More news for this week

Generosity boosts facilities for future

From City Scene, published on 28 October, 2007

Boosting our future - Facilities owned by Auckland City Council benefit from the support of philanthropic trusts that raise funds to enrich these places for all Aucklanders to enjoy.

Facilities owned by Auckland City Council benefit from the support of philanthropic trusts that raise funds to enrich these places for all Aucklanders to enjoy.

The Auckland Art Gallery Foundation is an independent charitable trust set-up in 2005 to raise $33.4 million towards the gallery's development. The level of non-government funding needed for the project is unprecedented for a New Zealand cultural institution. So far, the foundation has raised nearly $16 million for the project through community funding agencies and philanthropic contributions. John Judge chairs the foundation, which includes eight other long-term supporters of the gallery as trustees. "The gallery holds New Zealand's pre-eminent art collection, but the building itself is no longer adequate to meet the front and back-of-house demands that currently challenge its daily operation", Mr Judge says. "We are not just developing a building, we are creating a destination specifically for the enjoyment and advancement of art in New Zealand for many generations to come." The foundation will also work to develop an acquisitions and exhibitions fund to help the gallery secure and produce more ambitious international exhibitions.

Art treasure

Charles Goldie's Ena Te Papatahi 1906 is one of the national treasures on display at Auckland Art Gallery as part of the exhibition Hei Konei Mai - We'll meet again. The Art Gallery foundation will work to develop and promote future exhibitions, for the entertainment and education of all Aucklanders.

Literary treasures

Auckland architect, historian and author John Stacpoole (pictured right with Auckland City libraries' heritage manager, Teresa Graham and a Yeats' first edition, 1899 Poems) has donated two valuable collections of rare books to Auckland City Libraries' special collections area. A keen book collector for more than 70 years, Mr Stacpoole has built an extensive and priceless library that he would like to see preserved for future generations to enjoy. Mr Stacpoole is a founding member of the Auckland Library Heritage Trust, which has raised over $1 million since its establishment in 1991 to assist the library in preserving and making accessible its special collections. The trust's work includes digitising historic maps and photos of Auckland, and - with the assistance of ASB Community Trust - publishing Real Gold: Treasures of Auckland City Libraries, a book that features elements of Mr Stacpoole's donated collections. This will be launched on Friday, 9 November at the Central City Library in Lorne Street as part of an exhibition of the same name.