12th June 2020 By Staff Reporter | news@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
The Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery has been granted $18.4m in total from the PGF
The Government has invested another $4.5m in the Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery in Whangarei.
The money from the Provincial Growth Fund takes the total invested from the vehicle into the $33.2m project to $18.4m.
“The art centre is estimated to bring in an economic benefit of $26m to the region and more than 250,000 visitors to Whangarei annually, in line with the number of visitors the Hundertwasser toilets attract in Kawakawa,” regional economic development minister Shane Jones said.
“With this increased activity happening in the region comes an exceptional opportunity for job growth, and for economic, social and cultural revitalisation. There are currently 65 people working on the project right now.”
In 2018, the PGF provided $13.9m towards the centre’s construction, with completion scheduled for late 2021. The remaining required funding has been raised through a combination of local and other central government investment, as well as private donations and community fundraising.
Whangarei Art Museum Trust chief executive Kathleen Drumm, who is leading the project, said the centre would be “an iconic new cultural and tourism destination for Northland”.
“It will attract tens of thousands of visitors each year who will spend in the city and wider region, so the benefits will be shared by all.”
Drumm said progress on site was now back to normal after stopping because of the Covid-19 lockdown.
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