FORWARD: CoCA UPDATE
April 8, 2011 – 5:37 pm by Andrew Paul Wood
Forwarding the latest CoCA update:
COCA Update: April 2011
The Centre of Contemporary Art gallery will remain closed for the next eighteen months to two years.
The building has suffered minor damage in the quake but much of the Cultural Precinct is now very badly damaged. We face years of rebuilding as a city before we can again operate in a normal environment.
Since the early 1880’s The Canterbury Society of Arts has played an important role in Canterbury and New Zealand visual arts. However in more recent years the gallery has struggled to cover its costs. Increasingly outgoings have not been matched by income. Seventeen years ago the Society was faced with the same problem. Faced with closure or sale of assets, members chose to sell all but a few of the art works in the permanent collection. The members overwhelmingly supported keeping the other asset, the building at 66 Gloucester St. The gallery was renamed The Centre of Contemporary Art and focused its efforts on raising money by hiring exhibition space and selling artworks.
With the establishment of the Christchurch City Art Gallery close by, The Centre of Contemporary Art has enjoyed the foot traffic and general support that the Cultural Precinct has provided.
The 22 Feb earthquake came just as the Trust advertised for a curator/director to lead the gallery into an exciting future. The intention was (and still is) to return to the ‘original objectives’ of the founding members and focus on the gallery’s core business, which is the facilitation of contemporary art.
The aim is to present the highest calibre of stimulating and relevant exhibitions that resources permit. The dealer aspect of the gallery compromises this and is to be deleted in favor of a broader more encompassing exhibition programme funded by a mix of corporate sponsorship and funding grants.
The aim is to be the most innovative, responsive and publicly engaged contemporary art gallery in New Zealand.
The quake of 22 Feb has dramatically shifted the city focus and shifted economic priorities. The plan is not feasible at this time and it is obvious that it may not be for several years.
While the gallery enjoys the security of being the freehold owner of a purpose-built gallery the cost of maintaining this in addition to staffing the gallery has not been matched by income. There has been a dramatic lull in art sales due to the national and global economic situation. This will be exacerbated by the Christchurch earthquake. To continue to operate as before is not an economically viable solution. Reliance on sales is just not an option when audience access is in doubt and to “rally on as usual†would inevitably result in debt and asset loss.
It would be difficult to seek sponsorship and support for the arts post the quake when the Christchurch City Council and businesses are rightly occupied with re-establishing the city’s basic infrastructure.
To protect The Centre of Contemporary Art’s assets at this extraordinary time the Board sees no alternative but to close the gallery and rent the space for a period of approximately 2 years..
There is no doubt of the artistic support in the community but the business community
is not going to be able to give the level of support that it would have before 22 Feb.
The trustees are committed to re-opening the gallery. The funds accumulated by renting the building will help establish a strong financial position to re-open and be a part of the exciting future of Christchurch.
If Christchurch is to both retain and attract people it must offer an intellectual environment that is stimulating, provocative, beautiful, challenging and fun and it must have venues and institutions where artists can present their work. The Centre of Contemporary Art has a significant part to play in Christchurch’s re-build.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU
Â
The trustees of the Centre of Contemporary Art wish to thank all those amazing people who have voluntarily given time and materials to assist us in the mammoth task of packing up and returning works to artists, documenting damaged works for the insurance claim, packing up the Centre of Contemporary Arts own collection etc etc..
We have been overwhelmed by such generosity of help and support.
Special thanks to:
David Wooding (artist)
Judith Taylor (Te Papa National Services te Paerangi Museum)
Ian Wards (Te Papa National Services te Paerangi Museum)
Peter Vangioni (Christchurch Art Gallery)
Lynda Wallace (Akaroa Museum)
Dan Smith (Akaroa Museum)
Brenda Nightingale (artist)
Sean Duxfield (Christchurch Art Gallery)
Lynn Campbell (Christchurch Art Gallery)
Neil Semple (Christchurch Art Gallery)
Chris Pole (Christchurch Art Gallery)
Tim Jones (Christchurch Art Gallery)
Scott Jackson (Christchurch Art Gallery)
Nathan Pohio (Christchurch Art Gallery)
Peter Bray (Christchurch Art Gallery)
Chris Pole (Christchurch Art Gallery)
Simon Lawrence (Christchurch Art Gallery)
Jenny Chen (Curatorial Studies Intern, University of Canterbury)
Jan Walker (Volunteer, Canterbury Museum)
Yvonne Hart (Volunteer, Canterbury University)
And to Wigram Air Force Museum for storing our permanent collection.
The trustees also wish to especially thank the staff who returned to assist. That has been invaluable and very much appreciated.
Tony Dann
Sarah Brown
Rachael Slade
Daegan Wells
James Grant
Melanie Riley
Nikki Wallace-Bell
We thank you all, especially knowing that at this extraordinary time, ours is not the only clean up job on your To Do lists.
Kind regards,
The Trustees of the Centre of Contemporary Art.
5 Responses to “FORWARD: CoCA UPDATE”
This is laudable and everyone involved in this effort deserve thanks, particularly the redundant staff who are now faced with an uncertain future. They deserve the special credit. Its certainly heartening to see the support of publicly funded institutions emerging for CoCA, albeit at this terrible time.
I still can’t help but think that closing down for 2 years (and probably more) is not a wise or very enterprising idea. It’s obvious to lease the building (what else can you do), it’s rock solid and worth a lot of annual income. A lot. But surely a minor percentage of this income could be deployed to lease a small office and employ a full time director (or whatever you want to call him/her) to start work on the re-building and re-focus process. This re-building is happening all over Christchurch in the private sector. There is so much good will around the city and country, funding relationships to build up, for instance a better website could be developed to communicate the new brand strategy and developments. Thats an essential now surely. Pop – up shows, and artist residences could be a start in a year or so. It takes time, and it also takes the marshalling of resources to hit the ground running. CoCA is and was not just the building.
I’m sorry trustees but waiting until everything is ‘back to normal’ isn’t the spirit that built CoCA in the first place. In 1880 there was nothing but a swamp. Working with those that re-build the city and influencing the creative opportunities that arise I would have thought would be one of the most exciting opportunities in the next couple of years or more. CoCA in it’s new role should have a voice at the table. There is the brand and history there to have a voice that carries weight, why not speak? Please don’t just be a landlord waiting for the difficult times to pass.
Finally after seeing the roll call of all those who have put their efforts into salvaging CoCa’s collection etc, the Trustees are not named. For those of us like myself (exiled) who still carry a torch for Christchurch and its culture and treasure, I would dearly love to know who the trustees of CoCA are. The website is now a funereal notice, and the Trustees are not identified. Why? Don’t be shy, stand up and be counted like all those listed above, and let the dialogue begin.
With the very best wishes for the future
Christopher Taylor
By Christopher Taylor on Apr 9, 2011
I forgot to mention. If anyone would like to contact me about CoCa please feel free. My e-mail address is: chris@eyecontactsite.com.
By Christopher Taylor on Apr 9, 2011
I applaud the comments from Christopher Taylor. As one of the most recent (Jan.18 – Feb 12, 2011) and a first time exhibitor at CoCA (hopefully not the last), I saw first hand what a great and unique institution the Gallery is.
The ‘Gus Fisher’ in Auckland possibly comes the closest to it outside of Christchurch but none can match the wonderful exhibiting space and marvelous record of artistic support in a community that CoCA has. A modest temporary location to continue the presence of the Gallery is a good idea and would provide a valid interim solution – businesses in Christchurch have done it. That’s a model for CoCA surely?
By Roy Good on Apr 10, 2011
So who are the CoCA trustees? Is it hush hush?
Or is it a case of having to seek discovery through the Freedom of Information Act? The terms of the CSA constitution seem to be being forgotten somewhere here. There are also quite a few errors above, here’s one:
“The gallery was renamed The Centre of Contemporary Art and focused its efforts on raising money by hiring exhibition space and selling artworks.”
I think if whoever wrote this had talked to the ex-director and staff they would discover that there was a hell of a lot more going on than this asinine description of the past 15 years.
.
By Christopher Taylor on Apr 14, 2011
Just read the piece in the Press about CoCA. I’m sorry Helen Calder but I think you and the trustees have got it wrong. CoCA’s PR is appallingly bad, and then the patronising comment from you that could have been written in 1990 is so out of touch. If you want to build relationships with sponsors and the business community, can I suggest you get going now rather than in 2 years time. More to come.
By Christopher Taylor on May 6, 2011