Whanganui arts continues to benefit from pattillo’s support

Media Release

Whanganui arts continues to benefit from pattillo’s support

Wellington-based consultancy pattillo is continuing to lend its support to the Whanganui arts community, announcing a $50,000 contribution to the city’s Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua.

Director Anne Pattillo said today her consultancy would contribute $10,000 annually for the next five years towards the programme for the Gallery building development.  As well, it will fund a thank you event to people contributing through the 1000 Stars fundraising initiative.

The new funding announcement follows a six-year commitment to the city through the pattillo scholarship for students at UCOL Quay School for the Arts. It was one of the country’s richest art prizes for students.

Anne Pattillo says she was keen to maintain the links with Whanganui when the scholarship came to an end last year.

“From my very first visit the Sarjeant Gallery and Whanganui have really got under my skin. It is a premium gallery with a nationally significant collection. I have got to know it through the work that we have done in Whanganui with the scholarship and I am keen to continue that connection.”

She says without community support projects such as the redevelopment of the gallery do not get off the ground.

“Treasures like the Sarjeant Gallery need the investment of government and local government. But the future of an institution like the Gallery is really nourished by the support and actions of people in the community.  I do feel like extended whanau of Whanganui, so this is my act of community.”

While based in Wellington herself, she says she is pleased pattillo is able to continue to show its support to the Whanganui region.

“This is one of those crossroad towns - the river meets the sea and it is an entry point to a new region. It is small enough that it can be intimate but it is large enough to actually do things of an international quality and that’s one of the main reasons I like Whanganui, because it’s here that you can make a real difference.”

The news has been warmly welcomed by the Sarjeant Gallery. 

Senior Curator Greg Anderson says this publicly acknowledged support from Anne Pattillo, a well know supporter of the arts, is a wonderful boost for the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua and its redevelopment efforts. 

“Anne’s association with the Sarjeant goes back to when we judged and hosted the first pattillo Scholarship Awards.  From that time onwards we have been in close contact with Anne and her team, so she is very aware of the nature of our exhibitions and public programmes as well as our desire for quality stewardship of our nationally-significant collections and Category 1 listed historic building.

“That Anne has chosen to contribute so meaningfully to this endeavour through a donation to the Redevelopment fund and also supporting our 1000 Stars fundraising programme, is extraordinarily generous.  Her donation to the Redevelopment fund will provide us with working capital so we can keep the project moving at pace; and also her support of those who give to the 1000 Stars programme will help us ensure that the contribution of these people is suitably acknowledged and celebrated.”

He says Anne’s generosity to the Arts in Whanganui is well-known. 

“ Aside from her scholarship sponsorship, pattillo assisted the Sarjeant to ensure that we were able to mount one of the most ambitious and important exhibitions we’ve had – 2009’s epic installation 1800 x 2 Whanganui by Bill Culbert, New Zealand’s representative at the 2013 Venice Biennale.

“Without Anne’s support we could not have achieved such a feat.  Her latest donation to the Sarjeant is yet another demonstration of her commitment to the future of the Gallery, this town and her understanding that Whanganui is a leading centre for the arts in New Zealand.”

ENDS

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