Crs to consider costs as museum prepares to spread its wings

With space for just 3.5 per cent of its collection to be displayed in its current location, the Coffs Harbour Regional Museum is looking forward to spreading its wings in the Cultural and Civic Space.

With space for just 3.5 per cent of its collection to be displayed, the Coffs Harbour Regional Museum is looking forward to spreading its wings in the Cultural and Civic Space (CCS).

Like many of the other votes on the CCS, which will house a new art gallery and council offices in addition to the new museum, the recent vote on building tenders did not go smoothly.

On March 4, a rescission motion which would have effectively stalled the project was voted down meaning the motion from the previous week- to proceed with the build - was carried forward.

There were opposing protests outside the chambers with those against it carrying a coffin proclaiming the death of democracy and those for dressed in green, carrying green ticks of approval.

Protesters for the Cultural and Civic Space prior to the March 4 extraordinary meeting.

Coffs Harbour Mayor Councillor Denise Knight has been one of the four Councillors passionately behind the project. The others who have consistently backed it are Crs Sally Townley, George Cecato and Michael Adendorff while Crs Keith Rhoades, Tegan Swan, Paul Amos and John Arkan have made several moves to halt it.

The building, now estimated to cost $81.27 million, is due to be finished by the end of 2022.

The Coffs Harbour Regional Museum is currently located at 215 Harbour Drive and its collection is effectively going to waste.

How the Cultural and Civic Space will look from outside.

Only 3.5 per cent of it is on display, using plinths and shelves with basic text labels produced in-house.

The allocation of funds for two new permanent displays within the new CCS on Gordon Street will be considered by Councillors at their meeting on Thursday.

Also on the agenda will be the proposed 24-hour McDonald’s at Toormina.

It will be the first time since COVID-19 the Council meeting will be open to the public, but those wanting to attend must pre-book tickets.

A report has estimated the cost of the two permanent museum exhibitions to be in the order of $1,886,325 and that the most streamlined and cost effective way to do this is to engage an external exhibition design company to provide design, project management, fabrication and installation, which includes all sub-disciplines such as graphic design, interactives and multimedia.

Auditorium style rooms will be available within the Cultural and Civic Space. The new museum will be located on the ground floor.

While Council’s Project Curator and other team members will deliver the curatorial work, it’s considered the other specific skills are not available in-house.

The two permanent exhibitions for the museum, which will be on the ground floor, of the CCS are:

- Stories of Coffs - a social history exhibition.

- Welcome to Country Gumbaynggirr exhibition.

The $1,886,325 funding required is not currently allocated within Council’s budget so the report before Councillors suggests allocating $734,606 in 2021/22 and $1,151,719 in the 2022/23 budgets, while continuing to seek grant and other external funding sources.