August 2011 Contents 3: ED’s quarter MUSEUMS AOTEAROA ~ 4: South Otago Museum Te Tari o Ngā Whare Taonga o te Motu 5: Message from the Board Is New Zealand’s independent peak professional 6: ATTTO – Gateway organisation for museums and those who work in, or 8: ATTTO – Thérèse on Board have an interest in, museums. Members include museums, 9: ATTTO – A+ Awards public art galleries, historical societies, science centres, people who work within these institutions, and individuals 10: Christchurch: challenge and opportunity connected or associated with arts, culture and heritage in 12: Policy Matters! New Zealand. Our vision is to raise the profile, strengthen 13: Hearts for Christchurch. the performance, and increase the value of museums and 14: Museum Profile galleries to their stakeholders and the community. Staff moves Useful websites STAFF 15: Diversity in practice Executive Director: Phillipa Tocker FRONT COVER Membership Services Manager: Sophie de Lautour Kelly Clockwise from top left Financial Manager: 1: All that remains of one of the many quake afected Gina Lumplecker heritage buildings in Christchurch. 2: Exhibition space has been converted to temporary CONTacT DETAILS offices at the Christchurch Art Gallery. Level 8, 104 The Terrace, Wellington 6011 3: Snow in the hills of Karori for the first time in 35 years. PO Box 10-928, Wellington 6143 4: Demolitions are ongoing in Christchurch city. tel: 04 499 1313 fax: 04 499 6313 BOARD MEMBERS email: [email protected] Thérèse Angelo – Chair web: www.museumsaotearoa.org.nz Air Force Museum ADVERTISING Manu Kawana – Kaitiaki Nominee Enquiries about advertising in this publication, or mailing Te Manawa Museum flyers, should be addressed to the Museums Aotearoa Laureen Sadlier – Kaitiaki Nominee office. Pataka DISCLAIMER Eric Dorfman The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of Whanganui Regional Museum the Editor or of Museums Aotearoa. Jenny Harper Christchurch Art Gallery Michelle Hippolite Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Greg McManus Rotorua Museum of Art & History August 2011 2 ED’s quarter This quarter we have some updates and reports from Christchurch. The series of earthquakes which have continued to rock the region since last September have changed everything. The built environment is forever altered, people’s lives have been lost and disrupted, and much of the future is unknown. In other parts of the country we wonder what would be the effect if it happened to us, and whether we are adequately prepared for that possibility. Learning from Christchurch and new preparations for coping with disaster will no doubt continue throughout Aotearoa for many years, as will the recovery in affected areas. Museums and galleries have been attracting attention for their positive activities as well as for earthquakes, controversies and resource issues. Members who follow our fortnightly e-News & Notices will have read about Queen’s Birthday Honours for Museums Aotearoa Board members Jenny Harper and Thérèse Angelo, MA activities, and a wide range of events around the country. The recent Diversity Forum in Hamilton was an enjoyable opportunity to discuss the challenges and joys of bringing younger people into the museum as active participants. We have included a brief report in this MAQ, and participants are keen to continue this discussion at a future occasion. The National Army Museum gets into the rugby spirit with its Khaki & Black exhibition I had hoped to get through this edition of MAQ without mentioning the international rugby tournament that is about to take over the country – but it has proved impossible. There has been a spate of building and exhibition openings timed for just before the expected influx of tourists and foreign media visiting for the Rugby World Cup. We look forward to visiting the redeveloped Te Manawa, NZ Rugby Museum, Auckland Art Gallery, MOTAT Aviation Hall, Rotorua Museum’s centennial development, and Whangarei Art Museum, as well as the many special exhibitions and events that are programmed as part of the REAL New Zealand festival. By the time the next MAQ is published, RWC 2011 will be over and the country will be going to the polls for the general election. We’ll also be well advanced with planning for the MA12 conference in Wellington next April. There is a call for papers on the back cover – all suggestions welcome. Phillipa Tocker Executive Director 3 August 2011 South Otago Museum NEVER A WEEK GOES BY The South Otago Museum, in association with Noumea It is this monument that has been selected by an association based freelance group ‘In Memoriam’, are planning to called “In Memorium”, based in New Caledonia, to create produce an ANZAC exhibition in Noumea in October. exhibition content to contrast the social impact of the Great War 1914-18 on two communities, in two different “Never a week goes by” is the working title for ongoing public countries. The interpretation of the monuments will presentations in Balclutha explaining the exhibition in the examine symbolism of the figures and images depicted on lead up to the October opening in Noumea. The words are the monuments themselves. Three key themes are being an extract from a quote from the late historian and Gallipoli explored: the soldier; hope; and grief. For Balclutha, for veteran Col. Fred Waite. It was based on his observation in each theme, we are creating a detailed biography from a 1948 that, at that time, a wreath was placed on the Balclutha name etched in stone on the roll of honor in 1923. war monument on a weekly basis by grieving citizens seeking a connection with lost family members. These names include William O’Hara (chosen to represent the solider), who received a distinguished conduct medal in France in 1917; William Pennycook (chosen to represent hope), a Boer War veteran who went on to command a company of the Pioneer Battalion including his comrades from Otago Mounted Rifles and the Maori volunteers who had fought at Gallipoli; and the Youngson family (chosen to represent grief) who lost three sons in uniform. One in Gallipoli, one in France and the third as a reserve died from the Spanish flu in the dying months of the war. The mother of these three boys was given the duty of unveiling the monument on ANZAC day 1923. Research for the project has not only uncovered the full life of the ANZAC soldier, through the hundreds of pages of personnel files available online, but has been complimented by unprecedented support from the families of those named as well as the local RSA. The brief for the project to interpret the Social context of rural New Zealand in 1914 and then 1918 to a French colonial audience has created a rare opportunity to export our stories of pioneer endeavour in the South. More importantly we have come to realize the similarities of our two communities. Responding initially to the call from the “motherland” we found while “our men” were fighting for their very lives under unbearable circumstances that we, as countries, were discovering our unique identities. The official launch on October the 15th at the Infantry Barracks Noumea is of the French text version of the exhibition. It is intended that the entire exhibition with the French Pacific stories, including that of the indigenous Kanak people, will be made available to New Zealand museums in English in 2012. Gary Ross Curator, South Otago Museum The Balclutha war monument nearing completion 1923. The roll of honor is seen “without names”, Mr Andersonthe designer is holding the plans at left. August 2011 4 Message from the Board ERIC DORFMAN One of my defining moments as a three or four year It feels to me that what is happening in our museum is a old was watching a chicken hatch in an incubator at the microcosm of the sector as a whole. The raw materials are Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. The there and we have an increasingly sophisticated and willing incubator was in the café, so we were able to watch the audience. We are just beginning to develop the tools to hour-long process over lunch. Around the room were make important transformations in the way we think about model chickens – maybe they were taxidermy specimens interpreting what we have, and determining what we want – representing various breeds. to say about it. When it finally departed the egg, the chick was tiny and Buoyed by this spirit of positivism, I’m interested in working wet and its eyes weren’t open. I remember distinctly being with the other Museums Aotearoa Board members to told that that little creature would one day grow into one support enhancing its relevance and reach. I’ve enjoyed the of those chickens on the wall. That information somehow stimulation of contributing to the Ethics Working Group in awakened in me an understanding of the power of change, redrafting the Code of Ethics, which should be available for and of potential. I was seeing something not as it was at the review shortly. We’ve also made strides in realigning our time, but as it could be one day. I’ll always associate that membership structure, which will allow far greater access concept with museums. For me, it’s one of the fundamental to our services. features: the past not for its own sake, but for the future. I In the last issue, Greg McManus mentioned that MA is think it’s one of the reasons I’ve been attracted to a career supporting ICOM New Zealand with a joint MA-ICOM in the sector. membership. Work on ICOM NZ has continued, finishing the structure of the Committee, and preparing to give that membership the opportunity to elect its first formal board, on the way to becoming registered as a charitable trust.