The $7 million three-storey extension — built on the back of the existing building — will be officially launched on Monday.
Waitaki District Council arts, culture and libraries manager Chloe Searle said the opening would include two events, a dawn ceremony led by Te Rūnanga o Moeraki and a Friends of The Forrester Gallery committee-led event in the evening.
Curator Anna McLean said the new gallery was ‘‘amazing’’ and a ‘‘fantastic addition to the Waitaki district, a place populated with creative people’’.
A name for the gallery extension building was gifted by Te Rūnanga o Moeraki and will be revealed at the opening, Miss McLean said.
‘‘Two permanent installations will also be revealed by the rūnanga.
‘‘The gallery’s collection will also include a gifted tapa from the Oamaru Pacific Island Trust,’’ she said.
The extension was paid for with external funds granted to Waitaki District Council and the Friends of the Forrester Gallery from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage’s Regional Culture and Heritage Fund, Lottery Environment and Heritage, the John Westwood Christie Trust, the Alexander McMillan Trust, the Stout Trust, a bequest from Ivan Hunter Main and extensive community fundraising by the Friends of the Forrester.
The gallery has been closed to be fitted out since March 1.
