NT Museum and Art Gallery chair resigns amid new CBD gallery plan fallout
The chair of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) has resigned, amid the fallout of a decision to up-end plans to create a new Darwin CBD art gallery.
MAGNT chair and former Labor chief minister Clare Martin has quit her position less than a year after her contract was renewed by the previous Territory Labor government.
She was appointed to the role by the Labor government in 2018.
Her departure comes after the NT's Country Liberal Party (CLP) government announced it would be pausing or scrapping plans to open a new Darwin CBD art gallery, despite the building being nearly constructed.
The building in Darwin's State Square was slated to be a new government-run gallery to showcase artworks from MAGNT's collection — primarily pieces from the NT and Asia — which currently have nowhere to be displayed.
Arts Minister Jinson Charls said in May that costs for the new building had blown out by $100 million, and the previous NT Labor government had not budgeted for ongoing operational costs.
The government has called for expressions of interest (EOIs) for potential operators to bid on ways to "maximise the possibilities the site offers", and said the building will not necessarily be used as an art gallery now.
The building is being purpose-built as a gallery, but there have been long-standing concerns over its expected operating costs, which the CLP has said will likely be around $8 million per year.
Ms Martin has been contacted for comment to confirm why she resigned, but sources have told the ABC that her decision was directly related to the gallery upheaval.
Mr Charls has also been contacted for comment over the MAGNT chair's resignation.
NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro told ABC Radio Darwin on Tuesday that, regardless of who took over the new CBD building, the government wanted to see it as a "signature piece" for the city.
"There might be some exciting proponents who have some great ideas on what to do with it, [or] it may very well still end up being an art gallery," she said.
"It'll be very interesting to see what comes out of the [EOI] process, if anything at all.
"It's a shemozzle … we're now trying to see if there's a better way to use it; if not, well … we can put a chain around the door and not open it, or we can open it and put art in it.
"All of that needs to play out."
Ms Finocchiaro said the new CBD gallery did not have a storage facility for the entirety of MAGNT's holding collection, which she said was currently falling into ruin in storage at the museum's flagship location at Bullocky Point.
"It's in a shed, rusting to the ground," Ms Finocchiaro said.
The ABC understands that MAGNT will be submitting an EOI for the building to still become a CBD art gallery.
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