Retiring Te Papa Chairman Dr Roderick Deane today said how much he has enjoyed his six years as Chairman of New Zealand’s national museum.
“The last six years as Chairman of Te Papa have been very exciting, and busy. I feel I leave the Museum in very good order, with not only consistently high visitation levels and a successful, vibrant and engaging short term exhibition programme, but also with a robust new emphasis on research and scholarship,” Roderick Deane said.
Under Roderick Deane’s Chairmanship the museum restructured and appointed four new Curatorial and Collection Directors to lead research, curatorial and collection management in the areas of Art, History and Pacific Cultures, Matauranga Maori and Natural Environment.
“These Directors are not only enhancing the quality of the exhibitions but also broadening and deepening the Te Papa’s research and scholarship functions and its publications programme.”
“I intimated to the Prime Minister as Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage in 2003 that I would wish to retire at the end of this term, in June. This gave us the opportunity to firmly establish these new research directions. The emphasis Te Papa now has on display of the permanent collection, in particular the visual arts collection, is a great triumph for the Museum. Te Papa’s art gallery visitation alone now exceeds 290,000 a year, and we can all be proud of that.”
“I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge all the support I have received from my colleagues on the Board and from the Management Team at Te Papa”.
The new appointment to the Chairman’s role at Te Papa is John Judge, who has been on the Board since 2000. He is the Chief Executive of Ernst & Young and has extensive experience in financial and related corporate activities. Dr Deane is delighted by this appointment.
“John Judge brings enormous experience to this role. His great passion for the arts, combined with extraordinary skills in business and financial management will give Te Papa strong leadership”, Roderick Deane said.
ENDS
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