ServiceIQ New Zealand Museum Awards: Finalists revealed

ServiceIQ New Zealand Museum Awards: Finalists revealed
Media Release | 8 May 2018

Eight expert judging panels have selected the 26 finalists who will contend for top honours at the 2018 ServiceIQ New Zealand Museum Awards. Around 300 museum professionals from around New Zealand will gather in Christchurch in May for Museums Aotearoa's MA18 conference, Outside Insights, when Award winners will be announced at a celebratory event at Christchurch Art Gallery on Sunday 20 May.

Says Museums Aotearoa Executive Director Phillipa Tocker, “We are thrilled to announce the 2018 shortlist of finalists. A huge thank you to our specialist judging panels, who carefully assessed the applications for their category and negotiated fiercely to agree on the final shortlists. Thank you too, to all of the institutions that entered this year’s Awards. The breadth of entries was extraordinary and it is a real privilege to witness the huge amount of time, expertise and professionalism that goes into these projects, in museums and galleries large and small around the country.”

The Awards promote excellence by recognising institutions who have developed outstanding exhibitions, programmes, products or projects, that exemplify the highest standards and innovative practice, engaging with diverse audiences. Award winners serve as inspirational leaders to the sector: they embody the membership body’s stated values of serving communities, developing expertise, research, mātauranga Maori and scholarship.

Service IQ New Zealand Museum Awards Convener, Tryphena Cracknell says, “This year there were a record number of Award entries, from all around New Zealand, testament to the high level of innovative practice in the sector. The judging panels had a difficult task in selecting a handful of winners and finalists but were really impressed by the diversity of exhibitions and projects; from increasing access, celebrating our histories, to finding new ways to work alongside and connect with their communities.”

The Awards programme is sponsored by industry training organisation ServiceIQ. Chief Executive Dean Minchington says, "We see a great fit with these Awards. They encourage achievement and celebrate excellence – as we do in on-the-job training across all aspects of our service industries, including museum practice."
ENDS
Full list of finalists follows.

ServiceIQ New Zealand Museum Awards: Finalists

Exhibition Excellence – Art
Hastings City Art Gallery
#keeponkimiora, Edith Amituanai and Kimi Ora Community School
MTG Hawke's Bay, Napier
Tūturu
Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, Auckland
Yona Lee, In Transit (Arrival)

Special mentions:
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
Shannon Novak: The Expanded Gallery
MTG Hawke's Bay, Napier
Yuki Kihara: Te Taenga Mai o Salome

Exhibition Excellence – Science and Technology
Kaikoura Museum, Kaikoura
New Normal - The Kaikoura Earthquake Exhibition
Pearson & Associates, Auckland
Brave Hearts - The New Zealand Cardiac Story
Otago Museum, Dunedin
Far from Frozen

Exhibition Excellence – Social History
Akaroa Museum
Revitalising Akaroa Museum
Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira
Pou Kānohi New Zealand at War
Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT), Auckland
Changing Gear
Waitangi National Trust and Workshop e
Treaty House Reinterpretation

Special mention:
Tairāwhiti Museum, Gisborne
Recovery: Women's overseas service in WW1

Exhibition Excellence – Taonga Māori
Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu
He Rau Maharataka Whenua: A Memory of Land
MTG Hawke's Bay, Napier
He Manu Tīoriori 100 Years of Ngāti Kahungunu Music
Otago Museum, Dunedin
Tūhura Otago Community Trust Science Centre
Tairāwhiti Museum
Kete Puāwai – Basket of Evolution

Most Innovative Public Programme

Ashburton Museum
MindPlus Kids Curators Programme 2017
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
Gordon Walters: New Vision - A Complimentary Discourse
Otago Museum
Extreme Science - Taking Science to the Chathams
Taupo Museum
Dog Show and Gallery for Dogs

Museum Project Excellence Award

Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT), Auckland
MOTAT Inventory Project 2016-2018
Museums Wellington
Flux
Otago Museum, Dunedin
Tūhura Otago Community Trust Science Centre
Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom, Foxton
Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom

Special mention:
He Tohu, Wellington
He Tohu: Signatures that shape New Zealand

Arts Access Aotearoa Museum Award

Canterbury Museum
The Bristlecone Project
New Zealand Maritime Museum
Knot Touch

Museum Shops Association of Australia and New Zealand Award - Best new product or range

Christchurch Art Gallery
Look Mum No Hands
Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira
Being Chinese in Aotearoa: A photographic journey
Te Manawa, Palmerston North
Santa's Cave Centenary Collectibles
The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt
The Pattern Project

About Museums Aotearoa
Museums Aotearoa is the professional association for New Zealand's public museums and art galleries and those who work in and support them. New Zealand museums and public galleries care for more than 40 million items relating to New Zealand’s history, culture and creativity. Generating in excess of 1000 public exhibitions and publications and attracting well over 12 million visits each year, museums and galleries are ranked as a top attraction for New Zealand's overseas visitors. New Zealand museums are actively focused on enriching their communities by enhancing the quality of their facilities, collections, programmes, products and services. http://www.museumsaotearoa.org.nz
About ServiceIQ
ServiceIQ is the industry training organisation (ITO) for the aviation, hospitality, retail, travel, tourism, museums and wholesale sectors. We’re all about empowering and motivating people to provide great service. This helps businesses remain competitive and New Zealand to be internationally recognised as a great place to live or visit. It also gives people working in our industries valuable skills and knowledge along with nationally recognised qualifications. www.ServiceIQ.org.nz
MA18 Conference: Outside Insights, 20-23 May, Ōtautahi Christchurch
http://www.museumsaotearoa.org.nz/ma-conference

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