A not-for-profit group behind a project designed to buoy city pride in Tauranga wants compensation for a piano they say has been neglected, vandalised and vomited on.
The Incubator director Simone Anderson said she was saddened the piano on Grey St had been neglected and left in such a state it had sparked complaints about its condition.
Six months ago, themed pianos were painted and placed around the central city for people to play on and admire as part of an artists' initiative to form friendly community dialogue and engagement through public art. They were placed outside La Mexica on The Strand, Creative Tauranga on Willow St and Colleen Saunders Optometrists on Grey St.
Ms Anderson said that while the first two pianos had been a huge success, she has received emails saying the Grey St piano - which Ms Anderson said Mainstreet Tauranga had adopted - was vomited on, keys pushed in, damaged or missing and it had been left in the rain.
"What were they thinking, leaving it in the street?" she said. "It's been left in the rain and anyone who knows about pianos will know rain ruins them." Ms Anderson said the Incubator did not receive funding "but that's fine because we are doing it for the community".