We use cookies to help us understand how you use our site, and make your experience better. To find out more read our privacy policy.
Play

00:00

/

00:00

Full screen
Video quality

Low 0 MB

High 0 MB

HD 0 MB

Captions
Volume
Volume
Hero image for Getting to Our Place

Getting to Our Place

Television (Full Length) – 1999

This 70-minute documentary provides an eye-opening view into the crucible that forged Wellington's Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The museum opened in February 1998. The fly-on-the-wall doco reveals the challenges of developing a national museum melding history, art gallery and commercial attractions. As political, creative and monetary considerations collide, the result bears "many of the hallmarks of a thriller" (NZ Herald writer Peter Calder). Included are tense stoushes about funding, the Treaty of Waitangi exhibition, and Saatchi & Saatchi's logo ideas. This backgrounder adds further detail.

We needed to have an identity that could go out there and work for us in the commercial environment.
– Te Papa Chief Executive Cheryll Sotheran