Two Hawke's Bay art galleries had reason to celebrate after a night out at the 2018 Service IQ New Zealand Museum Awards.
Competition was strong this year as judges assesed entries from over 60 art galleries and museums across the country.
Executive Director, Museums Aoteraroa Phillipa Tocker said that every year the judges faced tough decisions in shortlisting and awarding winners.
"What all winners did have in common were inspired approaches to engaging our communities in art, science, history and culture."
MTG Hawke's Bay was a joint winner in Exhibition Excellence -Taonga Māori, for its exhibition He Manu Tioriori 100 Years of Ngāti Kahungunu Music. The exhibition explores how Ngāti Kahungunu has been at the forefront of it all, from the Māori Jazz Orchestras of the 1920s and 1930s to the emergence of the Māori show band era of the 1960s and 1970s.
Judges concluded that the exhibition eptimomises the way in which musuems in New Zealand can and should be by, for and about Maori, and more specificially iwi, hapū and whānau. MTG shared the award with Otago Museum's Tūhura Otago Community Trust Science Centre.