Only 7% of Council-owned art on display for the public to enjoy

The Taxpayers’ Union has revealed that local councils across New Zealand have accrued more than half a billion dollars of artwork with 93% of the artwork not on public display.

Explaining a recently released Taxpayers’ Union briefing paper on research looking at the public accessibility of municipal artworks, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams comments “while we expected local authorities to own significant portfolios of art, such as where councils run galleries or museums, we were amazed to find that the vast majority of works publicly owned are in fact hidden from the public.

"We found that many of the most expensive items are in mayoral offices or collecting dust in storage.

“Much of the artwork has been donated or bequeathed to the local authorities so that the public can enjoy it. But that's not happening. In addition, many larger councils designate an amount to be spent each year on new artwork despite only a tiny fraction of their existing collections being accessible to the public.

“Is it really worth holding onto such large portfolios when most are in storage gathering dust?”

Key findings from the briefing paper:

• Territorial authority councils (district, city, and unitary) own at least $568,393,020 of artwork, made up from at least 173,269 pieces;
• The amount of artwork on public display is only 7%;
• Auckland Council has the most valuable collection of artwork, making up almost half of the country’s collection at $276,981,903;
• Whakatane District Council has the least amount of works on public display, with only 0.2% of their $8.75 million collection on display for the public to enjoy

The Taxpayers’ Union briefing paper on research looking at the public accessibility of municipal artworks can be viewed at www.taxpayers.org.nz/council_art

Image: Richard Deacon's Nobody Here But Us on display in Auckland.

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