A new 10-year strategy to populate the Queenstown-Lakes district with exceptional public art suggests tapping development contributions as a way to fund it.

The council-backed Lakes District Public Art Trust has overseen the installation of 14 public artworks across the district in the past 25 years.

The strategy — launched last Thursday — pitches one public artwork per year, till 2037, including three $350,000-plus public/private-funded works by local, national or international artists.

Also planned are two commissions of Māori artworks.

The vision’s for Queenstown-Lakes “to be internationally recognised for its bold, inclusive and dynamic public art that engages with our breathtaking environment by 2037”.

The strategy, written by local former Te Atamira Arts & Cultural Centre director Olivia Egerton, incorporates five pillars:

  • “Everyday encounters”, in which public art is positioned along a network of art trails linking Queenstown, Wānaka, Arrowtown and Glenorchy;
  • “Excellence that inspires”, in which the district becomes a world-class destination for public art;
  • “Understanding our cultural fabric”, in which public art genuinely reflects the full cultural fabric of the district;
  • “Public art for public joy”, in which it resonates across the full range of human experience;
  • “A thriving future”, in which a funding model that is ambitious, diversified and resilient is developed to support the trust’s commissioning programme.

The strategy states the funding model is the trust’s “most pressing strategic opportunity”.

Exploring the idea of using development contributions to help fund public artworks, the strategy states council’s existing policy provides an “established, if targeted, pathway through which qualifying public art may be funded”.

“Where growth in the district creates the need for new or additional community infrastructure, and council itself carries the associated capital cost, development contributions may be applied including, in the right circumstances, to public art.”
The strategy states a precedent already exists within council’s 2024 development contributions asset schedule, which identified a public art project as eligible for funding.

The trust is also mooting to attract 12 founding patrons by year two of the 10-year strategy, growing to 25 by year five.

Trust chair Deborah McCormick says “we want to be building up a quality collection [of public art] and if people have got ideas for works, then they should certainly get in touch with us”.

“We really want to be a cultural tourism destination with these pieces and for them to be outstanding in quality and really complement the beautiful scenery that people come to enjoy so that people stay longer, spend more and it all helps the region.”

scoop@scene.co.nz

 

[FACTBOX]

Head: 2027-2037 action plan

  • Establish 10 preferred locations for artworks by year one;
  • Evolve district-wide public art trail by year two;
  • Commission at least one project annually across the district;
  • At least one acoustic, kinetic or time-based artwork by year four;
  • Works in at least 5 townships by year five;
  • At least two developer-partnership works by year five;
  • Three landmark works, each valued at more than $350,000, over 10-year period;
  • Two Toi Māori commissions over 10-year period;
  • Opportunities for pop-ups, sculpture festival and public lectures;
  • Founding patrons to number 12 by year two, growing to 25 by year five; endowment fund established by year five.