PRESS RELEASE

06 March, 2014. (No of pages: 1)

Lotteries Grants Great news for Northland

The announcement today by the Minister of internal affairs of two lotteries grants for Northland Projects is wonderful news for Northland. Both will have significant benefits to their local communities and to Northland as a whole. A new Museum for Waitangi showcasing Aotearoa’s most significant historic site and The Hundertwasser Art Centre project in Whangarei showcasing contemporary Hundertwasser and Maori art will significantly add to Northlands visitor product offering and enhance the ‘sense of place’ that residents can be proud of.

In an article called ‘Temples of delight’ the Economist (Dec 2013) explained that museums are no longer simply be repositories of history but they have moved to interact with their community and visitors so people can learn about themselves, the world around them and their place in it. ‘The statistics suggest that these new-look museums are doing something right. Globally numbers have burgeoned from around 23,000 two decades ago to at least 55,000 now. In 2012 American Museums received 850 million visitors…which is more than all the big-league sporting events and theme parks combined.’

The Economist also re-visited the “Bilbao effect”. The Bilbao effect has been used to describe the immense success the building of a Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, had for the local economy. The construction costs alone were in the order of US$100million. It was a very large investment for a City of approximately 350,000 people in 1997.

In its first three years the museum returned over Eruo$100 million in taxes to the regional government. 15 years later it was estimated to have added over Euro 2.4Billion to the regional economy and one million people visited the museum in 2012. At least half of those visitors were from abroad.

“These kinds of developments are no longer considered frivolous; they can be significant draw-cards and significant contributors to their local economies.” David Wilson says

Congratulations to the Waitangi National Trust and the Whangarei Art Museum Trust on their success today and the visionary leadership they have demonstrated for their communities, the region and New Zealand.

ENDS

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