{"id":620088,"date":"2026-10-04T06:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T06:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/620088\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T06:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T06:26:07","slug":"whangarei-art-museum-to-move-into-hundertwasser-art-centre-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/620088\/","title":{"rendered":"Whang\u0101rei Art Museum to move into Hundertwasser Art Centre building"},"content":{"rendered":"

The council provided a further $480,000 for operational losses this financial year, but said the funding would end<\/a> on June 30, 2027.<\/p>\n

The council also funds just under $800,000 a year to the Whang\u0101rei Art Museum in grants and rent concessions<\/a>. That support will continue.<\/p>\n

Trust chairman Bill Shepherd said both organisations had made changes to save money but a major change was needed<\/a> to address the $480,000 revenue drop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the council says we\u2019ve got to take nearly half a million dollars of revenue out of the equation, quite clearly small changes around the edges are not going to change that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re operating a business of under $3m in revenue<\/a> \u2013 if you take half a million out, it\u2019s got to take some serious changes to allow for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe now iconic Hundertwasser Art Centre will soon house three art exhibitions as the it merges with Whang\u0101rei Art Museum. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Shepherd said a new chief executive would be appointed to lead the integration and manage the combined entity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

No changes would be made to other staff roles until the new chief executive started, likely in the new year, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re giving our staff as long a lead-in time as we can. We understand that people have families and mortgages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shepherd said the trust had considered other options, including changing its ownership, because its status as a council-controlled organisation made it ineligible for many grants. <\/p>\n

But he said council ownership on behalf remained the appropriate structure.<\/p>\n

\"Whang\u0101reiWhang\u0101rei Art Trust chairman Bill Shepherd says the merger of Whang\u0101rei Art Museum and the Hundertwasser Art Centre would address a drastic fall in revenue when the council grants end. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Hundertwasser building will have richer visitor experience<\/p>\n

Moving the Whang\u0101rei Art Museum exhibitions to the Hundertwasser building would free-up high-value Town Basin real estate<\/a> worth $230,000 a year in rental income to the council, Shepherd said.<\/p>\n

The museum\u2019s art collection<\/a> would remain in its storage, where special racks and climate control protected the artwork, he said.<\/p>\n

Alongside financial benefits, the merger would offer a richer visitor experience in the now-iconic Hundertwasser building<\/a>, Shepherd said.<\/p>\n

The Hundertwasser Art Centre displays artworks by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, on loan from the Hundertwasser Foundation in Vienna, alongside changing exhibitions in the Wairau M\u0101ori Art Gallery.<\/p>\n

Accommodating the Whang\u0101rei Art Museum\u2019s revolving exhibitions would involve considerable rearrangement, to be overseen by the new chief executive, Shepherd said.<\/p>\n

\"Whang\u0101reiWhang\u0101rei Art Museum will no longer exhibit in its own space in The Hub in the Town Basin, but behind-the-scenes art storage will remain. Photo \/ Denise Piper<\/p>\n

But it was important the art museum kept its own unique exhibitions, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFitting three exhibitions into a space currently occupied by two exhibitions will require careful consideration. We are working very closely with all parties, in particular the Wairau M\u0101ori Art Gallery\u2019s staff and board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shepherd said the Hundertwasser Art Centre had attracted more than 200,000 visitors in its first four years despite the challenges posed by Covid lockdowns and state highway closures<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It had become a critical asset to Northland\u2019s economy and culture, with Northland NZ estimating the centre\u2019s ongoing economic impact at $7m a year, he said.<\/p>\n

Shepherd said the council had funded just $2.9m of the centre\u2019s $33.5m construction cost, with the rest coming from private donors and the Provincial Growth Fund.<\/p>\n

From the centre\u2019s opening in 2022 to September this year, the council had contributed about $1.17m towards operating costs, he said.<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The council provided a further $480,000 for operational losses this financial year, but said the funding would end…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1228,442,498,499,500,4496,674,1550,501,156,115153,296,114714,300,2683,3586,111,139,69,11590,61,1869,1533,102],"class_list":["post-620088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-art","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-attempt","tag-building","tag-centre","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-hundertwasser","tag-into","tag-merge","tag-money","tag-move","tag-museum","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-save","tag-to","tag-whangrei","tag-will","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620088","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=620088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}