Museum would be run the way Auckland Zoo is, with ratepayers already paying most of its bills
Auckland Council has voted to take over the running of the Museum of Transport and Technology, the transport, aviation and science museum at Western Springs.
It would be run the way the Council already runs Auckland Zoo, the Art Gallery and the Maritime Museum, through its own company Tataki Auckland Unlimited.
The Council already pays about 86 per cent of MOTAT’s bills, roughly $20 million a year, out of rates paid across Auckland.
Under a law written specially for MOTAT in 2000, though, it cannot tell the museum how to spend a cent of it.
MOTAT’s own Board asked for the change in June, and the Council’s Value for Money Committee agreed on Thursday.
“This request for a new model for MOTAT’s future had the unanimous support of both the MOTAT and TAU boards, and the support of the MOTAT Society which originally established the museum,” says Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson, who chaired the meeting and moved the motion.
Simpson is also the Council’s lead councillor for Tataki Auckland Unlimited.
“I have been a fierce advocate for our cultural institutions, and my vision is for Auckland to be the best arts and culture city in the southern hemisphere,” she says.
The 2000 law lets MOTAT bill the Council for as much as about $35 million, and the Council has to pay.
It owns the land the museum sits on and appoints six of the ten members of MOTAT’s Board.
None of that gives it a say, because MOTAT is legally independent and its own Board decides where the money goes.
The museum is not closing and is not being sold.
Councillors voted that its name, collections, expert staff and volunteers must be protected, a line Simpson added at the meeting.
Council staff say visitors should get the same service or better.
The change is also meant to work within the money already set aside for MOTAT in the ten-year budget.
The Maritime Museum went through the same change, kept its name, collections and volunteers, and has broken its visitor record three years running.
What MOTAT wants out of it is money to fix the place.
Council staff describe “many uncovered areas, an ageing front entrance, unclear wayfinding, awkward surfaces”.
For the museum, the vote is a step towards problems its own Board has not been able to solve alone.
“MOTAT has been a strong driver of the move to a staged integration, which we believe will lift our financial performance and support future investment,” says Chief Executive and Museum Director Craig Hickman-Goodall.
“We want to maximise the number of visitors who come to our museum and enhance the incredible experience we offer.”
“MOTAT has been an important part of Auckland’s cultural landscape for more than 60 years, preserving and sharing Aotearoa New Zealand’s nationally important transport, technology, aviation and innovation stories.”
“MOTAT has an extraordinary team of staff and volunteers supporting the high-quality experiences we’re known for, among them the Aviation Hall, award-winning Te Puawānanga Science and Technology Centre and our very popular trams and technology in action experiences.”
The MOTAT Society, which founded the museum and has about 150 members, holds four of the ten Board seats by law.
It could lose them if the law changes.
Staff also warn MOTAT could lose some of the roughly $500,000 it raises in donations and sponsorship once it sits inside the Council.
“It would be a great outcome – with due diligence completed – to welcome MOTAT into the Auckland Council Group to both strengthen its proud history and protect it for the future, while delivering greater value for Aucklanders and visitors,” Simpson says.
Parliament will have to change or scrap the 2000 law before the takeover is complete.
Councillors vote again before Christmas, and if they and Parliament both agree the Council takes over on 1 July 2027.
