Finding funding for Blue Water Black Magic

An exhibition of the size, scale and quality of ‘Blue Water Black Magic – A Tribute to Sir Peter Blake’ requires some serious cash. Approximately $9.5m if we’re being honest. Those sort sorts of sums are clearly beyond the means of the Maritime Museum, so it’s required significant external investment to bring the project to this point.

We’ve been fortunate enough to have the very generous support of a number of groups and organisations, most notably the New Zealand Government and Auckland City Council who have been significant supporters of Blue Water Black Magic. It’s said a lot, but we really do mean it – without their support, the project literally wouldn’t have been possible. Having the backing of both central and local government also speaks volumes for the importance of a project which recognises the incredible life and achievements of one of our greatest heroes.

We’ve also been fortunate to have the support and friendship of a number of key funders, many of whom have a long history with the Maritime Museum – The Lion Foundation, ASB Community Trust, Southern Trust, Perry Foundation, Viaduct Harbour Holdings Limited, Lottery Environment and Heritage, Louis Vuitton, The Tindall Foundation, and a group of private donors led by Blake’s Mate donor John Street. Take a bow, all of you.

Then there’s all the other individual donors who worked with Sir Peter, are part of the Maritime Museum’s wider community, or are members of the public who just wanted to ensure his lasting tribute was the best it could possibly be – to all of you, our sincere thanks. The contributions from individuals, in particular, has allowed the project partners to maximise the impact of the exhibition through a high level of interactivity, supporting an experience that speaks clearly to young people.

To all of our funders, everyone at Te Papa (our project partner) and the Maritime Museum are incredibly grateful for allowing us to create this enduring tribute to Sir Peter. Thanks to you, Blue Water Black Magic will be an enriching waterfront destination, touching the hearts and minds of New Zealanders, telling some great stories of perseverance, achievement and success, and inspiring a new generation of young, determined Kiwis to achieve their dreams.

In case you’re wondering, there’s still time to make a donation, although the deadline to have a permanent acknowledgement within the exhibition and be invited to the opening is 30 September.

Heritage vessel handiwork

The Maritime Museum’s two heritage sailing ships, Ted Ashby & Breeze, have both undergone a period of restoration recently to keep them looking their best.

Breeze is a traditional wooden sailing ship similar to vessels used for New Zealand coastal and inter-Dominion trades in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A brigantine, she has a square-rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged mainmast. Before coming to the Maritime Museum Breeze was involved in sail training with the Breeze Sailing Club.

Breeze was taken to the slip in June for two weeks where contractors water-blasted, anti-fouled and painted the topsides. Volunteers then got stuck in scraping, sanding and then painting the beltings and bulwarks. Breeze was returned to her berth at the Maritime Museum in late June, ready for sailings in July.

Ted Ashby is our ketch-rigged deck scow, typical of the fleets that once operated in the northern waters of New Zealand. The Museum chose to name the vessel after Ted Ashby, a man whose whole life was intimately involved with the scows, and the author of the book “Phantom Fleet”.

Ted Ashby was built by Museum staff and volunteers, and launched in 1993 when the museum first opened. She is annually on slip for inspection to ensure she remains in tip top condition.

During August, Ted Ashby was on Sanfords slipway where contractors waterblasted, antifouled and painted the hull. Our Volunteer Master and Maintenance Manager replaced skin fittings, renewed anodes and completed other maintenance whilst on the slip. Back in her berth, Ted Ashby also had some deck work done and is now back undertaking her full sailing schedule (twice daily sailings Wed-Sun).

Teaming up with Te Papa

The theme of ‘teamwork’ is at the heart of the Maritime Museum’s stunning new exhibition, Blue Water Black Magic – A Tribute to Sir Peter Blake, due for opening in December this year. It’s therefore fitting that a strong partnership between the Maritime Museum and Te Papa has been responsible for bringing the project to this point.

New Zealand’s 1995 America’s Cup winning boat, NZL32 ‘Black Magic’, was gifted to the nation under the care of Te Papa by the Team New Zealand 2000 Trust. Following the tragic 2001 death of Sir Peter Blake, Te Papa wanted to ensure the public could have access to this historic piece of New Zealand triumph. After much thought and discussion between Te Papa and the Maritime Museum along with the Blake family and New Zealand Government, Prime Minister Helen Clark announced in May 2008 that NZL32 would be the centrepiece of a new exhibition, Blue Water Black Magic – A Tribute to Sir Peter Blake.

The decision recognised Auckland as the focal point of New Zealand’s America’s Cup activity, and the Maritime Museum as New Zealand’s national celebration of our maritime heritage and achievement.

From then began the massive project of developing an exhibition that recognises the colossal contribution that Sir Peter made to yachting and to New Zealand. The vision was for an experience that matched Sir Peter’s passion for life; one where positivity, self-awareness and determination are at the core of team achievement and leadership. An aggressive timeframe was set for the completion of the project, but as Sir Peter himself said many times, “if it’s not hard it’s not worth doing”.

Staff from the Maritime Museum and Te Papa, partnering with leading exhibition creators, Workshop e, set about creating an engaging exhibition rich in objects, stories, interactivity, audio visual content and colour. Te Papa’s proven expertise in developing this kind of interactive, powerful experience has been incredibly beneficial to the project and will ensure the lasting tribute to a New Zealand hero is suitably epic and expressive.

The result is set to be New Zealand’s largest exhibition construction in recent years, and the most significant undertaking in the history of the Maritime Museum since its opening in 1993. Te Papa’s contribution to Blue Water Black Magic – A Tribute to Sir Peter Blake has been critically important and all of us here at the Maritime Museum are incredibly grateful for their support.