He Waka Tuia Art + Museum has been granted an extra $57,447.63 to cover increasing operational costs. 

In a report to an Invercargill City Council Performance, Policy and Partnership committee meeting on Tuesday (December 8), group manager for leisure and activity Steve Gibling said the museum urgently needed the extra funds to cover increased lease and electricity costs and for additional front of house staff.

Additional space required for He Waka Tuia’s heating and ventilation unit meant the lease on the Kelvin St building had increased from $106,000 to $136,000 per year, he said.

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“Due to underestimating the power consumption in the initial project budget, the cost of electricity has increased from $8000 per annum to an expected $24,000 per annum. 

“Like any new service it takes a wee while for things to settle in and we’ve identified a number of issues that we think could improve the service for our community going forward,” Mr Gibling said.

The museum needed more front of house staff to cover certain times of the week when there was limited or no cover, as well as for breaks and unplanned leave.

Since opening on Saturday 12 September, He Waka Tuia Art + Museum has welcomed around 4,000 visitors through the doors. 

However, about 75 percent of these visitors visited in the first two months, Mr Gibling said.

The slump in visitor numbers in the third month could be because the exhibition had not been turned over.

The lack of front of house staff was adding pressure on the curatorial team to plan new exhibitions, Mr Gibling said.

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The short-term solution was for core management and curatorial staff to provide back up for about 9.5 hours each a week, but this was not sustainable as it took staff away from planning exhibitions, which in turn drive visitor traffic, Mr Gibling said.

The first exhibition, Choice, has been running for just over two months.

A new exhibition is planned for the new year.

Councillors also approved an additional 17.5 hours for the Exhibition Host roster ($7,920.75) and an additional casual role to cover sick leave and annual leave ($3526.88).

Councillor Nigel Skelt said he fully endorsed investing extra money into the project as it was an incredible experience for the community and the museum staff were passionate about their work.