Aid sought for gallery

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33815, 11 April 1975, Page 10

Aid sought for gallery

If the McDougall Art Gallery was to provide the services the community needed and expected then it should

he able to draw on a wider area for financial support than just the Christchurch

City Council’s territory, said the Mayor of Christchurch

(Mr H. G. Hay) last night. Opening the Canterbury Society of Art’s autumn exhibition. Mr Hay said it was important to realise that art galleries were no longer places displaying pretty pictures to be looked at perhaps once or twice a year. They were highly skilled, quite complex institutions aiming to serve vital roles of communication and education in a rapidly changing society. As the cost of providing services such as these rose to provide new and better facilities, more specialised staff and expanding sen ices mi there was a need for greater communitv involvement. Mr Hav suggested that, as for the Canterbury Museum, the entire province should share the cost. “We are talking seriously about the acute need to provide added gallery space for the many temporary exhibitions which are now available. This could well cost up to 5500,000 and we also need humidit' control in the existing gallery which will be quite expensive.” he said. Mr Hav said that, in his opinion, it was unfair that citv ratepavers should bear the full cost of these facilities.