City Gallery Wellington opens its doors

4 December 2009
City Gallery Wellington re-opened its doors in late September 2009 after a one-year building programme. Within the first month, it provided tours for Deaf and hearing impaired people of the exhibition Mirrored Years by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. It also worked with the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind to run a touch workshop about the exhibition Make Way: Regan Gentry.

Kirsty Glengarry, Education and Public Programmes Manager, City Gallery Wellington says her main role is to increase visitor numbers by providing high-quality programmes that enhance people’s experience of the exhibitions on offer.

“It’s all about relationships and sharing the gallery with all of Wellington’s communities,” she says. “If people come in and feel welcome, they’ll return.

“It’s definitely about more than physical access. People need to feel connected. By inviting various groups into the gallery for targeted programmes, I hope we’re building connections for the gallery to become a place for everyone; a place  where we can enjoy, learn, be challenged – and perhaps transformed – by art.”

Theresa Cooper, who is Deaf and received training to conduct the New Zealand Sign Language tours, says the tours were a big success. “City Gallery’s request for a signed tour, led by a Deaf person, was a fantastic idea and I was very keen to contribute. At the moment, I’m studying for a Postgraduate Diploma in Museum Studies through Massey University, and the skills I’ve gained from these studies were useful in my planning of the tours.

“It was wonderful to see Deaf people learning about the exhibition in their own language. A lot of people commented that they want to see many more signed tours.”