Trustees will ‘breathe life' into iconic hall
Seven founding trustees have been appointed to help drive development and promote use of Cambridge’s town hall to reactivate it as a premier local venue.
In December, Waipa¯ District Council established the independent Cambridge Town Hall Community Trust to help Cambridge and the wider community make the most of the town’s unique asset.
While the day-to-day running and promotion of the hall will sit with the trust, the council will retain ownership of it.
Thirteen applicants applied to be founding trustees, with seven appointed. Founding trustees are:
■ Maxine Nelson — co-owner of Ignite Arts Academy in Cambridge, strong community networks, vision and strategy, especially in community arts.
■ Mary Anne Gill — decades of senior communications experience across a range of sectors.
■ Jenny Cave — senior management and academic roles in anthropology, arts and cultural industries internationally and domestically, strong governance experience.
■ Kirsty Johnson — associate at Shelly Tweedy accountants with corporate and chartered accountancy experience plus strong interest in and experience of governance.
■ Rob Feisst — business and community leader with management, strategy and fundraising skills.
■ Antanas Procuta — architect and director of Paua Architects, community governance experience and involvement in the performing arts. ■ Dick Breukink — decades of senior hospitality sector and hotel management experience plus community contributions and business sector involvement.
The trustee roles are voluntary, although any costs incurred will be reimbursed by the council. A trust chair has yet to be appointed.
Waipa¯ mayor Jim Mylchreest said the Cambridge Town Hall was a stunning building with huge potential, but the council did not have the capacity on its own to realise all it could offer.
He was confident the trustees would do an outstanding job in bringing it up to standard, maintaining its heritage status, and reactivating it as a premier local venue.
“They are a fantastic bunch of very highly skilled people and I think they will have the enthusiasm and ability to breathe new life into the building. I’m very grateful they have stepped up to the plate and council looks forward to supporting them and seeing what together we can achieve.”
Cambridge Town Hall is a category two historic building and recognised by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
The hall was built in 1909 and originally used as the town hall.