{"id":571178,"date":"2026-08-17T00:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T00:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/571178\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T00:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T00:04:11","slug":"council-spends-over-300k-a-year-to-store-art-unseen-for-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/571178\/","title":{"rendered":"Council spends over $300k a year to store art unseen for a decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rotorua Lakes Council is spending more than $319,000 a year to store, insure and maintain a $21 million-plus art collection \u2013 much of which the public hasn’t seen since Rotorua Museum closed in 2016.<\/p>\n

By Mathew Nash of Local Democracy Reporting<\/p>\n

The council holds 2878 works of art, including 1526 donated pieces, and stores 348 works owned by other parties.<\/p>\n

The council-owned collection is estimated to be worth $13.66m, including $6.9m of gifted works. The privately owned works held by council have a combined estimated value of $7.9m.<\/p>\n

Figures supplied to Local Democracy Reporting show the council spends about $288,627 a year on storage, $25,343 on insurance and $5000 on maintenance and conservation.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Rotorua Lakes Council community experience group manager Alex Wilson at a June 2025 meeting. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

The collection has not been publicly displayed at the museum since it closed for earthquake strengthening and restoration work in 2016.<\/p>\n

Council community experience manager Alex Wilson said opportunities to display more of the collection elsewhere had been explored but were not progressed for financial reasons.<\/p>\n

“The cost of the security and environmental control standards that are required was prohibitive,” she said.<\/p>\n

Wilson said decisions about the future management, display and investment in the collection could be considered as part of the next Long-Term Plan process.<\/p>\n

She said the council had not commissioned a standalone review of its art collection.<\/p>\n

Mayor Tania Tapsell said the museum\u2019s reopening would provide an opportunity to display more of the collection.<\/p>\n

\"Rotorua<\/p>\n

Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell announces the Rotorua Museum build will get underway in June. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

The museum building work should be completed next month, reopening in mid-to-late 2028.<\/p>\n

“In September, the museum building will be fixed, and work will start on our world-class exhibition,” Tapsell said.<\/p>\n

“The exciting part now begins as we complete the design and confirm which taonga and artwork will be on display.”<\/p>\n

Tapsell said she wanted more of the collection to be accessible.<\/p>\n

“What I hope is that these incredible pieces get to be displayed publicly, even if during temporary and changing exhibitions,” she said.<\/p>\n

She also acknowledged museums could not display their entire collection. She said any decisions to remove works from the collection \u2013 a process known as deaccessioning n\u2013eeded to be made carefully, particularly where items had cultural, historical or local significance.<\/p>\n

“I believe there is a very real need to protect historic and cultural artefacts, especially with local connection,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Keeping artwork in storage is a debate that has started across the country, and I\u2019m committed to reviewing how we can best protect our art and history while ensuring a return on this investment for locals.”<\/p>\n

Tapsell said that return could be social or financial.<\/p>\n

\"Rotorua<\/p>\n

Rotorua Museum under construction, February 2026. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

The council could not reveal who owned the works held on loan, citing confidentiality.<\/p>\n

Almost all scaffolding has been removed from the museum, with construction work expected to finish next month.<\/p>\n

However, the museum faces another major hurdle before it can reopen: a $7m-$8m shortfall in its exhibition budget.<\/p>\n

Fundraising is underway, including the Friends of Rotorua Museum\u2019s 1000 Friends campaign, which has raised $94,000 towards a $1m target.<\/p>\n

An Off-Broadway concert fundraiser is later this month.<\/p>\n

Tapsell said she would welcome opportunities to display works before 2028 if suitable venues could be found.<\/p>\n

“I’d love for locals and visitors to see nationally and internationally significant artwork in Rotorua and not just the big cities,” she said.<\/p>\n

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rotorua Lakes Council is spending more than $319,000 a year to store, insure and maintain a $21 million-plus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,2567,499,500,501,156,9001,111,139,69,135,1756],"class_list":["post-571178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-arts-and-culture","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-hamilton-waikato","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-politics","tag-tauranga-bay-of-plenty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}