In the year to 31 March 2009 we can report no new installation or other significant public event, but it would be wrong to assume that the Trust has been inactive. As you will read below the year was very busy with behind-the-scene organisation of significant public works of art for our city.
The Trust's finances have been audited and show a healthy situation for most completed projects. However, the Trust is not immune from the current economic climate and the rising costs of constructing and installing increasingly complex works, and it has some sizable deficits for pending projects.
Work Programme
The year was one of intensive activity relating to five major sculptures. Two were announced during the year with computer graphic images. One, the Wellington Gateway sculpture, the Hook of Maui, is to be placed on State Highway 1 towards the Ngauranga Gorge; the other, Regan Gentry's Subject to Change on the Wellington by-pass, Karo Drive, in the Te Aro area. Both these projects are very challenging.
Wellington Gateway Sculpture: The Hook of Maui The Hook of Maui is faced with escalating costs and, because of its location and size, with a number of technical challenges. Major work on fundraising, engineering and costings is continuing with a broad expectation that the work will be installed by or during the third quarter of 2010.
Subject to Change Subject to Change was delayed mainly because of legal issues surrounding site availability, but construction on the final site commenced after the financial year ended and is expected to be completed on 27 June, before the Annual General Meeting is held.
Other permanent works Two other projects demanding time last year are one scheduled to go on Cobham Drive as the fifth and final of the Meridian Energy Wind Sculptures (MEWS); and one to be installed on the waterfront just north of the Meridian Energy head office in the Kumutoto area. All going well both these may be ready for installation and opening this (2009) calendar year.
Four Plinths Temporary Sculpture Project Our fifth project involves the placement of temporary sculpture on the Four Plinths between Te Papa and Circa Theatre. This is moving steadily but slower than we had expected to its second phase. The current work on that site, Green Islands, will have been up for its scheduled two years in January 2010, when it is due to be dismantled to make way for another to be opened at the International Festival of the Arts in February next year. We started a round to select the replacement before mid 2008, and finished this by August, but the work chosen, which has moving parts, was proving more difficult to deliver in the time frame from both a technical and financial perspective and we have decided to defer it for another two years, for our 2012 installation. The replacement choice for 2010 has a very tight but manageable timeframe.
The vexed problem of vandalism continued during the year. The main object of this appalling behaviour continued to be Tower of Light on Cobham Drive. The Wellington City Council is planning further landscaping around the site to increase public visibility of the area around the base of the work; and it and the Trust have concluded also that there is no choice but to put transparent protective barriers around each neon ring. There has also been small but still disfiguring graffiti on Per Capita outside the Museum Hotel.
The total of such vandalism is minor compared with what it might be, with most of the sculptures being untouched from one year to the next, but it is still impossible to feel that any at all is acceptable.
2008 Annual General Meeting
Last year's AGM was held at the City Gallery on 18 June 2008 with an attendance of about 70 persons. The guest speaker was Mr Ernst Zollner, Director Urban Development and Transport at the Wellington City Council.
Financial Statements
The Financial Statements have been audited and copies are available. They show healthy deposits in the bank which as always mainly reflects the generosity of donors to specific projects in paying sums to us before we are required to make payments. A substantial part of this deposited money, and particularly the amount shown for the Gateway sculpture, is held in trust and would be reimbursed to donors if the artwork to which it is tied does not proceed.
Our statements also reflect the payment of $50,000 a year donated by the Wellington City Council's Public Arts Fund. This is the only regular source of income the Trust has and we again record our strongest appreciation to the Council for it.
Our financial statements should not disguise that fact that several of the projects we are working on still have serious funding shortfalls. Both the unannounced projects for Cobham Drive and Wellington Waterfront are underfunded to the tune of about $50,000 each. There is a need for serious fundraising in the current year to maintain our programme.
Our retained earnings, representing the operational money we have for administration and newsletters, are more-or-less in balance over time. It is into this area that membership fees and smaller donations are paid. The trustees wish to record their warm appreciation for so many members and friends retaining their support during this past year with little obvious activity to engage with. We hope your loyalty will be rewarded by a string of truly exciting openings and events over the next 12 months or so.
I especially thank Pat Sheehan, our Honorary Financial Adviser, for his work on the Trust's finances throughout the year and in preparing the Annual Financial Statements, and David Underwood for being the Trust's Honorary Auditor.
Vice-Regal Patronage, Trustee and Advisers matters
His Excellency the Hon Sir Anand Satyanand GNZM, QSO, the Governor General of New Zealand, has continued as the Trust's Patron. The Trustees warmly congratulate him on his knighthood.
Lloyd Jones resigned as a trustee during the year and I am pleased to advise that Mr Richard Nelson has accepted an invitation to join the board.
I extend my warmest thanks to all the other trustees for their ongoing and indispensible contributions: Vivien Atkinson, Murray Cole, Jon Craig, Helen Cull QC, Sue Elliott and Helen Kedgley.
Our Arts Advisory Panel is unchanged, and we warmly thank them for their ongoing contribution to the Trust.
Lisa Black our Administrator left us for full time law study and we thank her also for her contribution. We welcome her successor Amy Schulz.
Acknowledgments
In addition to those I have mentioned, I extend the Trust's sincere thanks for contributions of time and kind over the past year to • Roger Steele and Lynn Peck of Central Media for the provision of our office space and much other support. • Gary Stewart and his staff at Ocean Design for their unpaid services for all of our publications. • Printlink of Petone, who have generously agreed to meet the costs of printing our newsletters. • Ray Patton, of Clendon, Burns and Park, our Honorary Engineering Adviser. • The New Zealand Portrait Gallery for the use of their premises for our AGM. • Our major sponsors and donors, who are identified separately in this report.
