"It's about looking at ourselves and reminding us of where we came from," he said.
With this in mind, Bidois thinks Tauranga has missed an opportunity.
"Tauranga really needs a museum to tell our stories. Not just stories of old and of Māori history, but the history of this city itself," Bidois said.
"Without these things for our young ones to come and look at artefacts, to show us what happened here, how are we supposed to be educated in our own history?"
This week the Tauranga City Council voted against supporting a $55 million museum project. Councillors said it was too expensive.
Marion Arts is another artist who is disappointed that local artefacts will not be on display.
"It is a loss," Arts said. "It is almost nonsensical to store them away. You would have thought that if they downsized in their ambition, mainly, then they would be able to show these stories to us."
Arts is a singer/songwirter who has also created a new work for the festival.
She drew her inspiration from a gold-medal awarded posthumously to a Tauranga soldier killed in World War I.
"I have this sadness, really, that a life is worth so little," she said. "You can buy them on e-Bay now for very little. They were colloquially called a Dead Man's Penny. I thought that was a good song title. I just fed off the story that I was told."
Arts has spent five decades performing around the world but was eager to be involved in the local event.
"I thought it an interesting artistic vision. Someone that knew that if an artist is really an artist, then they will look at something and have an artistic reaction to it - and that might just be interesting."
The Escape! Arts Festival will run this Queen's Birthday Weekend.
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