Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Good evening. I’m delighted to welcome everyone here tonight for this “sneak preview” of The New Dowse. It’s a pleasure to be able to show you around before the official public opening on Saturday.
Tonight is the first night of our celebration of the New Dowse. We have much to be thankful for and much to be excited about. Indeed I think this might be a night of some boasting, but I think we deserve it.
Saturday’s opening marks the culmination of many months, indeed years, of hard work and dedication by a lot of people, and it’s great to see so many of you here tonight.
Partnership and collaboration have always been distinctive features, of the Dowse, indeed part of its ethos.
The people here tonight have participated in these partnerships, have collaborated together to bring the vision of the New Dowse to life.
The New Dowse looks absolutely amazing. With gallery spaces on two levels, a learning centre, a café and gallery, and spaces available for functions and events, it’s barely recognisable from its former self. It has 60% more gallery space. In my opinion, an increase of this scale takes not only vision, but ambition and guts.
We now have the most cutting edge art museum in the country, an important cultural asset for Hutt City, and a major tourist attraction.
And with its new entrance across to Knights Road providing a new linkage to the CBD, The New Dowse will truly be the heart and soul of our city.
I am so proud to be Mayor of Hutt City, the city that is a partner in the Dowse. It is a jewel not only for the Hutt Valley, but also the wider Wellington region. No other gallery in this area can match it.
To see this transformation gives me in particular, an enormous satisfaction as a member of the Dowse Management Board in earlier years and my own personal interest in and support of The Dowse.
I want to acknowledge Tim for his outstanding contribution to the project. Thank you Tim for your hard work and dedication overseeing what was a massive undertaking.
I also want to acknowledge the hard work of the Dowse Foundation: Chair, Bob Moffat and Trustees Judy Bain, Rick Wells, Joan Smith, Ross Steele and Tony DeLorenzo. Thank you for your magnificent fundraising efforts.
Thank you also to the Friends of the Dowse for their support and enthusiasm. It’s heartening to know people care so much about the Dowse and are prepared to work with us to make it the best that it can be. Without the participation of the Friends and volunteers, galleries would be musty, fusty mausoleums not the vibrant, dynamic body we know.
The project has, in no small part, been made possible by the extraordinary generosity of donors. Thank you to everyone for your generous contributions.
I also want to acknowledge the generous financial assistance of the Government via its Regional Museums Scheme, established by the Prime Minister in her role as Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister. That the Prime Minister could be here tonight is recognition of her ongoing commitment to and pleasure in the arts in New Zealand and – at the risk of sounding self-satisfied - recognition of the status the Dowse has among the arts communities in New Zealand.
The Council has played its part, too. We are committed to providing residents access to arts and cultural facilities that enrich, inspire and offer a range of lifelong learning opportunities. The New Dowse is the most obvious example of this.
The New Dowse is all about creative partnerships, and the fact that this development was a partnership between the Government, Hutt ratepayers and community and business contributions is greatly valued by the city.
Much can be achieved through collaboration and partnership, and the Dowse is proof of that. Through the many collaborations that the Dowse hosts, it lives its vision of engaging creativity.
We are working hard to make Hutt City the best little city in New Zealand – or, as the billboard says, the place where you can have your Pavlova and eat it too.
The New Dowse has an important role in that. It acts as a focal point for the community, enhances cultural life and diversity and promotes public pride and community values.
It’s an exciting time for art in our city. As co-founder of the Hutt Valley Public Art Trust, I’m excited about the prospect of seeing public art sprinkled around our city. My next project and I hope to enlist your help for it.
My vision over the next few years is for art like sculptures to be displayed in public spaces, thereby increasing the public’s access to and appreciation for art. Watch this space! And those around the city!
To finish, I want to again welcome everyone here tonight to our celebration of the New Dowse. Please have an enjoyable evening and a safe journey home.
It’s now my honour to invite Prime Minister Helen Clark to say a few words. As always Prime Minister, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to our great city.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Prime Minister.