During our work with the Aigantighe Art Gallery in Timaru, the alignment of the project to existing strategies, policies and plans was examined as part of the environmental scan. While many of its strategies, policies and plans impacted arts, culture and heritage to some degree, Timaru District Council did not have a strategy solely for this area of community development. At the time, the Council was about to engage in or was considering some major capital projects in the sector (the Aigantighe Art Gallery redevelopment, the heritage Theatre Royal building upgrade and the relocation of the South Canterbury Museum to a “Heritage Hub”) which an overarching framework for development of arts, culture and heritage could provide guidance and priorities for.
We worked with focus groups of representatives of the arts, culture and heritage sector to identify the key strengths, gaps and opportunities for Timaru District, to develop a vision for arts, culture and heritage and a way forward or action plan to achieve that vision.