Ngā Taonga welcomes Archives New Zealand development

The announcement yesterday by Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin that a new Archives New Zealand building in Wellington could also accommodate Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision is a welcome acknowledgement of the importance of our audiovisual taonga, says Ngā Taonga Acting Chief Executive Honiana Love.

Minister Martin announced that plans were one step closer for the development of a new Archives New Zealand building on the site of the former Defence building on Aitken Street, Wellington, adjacent to the National Library. In her media release Minister Martin said: “The decision and funding also allows us to consider the possible inclusion of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, which manages nearly one million audiovisual collection items. This will support a truly connected and collaborative recorded heritage system.”

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision will move into office space within the National Library in late September. This move was agreed and planned in 2018 and is unconnected to today’s announcement.

“It is understood that design and construction of the new Archives New Zealand building will take several years and no details of possible sharing have yet been confirmed, but Ngā Taonga looks forward to discussing the possibility in the coming months,” said Honiana Love.

The announcement is also separate from the Government’s National Archival & Library Institutions (NALI) review that began in June 2018 with the intention of strengthening the contribution that Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, Archives New Zealand and the National Library make to the culture and heritage sector. The final conclusions of the review are still awaited.

Concept image of the new Archives building - Archives New Zealand