The Whakatāne Museum and Research Centre has now closed in preparation for the upcoming redevelopment of the facility.
Hamish Pettengell, Team Leader Museum and Arts, says the closure marks a milestone in the redevelopment and will allow staff to focus on auditing and temporarily rehousing the collection. “This very much closes a chapter in the history of the Whakatāne Museum,” he says, “and a new chapter is about to begin. One of the most important aspects is mitigating any risk to the collection. All items in the collection must be rehoused by May and some parts of it relocated by June so that construction can begin and, as the collection contains many large and fragile objects, there is a huge amount of work to be done.”
The Boon Street building was built in 1972 and was extended in 1976 and again in 1991. Then in 2012, following the opening of Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi – the Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre – the building’s primary focus was to provide for the long-term preservation of the collections and for improved community access and research services, all key aspects of the redevelopment plan.
“The collection held in the building is of national and regional importance,” Mr Pettengell says, “and it is vital that it is housed properly and that the public have adequate access. The redevelopment will see a southern extension built into Burgess Park and the existing building upgraded. This will create a new community facility which will house a public research centre and improved access to the Museum’s rich collections; a multifunctional education space; and deliver climate control for the Museum Collection, ensuring its preservation for the future. Registrations of interest for the construction of the new facility closed in March, and tenders will now be called for the $5 million project. That means we are on track to start construction of this crucial cultural asset by the middle of this year.”
Mr Pettengell says that the Whakatāne Museum Research Centre will remain closed until the redevelopment is completed in mid-2018. During that time, research services will be unavailable and there will be a moratorium on donations to the collection, but the photographic collection will still be available at Te Kōputu, and the Museum will continue to process photographic requests as time and resources allow.