A group that has supported Tauranga’s art gallery for nearly 30 years is now undergoing its own transformation.

Friends of the Art Gallery has voted to change to a gallery-led membership.

This means the incorporated society will close and Friends of the Art Gallery will be run by Toi Tauranga Art Gallery itself.

The group campaigned for Tauranga to have a public art gallery and raised $150,000 since it formed in 1996.

Tauranga’s art gallery, which opened in 2007, is undergoing renovations as part of a city centre refresh.

Friends of the Art Gallery chairwoman Sue Speirs said the society carried out a review which showed membership would be best served by coming under the gallery rather than the separate incorporated society.

“The committee is very excited about this new approach and the advantages it will offer. What better time to do so than with the reopening of the gallery later this year,” Speirs said in a gallery newsletter.

Toi Tauranga Art Gallery director Sonya Korohina. Photo / Supplied

Gallery director Sonya Korohina said when she first met the group in 2003 it gave her insight into another important role art lovers took on as promoters, fundraisers and champions for the creation of a public art gallery.

“We are extremely thankful for the generous 27-year legacy of Friends support, events and connection through art,” she said in the newsletter.

Korohina told Local Democracy Reporting her team would be able to deliver more membership events to a wider demographic.

It was a model followed by most galleries and museums, including the Tauranga Museum, due to open in 2028, she said.

The great thing was the existing committee would become ambassadors for the refreshed membership and advise on membership events, Korohina said.

Donations from Friends of the Art Gallery contributed to exhibitions, furniture and the gallery’s education programme.

Surplus cash from the society would be put towards new seating in the renovated gallery, she said.

The gallery’s new look

Tauranga Art Gallery is undergoing renovations as part of the $306m Te Manawataki o Te Papa civic precinct project in the city centre.

The gallery’s entrance would change and open on to the redeveloped Masonic Park, and a new interior fit-out was under way.

Seismic strengthening, lighting and air-conditioning systems would also be upgraded bringing it up to international museum standards – a requirement to be able to display artworks loaned from institutions such as Te Papa.

The renovations were the first since it opened. Architects David Mitchell and Julie Stout converted the 1960s Bank of New Zealand building into a New Zealand Institute of Architects award-winning design.

The main gallery closed in October 2023, and a pop-up gallery has been operating from Devonport Rd.

Korohina said internal structural work and steel were near completion. People could see the new entrance taking shape from Masonic Park.

Steel beams for Toi Tauranga Art Gallery's new entrance can be seen from Masonic Park. Photo / Supplied

Some structural challenges impacted the initial $3.38m budget and timeframes, but the project was on track, she said.

Construction was planned to finish in August and the gallery would reopen later in the year, Korohina said.

“This is a 1960s building and as everyone knows timeframes, for numerous reasons, can change.”

The gallery was working with Tauranga City Council and contractors to ensure the project progressed as swiftly as possible, she said.

Costs for the next phase of work were yet to be confirmed so the final budget for the renovation was unknown, Korohina said.

Funding came from Tauranga City Council, Tauranga Art Gallery Trust, the Tauranga Art Gallery Foundation, TECT and Pub Charity.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.