Following the successful completion of upgrades to the Forrester Gallery and Waitaki Museum & Archive, staff are now working on the Forrester Gallery Stage 2 project. This project stage involves building a three-storey extension on the back of the existing Forrester Gallery. The new building will be a similar size to the existing building and the two buildings will be linked together. Waitaki Council is working with heritage advisors to ensure the new building works harmoniously with our existing historic building.

Beginning in the basement, the building extension will provide purpose-built storage for our art collection, as well as a loading dock to help safely transport artworks and touring shows. The street-level floor will grant additional exhibition spaces, and the upper floor will feature a dedicated education space, a fully accessible bathroom, and a gallery for our interactive wonderlab exhibitions. The addition will include a lift so we have safe public access across all three floors of both buildings. These changes will allow for a larger retail space in the existing building, viewable storage of the Forrester Gallery’s art collection, and more space to share the history of this magnificent building.

Every year thousands of people visit the Forrester Gallery. Since the Gallery opened in 1983 it has exhibited countless artworks ranging from the annual children’s art Burns Memorial Exhibition to shows by beloved local artists such as Burns Pollock and Colin Wheeler, to inspiring exhibitions by renowned New Zealand and international artists. We care for a collection of over 2,500 artworks. We love sharing art with our community and welcoming people into our special building. The Stage 2 project will support this work. The addition of a lift will mean everyone can safely access all our exhibitions and we can continue to be a place for creativity and learning for all our community.

You can read more about the project here