Canterbury Museum reopens but faces job cuts

Canterbury Museum has reopened to the public but some staff are likely to lose their jobs because the Museum is short of money.

Closed to the public since the 22nd February earthquake, the Museum underwent full structural and seismic assessments before reopening at the beginning of September. The majority of damage to the building was non-structural damage to walls and ceilings and the repair work in the galleries has now been completed.

The Museum is the only neo-Gothic heritage building in Christchurch that has survived the earthquakes in good condition, largely as a result of earthquake strengthening carried out in the early 1990s.

Museum Director Anthony Wright believes that the reopened museum will help attract people back to the city centre, stating "I think there will be far more people that will be desperate for somewhere to go and come to the museum than people who are nervous about the central city. It is a privilege to be in a position to be the first of the cultural icons to reopen.

"We are very lucky that we have come through with relatively little damage. We are right at the vanguard and we can't wait to have our other partners back as soon as possible."

The February quake did not cause major structural damage to the museum building, and only 188 of the 1,200 objects in the collection were damaged. The non-structural damage to the interior has been repaired.

However, it has emerged that some of Museum's 75 full-time and part-time staff are likely to lose their jobs because of lost income during it's six month closure.

Wright, says funding from the Christchurch City Council has not matched a 20% increase over the past 10 years in the number of visitors who do not pay entry fees, adding "we have run budget deficits for the last five years, using our retained earnings to fund those in order to minimise the ask on the councils

"But we have now used all of those reserves and I guess it's all come to a head and we really have to take more drastic action."

Wright says an independent reviewer has been appointed to analyse the business and decide how many jobs will need to go

The Museum is the first of Christchurch's cultural attractions to reopen after the 22nd February earthquake. The badly damaged Arts Centre remains closed while the Christchurch Art Gallery will not reopen until next year.

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