Te Kahu o Waipuna pulling in the crowds a year on
Marlborough’s new library and art gallery celebrated its first year opening anniversary in low-key style.
Long-serving staff member Marj Townsend cut the anniversary cake which all staff shared.
It’s been a very successful year for the facility which opened in May 2023 after years of planning and months of preparation.
Recorded visitor numbers for the year from May 2023 to May 2024 were nearly 400,000, double the numbers who visited the old library the previous year.
As well, nearly 5,000 new members have joined the library.
Purpose-built spaces have enabled Marlborough Art Gallery to present and care for the region’s art collection at optimum levels.
Significant touring exhibitions have been brought to Marlborough including Rita Angus: New Zealand Modernist attracting thousands of visitors.
Marlborough District Libraries’ Manager Glenn Webster said the first year had been very rewarding, particularly seeing so many people using the facility, not just for book borrowing or visiting the gallery but as a work and social space.
He paid tribute to the staff, noting how much had been achieved and how positively the community had engaged with everything Te Kau o Waipuna had to offer.
Te Kahu o Waipuna was officially named and acknowledged by tangata/mana whenua Rangitāne o Wairau, Ngāti Rārua and Ngāti Toa Rangatira at a dawn blessing when it opened last year.
The $20 million dollar complex was a ‘shovel ready’ project and allocated $11 million in funding from the Government’s Kānoa Regional and Economic Development Unit.
At the time Mayor Nadine Taylor said the new facilities would be a centre of knowledge, information and activity for everyone in Marlborough.
“This is one of the most significant projects ever undertaken by Council and has been the work of many hands.”
In its first year the building has won national recognition including picking up three awards at the Master Builders’ Association Commercial Project Awards.
Council also released a timelapse video to mark the one-year celebration – more than 730,000 images were compressed into a 13-minute video showing Te Kahu o Waipuna rising from the ground. To view go to Council’s Facebook page.