20 Dec 2020

Courtney Johnston reflects on year as chief executive

From Standing Room Only, 12:15 pm on 20 December 2020

It's a year since Courtney Johnston took on the role of Te Papa's chief executive. There'd been quite the turnover of people in the role since the nation's museum and art gallery opened in Wellington in 1998, most from overseas. She was also only the second woman appointed to the top job. The museum closed for 68 days during the Covid-19 lockdown, 66 days longer than it had ever been closed before. To help it out of a financial hard place, the government announced an extra $18 million of Crown funding for this financial year. It's also administering a $2 million fund for the rest of the country's museums to help them over the pandemic financial hurdle.