THE allocation of a further $2 million in additional funding for the $81m Cultural and Civic Space building to establish two permanent Museum exhibitions will be considered in Coffs Harbour City Council’s upcoming budget, following extensive debate by councillors at a recent Council meeting.

Two permanent exhibitions are planned for the combined Museum/Gallery on the ground floor of the Cultural and Civic Space building (CCS) which will be stimulating and interactive and be the centrepiece of the new Museum and Gallery, greeting visitors as they enter the new CCS building.

They include the ‘Stories of Coffs’ social history exhibition, and the ‘Welcome to Country’ Gumbaynggirr exhibition.

The ‘Stories of Coffs’ exhibition will present an overview of the unique history of the Coffs Coast, showcasing the Museum’s collections of historical artefacts, photographs and multimedia resources.

Council proposes to engage a specialist exhibition design company to deliver the two new exhibitions, with the estimated cost for design, fabrication, installation and related fees reaching $1,886,325.

This funding is not currently allocated within Council budgets, and the exhibitions are currently in the early stages of development.

Cr Paul Amos questioned at Council’s recent Ordinary Meeting on Thursday 22 April whether the CCS project will now be promoted as an $83 million dollar project, instead of the $81 million dollars recently quoted by Council as being the project cost, which was recently increased from the $76.5m initially quoted by Council for the project.

“Will our communications be updated to include this amount of money into the actual cost of the project?” Cr Amos asked.

Council’s Acting General Manager Andrew Beswick stated that exhibitions do not form part of building costs.

“The exhibitions are not considered part of the building and therefore they are not part of the building project, this is a separate project rather than a building project,” Mr Beswick said.

“Exhibitions are of a specialist nature and they change over time, and they were never included because they were never designed or known.”

Cr Tegan Swan questioned how many other further requests for funding Council should be aware of in regards to the Cultural and Civic Space project, and what these associated costs would be.

Mr Beswick replied that he was “not aware at this stage that there are any other significant costs”.

“We are not aware of any other costs at this time beyond the build costs, the $81.27m that Council’s already aware of and these exhibition costs,” Mr Beswick stated.

Cr Swan moved an amendment to keep the current Coffs Harbour Regional Museum open for as long as feasibly possible in line with the development of the new permanent exhibitions at the Cultural and Civic Space (CCS), and prior to allocating funds for the exhibitions, for Council to provide an updated end cost budget for the CCS project including all required expenses to have the project fully operational.

“We all know the history of how we’ve been going with this, but the reality is that we are at a point now where however we’ve felt in the past we are getting this building, and it is a really good thing to make it as amazing as it possibly can be,” Cr Swan said.

“The inclusion of these exhibitions is something that will be integral to drawing people in.

“What will really help is if we can just be really really clear, here’s the project budget, here’s all the other costs.”

Cr Keith Rhoades questioned whether Council will be transparent when it applies for government grants for this new Museum funding for the Cultural and Civic Space building, and state that new Council administration offices will form part of the building.

“The facilities are located in a new building that we are building which is within a Council administration building,” Cr Rhoades stated.

Mr Beswick replied that the building was first and foremost a cultural space.

“We don’t refer to it as an administration building, we refer to it as the Cultural and Civic Space building, and culture is at the beginning of that title because it is culture first in terms of the purpose of the building,” Mr Beswick said.

“Certainly the context of where these exhibitions are will be mentioned in some fashion in the application.”

Cr Sally Townley said she was a bit “shocked by the price” of the two new exhibitions, but believed that they were worth spending money on.

“I guess when we are proposing to get really high quality art exhibitions, interpretive displays, modern and contemporary, something that’s going to speak to the population, something that’s going to last for a long time, obviously it doesn’t come cheaply,” Cr Townley said.

“A really underlying theme of this building is going to be a really significant recognition of the Indigenous people in our area, not just in a historic sense but in a contemporary sense as well.

“I think it’s an extremely worthy cultural investment.”

The two new permanent exhibitions are envisioned to be open in mid 2023 within the Cultural and Civic Space building.

Construction works on the Cultural and Civic Space site have recently commenced and the building is estimated to be completed around September 2022.

Council voted five votes to two to note the Stories of Coffs and Welcome to Country permanent museum exhibitions that are planned for the new Coffs Harbour Regional Museum within the Cultural and Civic Space facility, consider the allocation of funding for these two permanent museum exhibitions within Council’s upcoming Delivery Program with $734,606 allocated in 2021/22 and $1,151,719 allocated in 2022/23.

Prior to allocating funds for the exhibitions, Council will provide an updated end cost budget for the CCS project including all required expenses to have the project fully operational, continue to seek grant and other external funding sources to support the development and delivery of the permanent museum exhibitions, and retain the current Coffs Harbour Regional Museum at Harbour Drive for as long as feasibly possible in line with the development of the new permanent museum exhibitions to allow for necessary preparation and logistics to reopen in the Cultural and Civic Space building.

Crs Denise Knight, Micheal Adendorff, Keith Rhoades, Tegan Swan and Sally Townley voted for the amendment and Crs Paul Amos and George Cecato voted against.

The current Museum building will remain for sale to help fund the $81m Cultural and Civic Space building.

 

By Emma DARBIN