The arts, culture and heritage sectors in Tauranga will be receiving a $750,000 injection through the Tauranga City Council's Long Term Plan.

'Tauranga's arts, culture and heritage sector have really stood up and demonstrated the vital role that they play in the social, economic and cultural wellbeing of our city,” says Council Commission Chair Anne Tolley.

Through the Long Term Plan, the commissioners received a wide range of written and verbal submissions in support of arts, culture and heritage in Tauranga.

Council has approved funding for a range of projects that acknowledge the current contribution and potential the arts, culture and heritage sector brings to the city.

The new initiative includes funding for Tauranga Art Gallery and the Incubator Creative Hub, along with a new fund of $100,000 to nurture the local film and media sector that will be administered by the economic development agency, Priority One.

The film industry is rapidly growing in Tauranga. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

Council has responded to two more projects that seek to develop cultural and heritage centres.

"This will enable the community to engage with the stories of Tauranga Moana and connect with taonga that tell the rich cultural history of our city," says a Council spokesperson.

Ngai Tamarawaho, in partnership with the Pukehinahina Charitable Trust, received funding towards the establishment of a cultural centre at Gate Pa/Pukehinahina reserve which will focus on the New Zealand Land Wars, as well as a new heritage projects fund that has been established to help enable Taonga Tu/Heritage Bay of Plenty Trust develop a new heritage centre located in the Tauranga CBD.

A submission from the Western Bay of Plenty Museum challenged Council to improve community access to taonga in the city's heritage collection.

In the absence of a museum in the city, the Tauranga Heritage Collection will receive an additional $100,000 enabling the collection to be shared with the community through a range of pop-up and temporary exhibitions.

The Tauranga Heritage Collection, which is comprised of over 30,000 objects, is rich with taonga or treasures important to Tauranga Moana and includes artefacts of national significance. The collection was put into storage more than 20 years ago in anticipation of a new museum opening. Work on the collection has continued since it went into storage, and access to the collection is available through publications, displays and exhibitions and by exploring the collection online.

Tauranga Heritage Collection curator Dean Flavell with some artefacts. Photo: SunLive.

These new funds are in addition to the support that Council already provides to arts, culture and heritage organisations through the events funding framework, Creative Communities programme and various partnership contracts.

The strong public support for arts, culture and heritage initiatives in the city aligns with new data published this month by Creative New Zealand. The report shows that the participation and attendance of Tauranga residents at industry events has increased in the past three years.

The 'New Zealanders and the Arts' research, a comprehensive national study undertaken for Creative New Zealand by Colmar Brunton, showed that 76 per cent of Tauranga residents have attended or participated in the arts in the last 12 months.

Locally, involvement in the arts has grown by 8 per cent in the past three years, with Tauranga now above the national average for overall arts participation. The survey findings also showed that Tauranga values the role that the arts play in contributing to both the local economy, and to its wellbeing.

• 80 per cent of residents recognise the value of the arts in fostering creativity and over seven in ten support the arts being part of education for every New Zealander.
• The majority of Tauranga residents want their region to be recognised as a place that supports the arts and agree that arts and culture will play a vital role in the future of their region.
• 57 per cent also feel that the arts benefit the community by contributing to resilience and wellbeing and 54 per cent feel that their community would be a poorer place without them.

Financial breakdown for funding:

• $150k - Tauranga Art Gallery
• $125k ($125k plus $220k in future years) - The Incubator
• $150k - new cultural centre in Tauranga CBD
• $125k - new cultural centre at Gate Pa
• $100k - Tauranga Heritage Collection
• $100k - new funding for the film and media sector

Year 1 - $750,000 of new funding for arts, culture and heritage, with commitment to a further $220k for The Incubator across year 2 and 3.

The Incubator. Photo: Supplied.