Tūhura Otago Museum gets half of its funding from local ratepayers, but that is not enough for full sprinkler protection. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Museums and galleries are up against the wall, and cuts and closures are coming if they do not get more support.
Most survive on local council grants and fundraising their own revenue, but sources of money are drying up and the costs keep rising.
A six-week publicity campaign is being launched on Tuesday to raise awareness and hopefully keep the lights on.
The New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata receives no core central government funding and relies on applications and grants to get by.
Director Jaenine Parkinson said they needed to fundraise from scratch every year just to pay the bills, with no guarantee for the future.
An exhibition at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata Photo: supplied
"A lot of people are chipping in with time and resources and good will and everything to keep us going, but we are frantically writing funding applications almost every day," she said.
It had become particularly hard with Covid funding ending with the cost of living crisis, as rising expenses and infrastructure costs put more pressure on a precarious situation.
Some are dipping into the reserves they had set aside for bigger, looming costs, and the industry was eating its future, she said.
"I've seen other arts organisations - The Pantograph Punch, our neighbours here, The New Zealand Academy for Fine Arts - where... they are one funding application decline or one building disaster away from not being able to continue."
It was hard to have confidence in their future with neighbours poised to fold around you, she said.
"It could be lights out for us, not necessarily today or tomorrow but in the foreseeable future."
She wanted to see a national strategy for the arts that offered sustainable funding.
On 15 April, museums and galleries across the motu will turn off their external lights to show what's at stake without sustainable, long-term funding as part of the keep the lights on campaign.
'Something does need to change'
Tūhura Otago Museum gets half of its funding - about $4.5 million - from local ratepayers, which helped to pay staff and cover some maintenance.
Director Ian Griffin said they had to cover the rest while grappling with a big backlog of work.
"It might surprise you to know that our museum isn't totally protected by sprinklers for example. Our collection, which is our taoka, some of the most important stuff that we've got, and there are areas of our museum that are completely unprotected by sprinklers.
"So if there's a fire, that could be an absolute disaster."
Their costs go up by 5-6 percent a year.
"Times are hard and finances are tough and the pressure on local council is going up and up and up.
"But it seems to me like we're facing almost a perfect storm where museums like ours work really hard to generate the income we need just to keep going, but the pressure on local councils mean that that's not going to change and something does need to change to make this whole thing more sustainable."
Museums helped to tell the stories of New Zealand, showcase history, who we are and where we're going, as well as contributing to the economy and nationally important research, he said.
"To me, that's one of the greatest sadnesses of all this because absolutely people love to come to museums to look at the old stuff.
"But actually it's not just looking at old stuff, it's learning from it and the education programmes and the research that we carry out on our collection, that's the stuff that will suffer if museums aren't funded appropriately."
'Museums and galleries perform essential roles'
Museums Aotearoa figures show 35 percent of all international tourists will visit a museum or gallery, usually about four in their entire trip.
About 17.5 million people visit museums and galleries each year, with the industry supporting nearly 3500 jobs, bolstered by 11,000 volunteers.
Chief executive Adele Fitzpatrick said rising costs were hitting hard with insurance costs tripling in the past few years.
"We're seeing some very, very small ones that have been able to pay people in the past, but have now asked them to stop taking salaries and so their people are now effectively volunteers, rather than employees," she said.
She hoped the campaign would show communities what they stood to lose and encourage people to support their local galleries and museums.
"Museums and galleries perform essential roles in our communities, allowing us to tell our stories, preserve our heritage, and better understand and interpret the world around us," Fitzpatrick said.
Arts Culture and Heritage Minister Paul Goldsmith said he was currently meeting with the sector - including Museums Aotearoa - in the coming weeks, before proposing changes.
"I want to be making informed decisions so the government can best support a thriving cultural sector, including museums," Goldsmith said.
"As in any portfolio, we have challenges to ensure we get the best results from limited government funds.
"However, no funding decisions have been made as they'll be part of the Budget 2024 process."