing so more hours are dedicated to public engagement, created an indigenous curator role to bring in more multiculturalism and a stronger focus on Te Reo Ma¯ ori, and planned the biggest exhibition the gallery has ever seen - Ruth Buchanan: The scene in which I find myself / Or, where does my body belong, which opened on December 7 and runs until March 22.
‘‘We’re trying to embed the founding vision of the institution and the ethos of the place as fun and challenging,’’ Canadianborn Burns said.
But for the moment the gallery is unlikely to meet its visitor targets, a report to its owner, the New Plymouth District Council (NPDC), reported earlier this month. For the first quarter, 12,244 people came through the doors, a drop from 14,339 for the same period last year.
However, the overall target, of 116,000 visitors a year was drawn up before the couple arrived and before the gallery introduced an entry fee in August 2018 for people from outside the New Plymouth district.
This was done to help offset some of the $5 million a year NPDC spends on annual operating costs.
That said, the most recent inhouse survey showed 93 per cent of visitors were satisfied with the gallery, ahead of the target of 83 per cent, and up on 82 per cent for the same period last year.
‘‘We feel like we’re happy to take any type of criticism about not reaching targets and audience, but actually people care about life-changing experiences with art, music, culture and dance. You can’t put a number on that,’’ Swedishborn Lundh says.
We’re sitting around a table in the couple’s office, the quietest place in the gallery, which offers a slither of a sea view out of tinted windows.
It’s only the second interview they’ve given since taking charge. Any requests to speak to the pair have to go through the NPDC’s media and communications team, and the gallery’s communications and marketing manager is also sitting in.
The co-directors are not shy of criticising media coverage, saying it focused too much on the numbers rather than the art and stories being told at the gallery.
‘‘We are doing the best job we can,’’ says Lundh.
‘‘But it is a big organisation, there are a lot of stakeholders, in council and outside. It takes a while to get the balance right.’’
Their passion for art comes across through in their expressions and the excitement in their voices as they speak about their work.
They met in New York in 2009 and have co-directed at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, curated nearly 50 exhibitions and recently ran the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane.
Burns’ face lights up when talking about her favourite art work growing up: a large stuffed hamburger, which sits in the Art Gallery of Ontario in her home town.
‘‘They’re iconic to me and give me a sense of belonging,’’ she said of the artworks back home.
She wants people in New Plymouth to have the same experience when they walk through the Govett-Brewster.
Ultimately, they see their role as helping to build an attraction that is valuable to New Plymouth and the wider community, and brings people from all over to Taranaki.
‘‘We have a lot of work as council and as the gallery to do better at telling those positive stories,’’ Lundh says.