President's Column

President’s Column: December 2021

So, in so far as I can, in print, I wish you a non-virtual festive season, a real summer. May it be possible.

Read more |December 1, 2021

President’s Column: November 2021

Not all museums are public institutions like Te Papa. Some are private, the result of someone putting together a collection.

Read more |November 3, 2021

President’s Column: October 2021

Museum curators have to think carefully about items for a collection. In doing so they collect items which have ‘weight’. T

Read more |September 27, 2021

President’s Column: September 2021

Research is integral to the way museums operate. Each item in a collection is there with background research behind it so that the item can be a source of increased understanding.

Read more |August 25, 2021

President’s Column: August 2021

What being in lockdown in whatever level has shown us is how important the arts are to us. We can do without quite a lot. A walk is important but, after a while, doing without live theatre, live music and Te Papa narrows us

Read more |July 30, 2021

President’s Column – July 2021

Behind every art work hanging in a gallery or museum is a story, not just of the work’s provenance as such, but of exactly who it was that owned it and how they acquired it.

Read more |July 1, 2021

President’s Column – June 2021

As a national museum can’t do everything New Zealand is lucky in having many museums. Any idea how many?

Read more |May 27, 2021

President’s Column – May 2021

Does Te Papa have a place in preserving the ‘how to’s’ such as waka building, traditional Maori carving, and how to play knucklebones? Should Te Papa keep such ‘how to’ knowledge alive? They are taonga too.

Read more |April 27, 2021

President’s Column – April 2021

Open-air museums – what does one do for a whole town?

Read more |March 24, 2021

President’s Column – March 2021

What stories should a museum tell?

Read more |February 25, 2021