Museum senior science engagement co-ordinator Dr Andrew Mills said the showcases were important because they filled gaps in New Zealand’s education system.
"The funding that has been used to create a lot of the science showcases that Otago Museum has been delivering — that’s now gone. That’s been dissolved."
He said the latest Tūhura Tuarangi — Aotearoa in Space showcase tour was funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the NZ Space Agency, and visited 35 locations, from Bluff to Kaitaia, between September 2022 and January 2025, reaching a total of 130,307 people.
It provided hands-on space science, with the goal of sparking curiosity for STEM subjects and introducing space-related careers.
The showcase tour specifically sought out places considered "hardest to reach", with numerous multi-day outreach trips to remote communities.
"With the current coalition government, where there’s cost-cutting going on, I can’t imagine that there’s going to be new funding opportunities cropping up," Dr Mills said.
"It’s not feasible to run these programmes, not at this scale, unless we go to other funding streams, and those funding streams are far more competitive," he said.
He said museum staff were now investigating those options.
"I think there’s such a need for communities around Aotearoa to have science and technology and engineering and mathematics outreach to inspire that spark, but to not have that any more, or a significant reduction in that, it’s really sad.
"We provide experiences which are often things that can’t happen at schools ... We bring in chemicals and do explosions and stuff that schools might not have access to."
He said the success of Tūhura Tuarangi highlighted the strong demand for hands-on science engagement.
"Many of the children we engaged had only ever had limited access to hands-on science experiences like this.
"Seeing their enthusiasm and curiosity for space and STEM was truly inspiring," he said.
Dr Mills said the museum’s outreach and education teams were now feeling the pressure as a result of the government budget cuts.
"These projects are having a significant impact across New Zealand and at a relatively low cost, addressing gaps in the education sector that are being overlooked ... Unfortunately, these essential programmes are now drying up and not being refunded, and without them, a lot of communities and kids are going to miss out."
He said the team behind the Tūhura Tuarangi showcase was committed to continuing outreach programmes that would inspire students to engage in STEM subjects. But the government would need to do a U-turn on its funding cuts decision, to guarantee more programmes would be created in the future.
