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Toitu Otago Settlers Museum
Board
24 May 2017
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Reports
Toitu Otago Settlers Museum Activity Report
Department: Toitu Otago Settlers Museum
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1 This
report covers the activities of Toitu Otago Settlers Museum (TOSM) for the
period 1 March 2017 – 31 March 2017.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
That the Board:
a) Notes the
Toitu Otago Settlers Museum Activity Report.
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BACKGROUND
2 Not
Applicable.
DISCUSSION
Visitation
3 Visitation
at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum (TOSM) remains
strong into the second half of the 2016-2017 financial year. Over 234,000
visitors have been received at the museum for the year to date. This has
exceeded the annual plan target of 200,000.
4 Visitation
to the Dunedin Chinese Garden (DCG) has continued to increase. With 5,035
visitors during the month of March 2017, the total number of visitors year to
date is 43,222. This exceeds the annual plan target of 40,000.
Financial
Summary
5 The
financial results are for the period ended 31 March 2017 and includes the
operation of both TOSM and the DCG.
6 The
net result for the nine months to March 2017 was $347K Favourable.
7 The
financial result for TOSM was overall in line with
expectations.
8 The DCG end result is $27K Favourable.
Sustainability
9 Following
an energy audit and energy efficiency upgrades commencing in January 2014,
electricity and LPG efficiency has improved significantly. The greatest
decrease in energy use follows the upgrade of the building management system
(BMS) in the months of August and September 2016. The additional Seasonal
Specific Commission completed in early March 2017 contributed to a 35%
reduction in energy since 2013 and is reflected in the results.
10 In the first quarter
of 2017 the following energy projects have been investigated or implemented.
· Investigations
into turning off the LPG heating during the summer months.
· Commissioning
of the BMS including using free cooling in the Josephine Foyer to reduce
cooling requirements.
· The
Control Peak Demand avoidance system was commissioned to reduce electricity
transmission costs.
· Additional
limited commissioning of the BMS to further improve room conditions following
the 2016 upgrade.
11 January to March
2017 shows a 29% reduction in energy use compared to the same period in 2013.
Savings are similar to the previous quarters with a 28% reduction in energy use
compared with the 2013 base year. The reduced energy consumption is
expected to continue although with fewer savings over the cold winter months.
Summary of Activities
Visitor
Experience
Exhibitions
12 The Call to Arms
exhibition swap out has been changed in time for ANZAC Day. This is part of the
World War I five year commemorations. This year the display focuses on Ypres
and Passchendaele campaigns.
13 The Sketched in
Stone exhibition which opens in August and The Women’s War exhibition
which opens in October continue to be the focus for the collection and
exhibition teams. Background work is in progress for the Kāi Tahu
Migrations exhibition which is programmed for 2019-2020.
14 Smaller projects
include work on the Material Culture change-out in June and the change
of the exhibitions case and Disappearing Dunedin in the Twentieth
Century gallery which is scheduled for October – November 2017.
Public Programmes
15 Twelve public
programmes were held in March with a total of 254 visitors attending. The
Taonga Puoro traditional Maori musical instrument workshop was a highlight.
16 Tuesday Club for this month focused on the March theming
for iD Fashion, with Hilary Hunt author of A Passion for
Fashion, talking about the life of Lindsay Kennett who was a master
milliner in Dunedin.
17 The
iD Fashion talk featured a conversation between designer Donna Tulloch
from Mild-Red with Dr Jane Malthus. This was well attended and Donna
Tulloch currently has a contemporary piece in the Material Culture gallery.
18 Music Saturday was
well attended with Cassandra Scott (contemporary country singer-songwriter),
Bronwyn Halley (New Zealand singer-songwriter) and Abbey Wolfe.
19 As part of the China
Film Festival special screenings of the Journey to Lan Yuan were shown
as a pre-cursor to April’s screenings.
20 The Koru
International Play Group visited the museum for Race Relations Day. Children
from a diverse range of ethnicities celebrated while playing in the NZR foyer.
Education LEOTC
21 During the month of
March 540 students attended programmes comprising 300 primary school and 240
secondary school students.
22 Drama New Zealand
held their annual Drama Teachers conference at TOSM. Eighty five primary and
secondary teachers from around New Zealand attended the conference which was
held over Otago anniversary weekend. The conference was an opportunity for
Toitu to show the innovative use of the museum by local secondary drama
teachers and students and the creative and enriching use of process drama in
the museums social science programmes.
23 Secondary school
programmes included 70 students from Logan Park attending a Taonga Puoro
workshop presented by visiting musicians Horomono Horo and Alistair
Fraser. Forty drama students from Kavanagh College made repeat visits to
develop the theme of drama in museum spaces.
24 Members of the TOSM
team gave talks to a number of educational groups this month including a Year
13 History class at Columba College (The Women’s War), a university
class for History 401 (History in Museums), Cromwell U3A course (Journey
to Lan Yuan), a Year 11
History class from St Hilda’s (The Women’s War), and a
Year 13 Design class from Villa Maria College (Toitu’s Costume
and Textile collections).
Life Long Learning
25 Seventy students
from the University and Polytechnic attended programmes based on the Slice
of Life exhibition.
26 A
talk was held on Photos of Old Dunedin for a Port Chalmers Seniors
Group.
Partnerships
and Collaborations
27 TOSM
staff members met with the Ngāi Tahu Cultural
Mapping Team which resulted in plans to progress collaborative archival and
curatorial collaborative projects. The Cultural Mapping Team is part of
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. They are the group in charge of the Ngāi
Tahu Archives and the documents or images accumulated as part of the Ngāi
Tahu claim. Since settlement of the claim in 1998 the Ngāi
Tahu Cultural Mapping Team began collecting new archive
material that relates to the whole of the Ngāi Tahu area.
28 Museum staff
travelled to Gore to meet with Hokonui Runaka in late March 2017. This trip
focused on information gathering for a future temporary exhibition in 2020.
29 A
Chinese film delegation was hosted at the DCG and visited TOSM on 31 March
2017, as part of the wider Chinese film festival in Dunedin. The delegation was
shown a portion of the Journey to Lan Yuan documentary during the visit.
A brief talk was also given on the Chinese elements within TOSM displays.
30 The interns from
Germany continued to work with the collections team in the archives, costume,
and art stores. They contributed to the cataloguing of photographic portraits
in the collection system with the creation of over 400 records and also
completed the inventory of the larger portraits series.
31 Archives
New Zealand visited TOSM archives for a tour and overview of the system.
Sharing of collection knowledge and resources was achieved along with training
archives staff from other institutions about the TOSM archival holdings.
32 ‘Depositing
family histories in an archive’ was the subject of a talk at an event for
Southland Heritage Month, in Invercargill. This was a joint Invercargill City
Library and Archives and Records Association (ARANZ) event.
33 Middlemarch Museum
staff visited TOSM for a workshop organised on collection management Service IQ
modules. Although time and resources are limited, TOSM continue to support the
professional development of regional museums within the DCC area.
34 The collections team
have been in consultation with the University of Otago to discuss scientific
testing options for parts of the collection.
35 The collaborative
relationship with various University of Otago departments included a planning
meeting with the collections team for the Clothing and Textile Sciences museum
session later in the year. Expected liaison in the near future will include conducting
risk assessment of hazardous items in the collections store.
36 Central Stories
museum staff from Alexandra paid a visit to the TOSM textile store to discuss
various aspects of textile care and storage.
37 The
Collections Manager has been supporting the Ara Toi Project Co-ordinator on the
art work bound for the Shanghai Exhibition in May 2017.
Collections Management
38 Forty collection
objects were considered resulting in eight new acquisitions.
39 New shelving and
plan drawers in the art store and archives and are now being utilized.
40 Work continues on
the development of Collections Policy and Procedures.
41 Meetings with
external bodies have taken place throughout the month advising on the legality
and safety of objects; and disaster preparedness.
Conservation
42 Conservation and
dressing of approximately twenty Material Culture mannequins is well
underway for the exhibition later in the year.
43 Conservation of the
lithographs for the exhibition Sketched in Stone by an external
conservator has been completed and collection items going into this show have
now been conserved.
Archives
44 Photography and
cataloguing for the upcoming lithograph exhibition Sketched in Stone
continues.
45 The cataloguing of
the original diary collection has been completed. Cataloguing and re-housing of
the copy diary collection and sacred text collections continues.
46 Monitoring of
environment conditions including pest management continues and new LED lights
have been installed so as to allow a better thermal and pest seal between the
archives and the ceiling cavity.
47 Archives had five
visitors in March 2017 and 152 phone and email enquiries. Of these enquiries
seventy eight were considered involved and took longer than 30 minutes. Forty
five involved enquiries were new contacts. The other areas of collections
received eight enquiries leading to seven offers of donations for consideration
by the curators and wider team.
Commercial
Activity
Functions and Events
48 Functions held
included the Kavanagh College Academic Blues Awards in the Josephine Foyer, a
wedding reception, and an Expedia - Enterprise Dunedin round table event. TOSM
was also the venue for a successful Drama NZ conference held over a full
weekend in mid-March.
Retail
49 Monthly retail
revenue was up on last year at $17,258 and retaining a good margin of 46%. The
month included a two week sale period. The sale resulted in a good turn-over of
older stock.
50 The cruise ship
trade has made a noticeable difference to sales this financial year and
products have been purchased with this target market in mind.
Promotion
and Marketing
Venue Hire
51 A stand has been
confirmed at MEETINGS 2017 where the Functions and Events Coordinator will sell
TOSM and DCG venue spaces to national and international conference and event
organisers.
Radio
52 The current
temporary exhibition Slice of Life was promoted across the month on NZME
stations (Hits, Newstalk ZB, Coast) and MediaWorks stations (Breeze, Sound).
General Advertising
53 Advertising during
the period included the weekly distribution of flyers and posters to
cafés around the city. Generic brochures have been topped up and
distributed to hotels throughout the city. Otago Daily Times (ODT)
online advertisements included this month’s Summer Sale and the
extended Slice of Life exhibition. Other advertising in The Mix
and The Star featured TOSM events and exhibitions.
Media Mentions
54 Numerous articles
have appeared across various media covering a range of events and exhibitions
at both TOSM and DCG: 14 March, ODT - Selection thrills designer; 16 March, RNZ
- A stitch in time: Tapestry to depict NZ history; 10 March, ODT - Dunedin
Study receives research group reward.
GeoZone
55 Over the last 90
days there have been 2,222 profile page views of TOSM by visiting tourists to
Dunedin using the GeoZone travel application. Within the museum GeoZone
recorded 22,435 users during this period. Over the last 30 days the language
spoken by those tourists has been largely English (63.73%), followed by German
(17.01%) and French (7.86%).
Facebook
56 As of 31 March 2017
there were 6,762 likes on the TOSM Facebook page (up 12 since last report). A
post during March about the Slice of Life exhibition being extended
until 7 May reached 6,108 people. The Screenagers event reached 3,975
people; The Dunedin Study being awarded the Prime Minister’s
Science award reached 4,382 people and TOSM offering free #GigCityWiFi reached
3,225 people.
Trip Advisor
57 TOSM remains at
number one position of 105 things to do in Dunedin.
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Reviews
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Rate
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No of reviews
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Activity
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Excellent
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1,042
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á 74
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Very Good
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279
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á15
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Average
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18
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â 1
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Poor
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7
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no change
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Terrible
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1
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â 1
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From Trip Advisor:
“A Museum to be proud of Dunedin”
“I have been to the Toitu
Museum two or three times now and every time I have enjoyed the experience
immensely. The range of exhibits are highly interesting and most of all
relevant to us as New Zealanders and highlights our cultural roots to a tee. I
always like viewing the recent past and I think this is what makes...”
5 of 5 stars –
submitted by a visitor from Invercargill
“Great to look around”
“Lovely place to look around
and learn about the history of NZ and there is a great deal of things to view
and read about. Had a great time walking around seeing so many different items
on view. Bonus is the fact it is free as well. Get yourselves in there and
enjoy it.”
5 of 5 stars –
submitted by a visitor from London
“Amazing attraction new to
Dunedin a must see”
“Went to Dunedin and
stumbled across the most magnificent gardens ever, so well done and a must see
just down from the Dunedin Railway Station, it is so close to two other
attractions and easy to get to.”
5 of 5 stars –
submitted by a visitor from Brisbane, Australia
Dunedin
Chinese Garden
58 Otago Anniversary
Day was the public launch of Journey to Lan Yuan. It was a popular event
with an estimated 120 people viewing the documentary.
59 During iD Fashion week Shanghai models
made their annual visit to the DCG for breakfast.
60 A large
familiarisation dinner and tour was hosted successfully by the DCG for
seventeen professional conference organisers.
OPTIONS
61 Not Applicable.
NEXT STEPS
62 An increased volume
of visitors is expected at the museum and garden during April 2017. The month
includes school holidays and three public holidays.
Signatories
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Author:
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Jennifer Evans - Otago Settlers Museum Director
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Authoriser:
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Bernie Hawke - Group Manager Arts and Culture
Simon Pickford - General Manager Community Services
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Attachments
There are no attachments for
this report.
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SUMMARY OF CONSIDERATIONS
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Fit with purpose
of Local Government
This report relates to providing a public service and it
is considered good-quality and cost-effective.
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Fit with strategic
framework
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Contributes
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Detracts
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Not applicable
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Social Wellbeing Strategy
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☐
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☐
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Economic Development Strategy
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☐
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Environment Strategy
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☐
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☐
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☒
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Arts and Culture Strategy
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☐
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☐
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3 Waters Strategy
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☐
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☒
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Spatial Plan
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☐
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☐
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☒
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Integrated Transport Strategy
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☐
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☐
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☒
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Parks and Recreation Strategy
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☐
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☐
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☒
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Other strategic projects/policies/plans
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The activities included in this report support the Arts
and Culture, Economic Development and Social Wellbeing Strategies.
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Māori Impact
Statement
There are no known impacts for tangata whenua. The Museum
consults with and works closely with Kai Tahu through its Kai Tahu Advisory
Group.
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Sustainability
Energy improvement as outlined in the report.
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LTP/Annual Plan /
Financial Strategy /Infrastructure Strategy
This report is for noting purposes only.
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Financial
considerations
This report is for noting purposes only.
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Significance
In terms of the Council’s Significance and
Engagement Policy, the matters in this report are deemed to be of low
significance.
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Engagement –
external
This report is for noting purposes only.
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Engagement -
internal
This report is for noting purposes only.
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Risks: Legal /
Health and Safety etc.
There are no legal or health and safety risks related to
the matters in this report.
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Conflict of
Interest
There are no known conflicts of interest.
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Community Boards
There are no specific implications for Community Boards.
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