Agenda of Toitu Otago Settlers Museum Board

Toitū Otago Settlers Museum Board

MINUTES

Minutes of an ordinary meeting of the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum Board held in the Otago Settlers Association Board Room, Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, 31 Queens Gardens, Dunedin on Wednesday 20 February 2019, commencing at 9.00 am

PRESENT

Chairperson	Phil Dowsett
Members	Cr Rachel Elder	Cr Doug Hall
	Cr Aaron Hawkins	Susan Schweigman
	Peter Smith

IN ATTENDANCE

Nick Dixon (Group Manager Ara Toi) and Cam McCracken (Acting Director Toitū Otago Settlers Museum)

Governance Support Officer Rebecca Murray

1 Apologies

There were no apologies.

2 Confirmation of agenda

Moved (Mr Phil Dowsett/Cr Aaron Hawkins):

That the Board:

Confirms the agenda without addition or alteration

Motion carried (TOSM/2019/001)

3 Declarations of interest

Members were reminded of the need to stand aside from decision-making when a conflict arose between their role as an elected representative and any private or other external interest they might have.

Moved (Mr Phil Dowsett/Cr Rachel Elder):

That the Board:

a) Notes the Elected or Independent Members' Interest Register.

b) Confirms the proposed management plan for Elected or Independent Members' Interests.

Motion carried (TOSM/2019/002)

4 Confirmation of Minutes

4.1 Toitū Otago Settlers Museum Board meeting - 7 November 2018

Moved (Mr Phil Dowsett/Cr Doug Hall):

That the Board:

Confirms the minutes of the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum Board meeting held on 7 November 2018 as a correct record.

Motion carried (TOSM/2019/003)

Reports

5 Toitū Otago Settlers Museum Activity Report

A report covered the activities of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum for the period 1 October to 31 December 2018.

The Acting Director of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum (Cam McCracken) responded to members questions.

Moved (Mr Phil Dowsett/Cr Aaron Hawkins):

That the Board:

a) Notes the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum Activity Report.

Motion carried (TOSM/2019/004)

The meeting concluded at 9.15 am.

..............................................

CHAIRPERSON

Toitu Otago Settlers Museum Board

3 April 2019

Reports

Toitū Otago Settlers Museum Activity Report

Department: Arts and Culture

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1 This report covers the activities of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum (TOSM) for the period of January – February 2019.

RECOMMENDATIONS

That the Board:

a) Notes the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum Activity Report

BACKGROUND

2 This report is written for the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum Board meeting and details the latest activities and KPI performance at the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum and Lan Yuan.

DISCUSSION

Visitors

3 There were 51,881 visitors to the Museum from 1 January to 28 February 2019. This represents a 7,674 decrease on the same period last year. This shows an overall decrease of 12.9% on the same period last year and an overall decrease of 8.7% year-to-date. However, the Museum visitor trend is set to exceed visitation target this year.

4 There were 17,310 visitors to Lan Yuan the Dunedin Chinese Garden (DCG) from 1 January to 28 February 2019 which is a decrease of 1,465 on the same period last year. This shows an overall decrease of 7.8% on the same period last year and an overall decrease of 8.9% year-to-date. The Garden visitor trend is slightly under target year-to-date.

Financial Summary

	Year to Date 28 February 2019
Revenue	YTD Actual $000	YTD Budget $000	Variance $000
Toitū Otago Settlers Museum	3,915	3,858	57	F
Lan Yuan	582	538	44	F
Total revenue	4,497	4,396	101	F

Expenditure
Toitū Otago Settlers Museum	3,805	3,901	96	F
Lan Yuan	573	549	(24)	U
Total expenditure	4,378	4,450	72	F


Net Surplus/(Deficit)	119	(54)	173	F

5 The financial performance for TOSM / DCG was 173k Favourable.

Visitor Experience

Exhibitions

6 Suffrage & Beyond: 1893-2018 – continues to run in the Special Exhibitions Gallery. The exhibition, which was opened by Dame Silvia Cartwright, marks the 125^th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand and coincides with the national celebrations organised through the Suffrage 125 project. The exhibition also explores the progress and change in the lives of women over the ensuing 125 years. Mid-way swap-outs of loan material took place on 18 February. Suffrage & Beyond: 1893-2018 runs until 28 July 2019.

7 Object.Affection: Dialogues with Ancestors finished on 10 February 2019 in the NZR ‘Bullnose’ Lounge. This exhibition was collaboration between renowned photographic historian King Tong Ho and members of the local Chinese community. King Tong Ho’s work reflects history through the interface between visuals (photographs) and the contextual (English and Chinese bilingual texts). The exhibition was presented as part of the commemorations of the 2018 Ten year Anniversary of the establishment of Lan Yuan – the Dunedin Chinese Garden.

8 Since November 2018 many of the Visitor Experience Team has been working behind the scenes on the Collections legacy projects. These projects include processing the Interim Receipt (IR) donations backlog, cataloguing and reorganising the Costume & Textiles store, and improving and rationalising storage solutions in the large First Floor Collection store. The legacy projects are proceeding extremely well.

9 The team continues to work on a number of ongoing swap-outs and updates to displays throughout the Museum; and to prepare for upcoming changes and touring displays.

Public Programmes

10 Seventeen programmes were held for the period with 491 attendees. Programmes attracting the highest number of visitors included Great Scots, Thomas Burns and His Vision for the City a talk held in the Auditorium on 3 February; and the annual Waitangi Day tour on 6 February, led by Bill Dacker.

Education

Learning Experiences Outside the Classroom

11 The LEOTC programme commenced in February with a total of 838 students visiting. Of those 541 were primary and 297 were secondary students.

12 Programmes presented in February included the Treaty of Waitangi; the Otago Chinese history and visits to Lan Yuan the Dunedin Chinese Garden

Collections Management

13 Good progress is being made on the large Collections Legacy project.

14 The reorganisation, seismic protection and cataloguing of items in the Large Object Store has been completed.

15 We have processed many thousands of items into the collection which are part of the six-year backlog which built up after the redevelopment of the Museum in 2013. Currently we have three more years of material to process.

16 Archive staff members have been involved in the processing of backlogged donated archival material; the photographic digitization and cataloguing of the Rockliff archive collection; work on archival items for exhibitions and change-outs; and continued work with volunteers in the photographic portrait and photographic album collections.

Mana Whenua Engagement

17 The Kāi Tahu Liaison Group quarterly meeting was held on 19 February at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum. Whakawātea and Taoka Māori guidelines; Whakapapa panels, Waharoa, Collections and Exhibitions projects were under discussion.

Commercial Activity

18 There has been an increase in retail revenue for January and February compared to the same period last year.

Lan Yuan – Dunedin Chinese Garden

19 The Ten-Year Anniversary Scholars’ celebration continued on 12 January with a talk by University of Waikato, Professor Martin Lodge, entitled - The Shanghai Sessions which was about the musical collaboration of international composers resulting in the publication of an English /Chinese album. The Scholars Programme culminated on 9 February with University of Canterbury’s Professor Richard Bullen discussing the history of the tea ceremony with, From China to Japan: The transformation of Taste in Tea Ritual.

20 A successful Chinese New Year was celebrated on 5 February 2019 at DCG in collaboration with the DCC Community Events team. The event commenced with a traditional Dragon Parade from the Octagon to the Garden and members of the public enjoyed entry to the Garden from 6.30pm with a gold coin donation. Chinese Consul-General Wang from Christchurch was joined by Deputy Mayor Chris Staynes, members of the Dunedin Chinese Community, and the wider community for a memorable evening of dragon dance, lion dance, cultural performance, food stalls and fireworks.

21 The annual Evening Viewing at DCG on 19 February celebrated the first full moon of the new lunar year. Members of the public enjoyed green tea, Chinese music, and lanterns, at the Garden between 7-10pm. The usual entry fee applied.

22 The Dunedin Chinese Garden Advisory Board bi-monthly meeting was held at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum on 11 February 2019.

23 For a full description of Activity undertaken during the reporting period please see Attachment A.

OPTIONS

24 There are no options as this report is for information only.

NEXT STEPS

25 There are no next steps as this report is for information only.

Signatories

Author:

Cam McCracken - Dunedin Public Art Gallery Director

Authoriser:

Nick Dixon - Group Manager Ara Toi

Simon Pickford - General Manager Community Services

Attachments

	Title	Page
⇩a	Additional Activity Information	20

SUMMARY OF CONSIDERATIONS

Fit with purpose of Local Government

This report relates to providing a public service and it is considered good-quality and cost-effective.

Fit with strategic framework

	Contributes	Detracts	Not applicable
Social Wellbeing Strategy	☒	☐	☐
Economic Development Strategy	☒	☐	☐
Environment Strategy	☐	☐	☒
Arts and Culture Strategy	☒	☐	☐
3 Waters Strategy	☐	☐	☒
Spatial Plan	☐	☐	☒
Integrated Transport Strategy	☐	☐	☒
Parks and Recreation Strategy	☐	☐	☒
Other strategic projects/policies/plans	☒	☐	☐

The activities in this report support the Arts and Culture, Economic Development and Social Wellbeing Strategies.

Māori Impact Statement

There are no known impacts for tangata whenua. The Museum consults with and works closely with the Kāi Tahu Advisory Group.

Sustainability

No implications although the principles of sustainability underpins all of the activity of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum and Lan Yuan the Dunedin Chinese Garden.

LTP/Annual Plan / Financial Strategy /Infrastructure Strategy

This report is for noting purposes only.

Financial considerations

This report is for noting purposes only.

Significance

In terms of the Council’s Significance and Engagement Policy, the matters in this report are deemed to be of low significance.

Engagement – external

This report is for noting purposes only.

Engagement - internal

This report is for noting purposes only.

Risks: Legal / Health and Safety etc.

There are no known legal or health and safety risks related to matters in this report.