Report suggests city arts centre hits pause button
Some Invercargill city councillors and council staff were at odds over a recommendation to hold fire on developing an arts centre in the city.
At a council meeting yesterday, a report from director of works and service Cameron McIntosh was put before councillors suggesting the council put the arts centre project on hold while a strategic review of the Southland Museum and Art Gallery (SMAG) was under way.
In June, the mayor and councillors adopted 2018-28 Long Term Plan approving $9.5 million of council spending on a new museum and $6.3m towards an arts and creativity centre.
A concept for an Invercargill arts centre was developed by consultant Tim Walker from the extensive Art in the Heart community consultation process.
Several councillors were wondering why staff suggested the project should now be put on hold given that just last month they approved for it to go ahead in the long term plan.
Many councillors were also confused over what role the arts centre would actually play.
Chief executive Clare Hadley said it would be unproductive to recruit a project leader until the scope of the project was known, which would not be clear until the SMAG strategic review determined what role art would play in its future.
‘‘It would not be prudent use of funds to start from a flawed foundation about who is doing what.’’
Cr Karen Arnold said she understood the arts centre was going to be much more than an art gallery and she did not see why they should wait on SMAG to decide what it would do with its art collection.
Hadley said the advice from Walker was that the arts centre would be the principal base for art exhibitions and activities.
Cr Alex Crackett said she did not understand how the arts centre was encroaching on what SMAG was doing, and she thought it was a complementary, standalone project.
Cr Lindsay Thomas raised the concern that five major projects were being developed in the city, two council owned, and whether the city had enough resources to manage the construction.
‘‘I honestly can’t see us getting in excess of 500 to 800 builders to do five projects all at once.’’
Cr Thomas was of the opinion that the council should be focusing on one project at a time.
Cr Toni Biddle said if the city did not have a building to store the art or collections and did not start the arts centre or redevelop the museum, then the focus should really be on a resource for storage.
Cr Lesley Soper moved to receive the report saying it was a practical recommendation and the CEO had given the advice that it was the best way to proceed.
Councillors resolved to receive the report with an amendment that they received an update on the museum situation at the next council meeting and got clarification about the project from Walker.
No decisions have been made on how the museum will take shape, but the museum trust board wants it to be located in its current footprint beside Queens Park.
The council will fork out an additional $200,000 for each of the next four years for an interim museum presence in the city.
‘‘It would not be prudent use of funds to start from a flawed foundation about who is doing what.’’
Invercargill City Council chief executive Clare Hadley