The mirrored facade of the Govett-Brewster/Len Lye Centre is a major tourist attraction in New Plymouth. Photo: Sam Hartnett
The director's role at the internationally renowned Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and Len Lye Centre will be axed - as well as about 12 full-time equivalent jobs across New Plymouth's cultural institutions - if a proposed restructure is adopted.
But heavy hitters in the Taranaki arts scene say the shake-up could be a good thing.
Part of a wider "transformation initiative" at the district council, the "cultural experiences team review" - seen by RNZ - captures the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre and the combined museum-library space, Puke Ariki.
Under the proposal - first reported by The Big Idea - 26 roles would be disestablished, six rescoped and 28 new positions created.
One significant change would be axing the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre director's role in favour of a new position - Manager Cultural Experiences - which would oversee all the institutions.
The gallery's current director, Zara Stanhope, was appointed to the new role late last year in an earlier phase of the restructure.
Other significant new roles were in the Māori and Pacific collections and exhibitions space.
New Plymouth District Council chief executive Gareth Green has pledged to save $10 million a year in staff and consulting costs, and the council has already shed a quarter of its senior management team and 17 third-tier managers.
He said the "cultural experiences team review" proposal was a continuation of that process and, if adopted, would result in efficiencies through aligning the institutions more closely.
"So, for example, some of those back-of-house things and some of those technical matters such as exhibition installation and design where the skills cover all areas.
"Another example might be customer services. We have customer services over at Puke Ariki and we have customer services in the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. And the way we run those different retail areas ... we can do that more efficiently and better by having them combined."
New Plymouth's Puke Ariki is an "integrated knowledge hub" combining the former library and museum. Photo: Puke Ariki Museum and Library
He said, if adopted, the restructure would unfortunately result in job losses.
"So bearing in mind we are still going through the consultation process, the proposal put to the team provides for about a 13 percent reduction in terms of full-time equivalent jobs and for a similar reduction in terms of the dollar count for those combined operations."
That equated to the loss of about 12 full-time equivalent jobs, Green said.
He was confident nothing would be lost by appointing a Manager Cultural Experiences across all the institutions.
"That's very much a leadership role. It's very much leading the combined institutions and bringing them together and providing that overall guidance and leadership of the activities.
"Each of the institutions will still have leaders in those spaces, which will combine into an overall leadership team, so they'll still have their own place in the world ... and their own expertise sitting within those spaces."
The late Len Lye with one of his kinetic sculptures, Storm King. Photo: Supplied / Len Lye Foundation Collection
New Zealander Len Lye was a leading kinetic artist and experimental film-maker who entrusted the Len Lye Foundation with the care of this works shortly before his death in 1980 and chose the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery as their home.
The striking polished-steel Len Lye Centre opened in 2015 alongside the existing gallery.
John Matthews was a founding member and current trustee of the Len Lye Foundation.
A personal friend and collaborator of Lye's, he was optimistic about the proposed changes.
Len Lye's Fountain III (1977) is part of the Govett-Brewster's collection. Photo:
"I think what they are trying to achieve will have a good outcome, because the people they have put into these various positions appear ... to be good quality and that's got to be applauded.
"The outcome should be an improvement in communications between council and the Len Lye Foundation and, ultimately, the public because they are the important ones."
Matthews said the foundation had raised reservations about the wide area of responsibility for the new Manager Cultural Experiences but was satisfied the identity of the individual institutions and their leaders had been retained.
Govett-Brewster Foundation chair John Leuthart - who was also a trustee at Puke Ariki - could only see an upside to the proposed restructure.
"What we are mostly supportive of is the potential to generate greater benefit both for locals and visitors through [better] alignment of the Govett-Brewster's programme and the Puke Ariki programme, specifically in relation to exhibition range, scope and depth and also the education services components and merchandise shopping components.
"So, we see those as big wins from alignment. So, it's not an amalgamation - it's an alignment between those institutions."
Leuthart was open-minded about the potential axing of a standalone director at the gallery and the potential job losses.
"When you align institutions like these two - which do work together in some areas but have largely been two separate silos - you aren't going to need the same level of staffing in both.
"So, there will be an alignment and there will be a reduction, but ... there has also been the creation of a whole lot of new positions that we think collectively will serve this community and our visiting community much better."
Both the Len Lye Foundation and Govett-Brewster Foundation have committed to providing greater support to the institutions to help with the transition to any new structure.
The internal consultation period for the proposed restructure ended 1 February. If only one round of consultation is required, the new structure is due to go live on 4 March.
