B.
Congratulations!
Behind the scenes
Heartfelt congratulations to Chartwell Trust who last night received the 2011 Arts Foundation of New Zealand Award for Patronage. Chartwell is the sixth annual recipient of this great award and joins previously honoured philanthropists Denis and Verna Adam, Dame Jenny Gibbs, Roderick and Gillian Deane, Adrienne, Lady Stewart and Gus and Irene Fisher.
It's now over forty years since Rob Gardiner established the Chartwell Trust in Hamilton to assist visual arts in New Zealand, and the Trust has provided substantial funding to galleries, individual projects and artists. Over the last three years, Chartwell has supported Christchurch Art Gallery's distinctive and popular exhibitions designed for family audiences, including White on White and Blue Planet. Our forthcoming exhibition Bad Hair Day – which will be installed when we reopen – will also benefit from Chartwell support.
Rob Gardiner, pictured in 2010, at the launch of the Gordon H. Brown book on the life and art of Colin McCahon entitled Towards a Promised Land.
I attended the awards ceremony last night at Auckland Art Gallery and was delighted that we were singled out as a recipient of Chartwell's extended largesse on this occasion, specifically in recognition of the outreach programmes Gallery staff have been engaged in during our enforced post-earthquake closure. Kia kaha and thanks, Rob and Sue Gardiner.