Museums, galleries facing a dim future

Some of the country’s most beloved institutions are facing an uncertain future as costs rise but funding dries up.

The long-term uncertainty for galleries would be illustrated when they turn off their external lighting next month as part of a new national campaign, Keep the Lights On for Museums and Galleries.

Museums and galleries were funded primarily through local council grants and their own revenue, but lack sustainable, long-term funding.

While the sector displays and cares for the country’s taonga, some of the institutions are unlikely to survive the decade, Museums Aotearoa chief executive Adele Fitzpatrick said.

That includes some faced with insurance costs tripling in as many years, a stretched work force an over-reliance on volunteers, while those in rural communities were held together “by goodwill and sticky tape”.

But larger metropolitan institutions were also affected, including Te Puna O Waiwhetu/ Christchurch Art Gallery. “The whole industry is nearing crisis,” Fitzpatrick said.

The industry attracted more than 17.5 million visitors – both international and domestic – while generating $272 million towards GDP.

Tūhura Otago Museum director Dr Ian Griffin said the whole sector was struggling outside of Te Papa, the national museum, which received funding from central Government.

“Unfortunately those of us outside Wellington who have really important collections are really struggling.”

In Dunedin’s example, the city became wealthy due to the goldrush era and amassed a large collection which attracts interest not only in New Zealand but also from overseas. But that museum’s collection was “way out of proportion with our ratepayers to support them”.

Griffin acknowledged the cost to ratepayers, but said museums had been entrusted to look after collections well into the future “in appropriate conditions”. It cost about $9m to keep the museum operating, of which half came from ratepayers and the other half from commercial activities.

Griffin advocated for a national contestable fund where a panel could help decide funding for museum and art galleries. “I think that would make a big difference to what we can do as a sector.”

Another facing an uncertain future was the Wellington-based New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata.

Director Jaenine Parkinson, said: “It could be lights out for us, not necessarily today or tomorrow but in the foreseeable future”.

“We are relying heavily on reserves and goodwill. The future for galleries generally and our own institution is precarious.”

The $1.7m Switzer's Museum at Waikaia became one of the newest museums in the country when it opened its doors in 2018, but it wasn’t immune to the challenges facing the sector.

Museum and art galleries, where applicable, will turn off their outside lighting between April 15 and 25.