Gallery restructure

The proposed staff restructure of Experience Wellington which would see the City Gallery (CGW) roles of director and chief curator disestablished is seriously misguided (Jobs at risk in arts sector shakeup, April 16).

With no collection CGW is entirely dependent on attracting touring exhibitions and loans of artworks from other institutions and individuals. This requires forming and maintaining professional relationships across Aotearoa and overseas.

Without a professional director and respected senior curator it will be extraordinarily difficult to sustain these links and CGW’s credibility will be seriously undermined. The quality of exhibition and events programmes will inevitably decline.

The proposal that staff in the areas of visitor programmes, education, marketing etc will operate across the whole of Experience Wellington is also deeply flawed. Staff in these roles require knowledge of very different audiences and what might work for Capital E or Wellington Museum is simply not transferable to City Gallery Wellington and vice versa.

This can’t be brushed aside as an ‘‘internal operational matter’’. City councillors and Experience Wellington Trust members must not let this major cultural asset be eviscerated by a bureaucrat who clearly has no clue what is at stake here.

Priscilla Pitts, Alicetown