Te Papa pulled out all the stops hosting the Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery exhibition. Our favourite museum was the first stop in the global tour of this engaging and intriguing extravaganza.

Working with Te Papa, the Friends were able to offer reduced-price tickets to Vivienne Westwood and an exclusive lecture from Senior Curator Clare Regnault. Clare is a respected New Zealand historian and curator. It was a pleasure to welcome her again to the Friends Reading group where she discussed the experience of co-writing (with Jane Malthus) the latest Te Papa Press book, Central Otago Couture. Clare is one of many wonderful Te Papa curators who support the Friends throughout the year and we wouldn’t be the group we are without their support.

The Friends are successful because of our relationships, not only with Te Papa but also a number of other like-minded and motivated people and organisations. We were fortunate to work with the Arts Society last month to bring the Chair of the History Council of Victoria and holder of the Order of Australia Peter McPhee to the Soundings theatre for a lecture on
the development of French painting from 1770 to 1920’s. This 150-year period turned the art establishment on its head. New techniques and ways of capturing images tumbled over each other giving people a new way of looking, removing the formal and capturing small slices in time. The innovative result encouraged people to look at a canvas and then look out the window and enjoy the similarities.

That’s not forgetting what else has been happening since 1 January. The Wairarapa fault, the Stonehenge lecture by well-known BBC broadcaster Julian Richards or the Tasmanian tour. This in addition to the regular monthly smorgasbord of local tours, lectures and Te Papa peeks behind the scenes.

We work with Te Papa and other organisations to bring you the best we possibly can, aiming to deliver engaging and informative lectures and experiences. Hats off to Holly for curating a wide range of exclusive events for our membership.

I would like to thank everyone who supports the Friends and our members – we couldn’t do it without you.

Finally, I wish to thank Richard Dean for his leadership and contributions to the Committee and the wider Friend community. We wish him well.