Tauranga Art Gallery - Toi Tauranga

Gallery director resigns - 23 Nov 2009

Tauranga Art Gallery director, Richard Arlidge, resigns from the gallery at the end of this month to establish his own art gallery and museum consultancy after six years of heading the region’s first public art gallery.

Richard came to Tauranga in 2003 to take up the position of project manager and director of the then Tauranga Art Gallery Trust Project, and to establish the vision of a fully professional public art gallery.

"Tauranga was one of the only major centres in New Zealand with no art gallery or museum, and therefore had no institutions of collective cultural memory,” says Richard. “Tauranga was the missing link in the cultural landscape of New Zealand.”

The former BNZ building on Willow Street was purchased by The Tauranga Art Gallery Trust in 1999 for the purpose of converting to a public art gallery, and Richard secured further funding and commitment to ongoing operational security, to launch the project.

Mitchell and Stout Architects were appointed to develop the two-story building into the gallery, retaining many of its stately features such as vault, banking hall, columns and outer tiles. The building has since been recognised in the regional and national New Zealand Institute of Architecture Awards.

Since opening in October 2007, the gallery has hosted over 40 exhibitions of historical, modern and contemporary art in a wide range of media.

“I especially liked Jim Cooper’s Sergeant P exhibition, the Edward Bullmore retrospective, Mark Braunias’ Visual Bank and Julia Morison’s Myriorama,” says Richard. “And The Captain has been a real journey for all of us here to put together. It’s been exciting uncovering artworks, statues and all manner of material on James Cook, and drawing them together into one exhibition, from all over the country.”

The most rewarding aspect of Richard’s job has been the gallery’s involvement with the schools.

“Seeing the school children engage with real artworks has been hugely rewarding,” he says. “That and the support from the local community.”

The gallery holds a contract with the Ministry of Education to provide an Education Outside the Classroom learning experience for students at all levels, with programmes designed around the current exhibitions.

The gallery has also hosted a diverse range of performing arts over the past year, under the banner of the Arts On Tour New Zealand, firmly securing the gallery as the cultural hub of Tauranga.

“Never stop learning,” says Richard. “I encourage everyone to engage with what an art gallery has to offer. That can only be achieved with continuous engagement with the arts, and taking part in the visitor programmes around them.”

Richard says he is spending the summer exploring the peaks and valleys of the Southern Alps and establishing his gallery and museum consultancy service.