Museums and Galleries: inspiring collections and taonga
New Zealand's Museum sector includes museums, public art galleries, historical societies and science centres. It also includes companies providing support services and people connected or associated with arts, culture and heritage.
New Zealand museums and galleries care for more than 40 million items relating to our arts, culture and history.
They collect, interpret, research and exhibit them for New Zealanders and overseas visitors.
Today's museums are not only store-houses for our treasures. They are active places offering varied and rich experiences for visitors, staff and volunteers. Our museums and galleries create over 1000 public exhibitions and publications each year attracting over eight million visits, and are a top attraction for New Zealand's overseas visitors.
New Zealand museums focus on enriching their communities by offering quality facilities, collections, programmes, products and services. Museums play a pivotal role in the national heritage, education, leisure, and tourism sectors. They demonstrate and profile New Zealand's innovation and leadership internationally.
The range of careers and jobs in museums and art galleries is complex and varied. There are hands-on tasks for technicians and collection managers. Visitor hosts help the public visiting the venue while curators, researchers and interpreters develop exhibitions.
Some museum professionals specialise in subject areas such as history, science, visual art or Maori culture. Management and administration roles ensure the organisation runs smoothly, effectively and provides a safe and secure environment for the staff, visitors and collections.
Museum people are passionate and dedicated. They care for and about our arts, culture and heritage, and tell the stories that bring them alive for visitors. They feel the excitement of learning about a new object in the collection, developing an exhibition from an idea to opening day, or helping visitors making new discoveries.
If you want a challenging, focused, and varied career that gives you the opportunity to be a part of our cultural heritage, then museums are for you.
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