Temporary home found for museum
AN INNERCITY building being leased by the Southland Museum and Art Gallery (SMAG) Trust Board will act as ‘‘more of a hub’’ in the city centre than a museum.
On Thursday, the board agreed to lease the building on the corner of Kelvin and Don Sts to act as a temporary museum. However, the new project would have a ‘‘different philosophy’’ than the traditional museum, trust board chairwoman Toni Biddle said.
The project, named Awhi Rito, was a collaborative effort with the Invercargill Public Art Gallery (IPAG) to ‘‘embrace new growth’’ in Invercargill, she said.
‘‘That’s what we’re basing the philosophy on for the project, it’s really collaboration and wrapping around cultural art and heritage so Invercargill still has that, or else there would be nothing.’’
The new building would be ‘‘very experimental’’ for how a redeveloped museum would run in the future, she said.
‘‘Not a mini museum, not a mini SMAG, but very much a place to engage and interact.’’
The earthquakeprone museum was closed in April due to staff and public safety concerns.
‘‘It’s quite exciting, for the community more importantly, because we will have culture and heritage in our community, and it’s been a long time.
‘‘I just wish we could have done it earlier. It’s genuinely been a really hard task to find a suitable building,’’ she said.
It was ‘‘yet to be decided’’ which SMAG exhibitions would be used in the new building.
‘‘There will definitely be exhibitions that showcase our collection but we have to make sure that the collection items can safely be transferred to this particular building.’’
Staff were ‘‘chomping at the bit’’ to begin collaboration, but IPAG still had to formally adopt the decision.
The building provided an exhibition space of up to 400sq m and could accommodate up to 118 people.
Alterations to the existing layout would be necessary, but the board hoped to open the museum early next year, Ms Biddle said.
The board yesterday announced the appointment of Gore heritage projects officer David Luoni as the new manager of the museum.