Getting to Our Place

A film full of meetings may sound like a cure for insomnia, but the 75-minute documentary is riveting. Most simply, it is a fascinating look behind the scenes of a historic project which, as creative and commercial interests collide, has many of the hallmarks of a thriller.

– Writer Peter Calder in The NZ Herald, 14 July 1999

Well for anyone who has worked in a woolshed, they had too much water on the brush, and they slopped it round ... you can't be painterly about letters.

– Te Papa Chairman Ronald Trotter reacts to one of the favoured logo options

I find it hard to see a bird there — I tell you what I see; I see a downhill skier with a big head.

– Board member David Gascoigne comments on the 'paint splatter' logo option

We needed to have an identity that could go out there and work for us in the commercial environment.

– Te Papa Chief Executive Cheryll Sotheran

We've been given this space, which is the farthest most space from anywhere where people get into the museum. It's a huge great cavern of a space, and we finally persuaded them today that we should get some additional help to cope with this space. We've been battling about it for about three months, and today I think we got some recognition that that was a legitimate claim on museum funds.

– History Team Leader Jock Phillips on crafting the history exhibit, early in this documentary

When I first came here, I expected the museum to be presenting our history and our past with real strength and pride, and a real elegance — that it was going to be our cultural treasure box ... I hate to see things made by compromise, just constant compromise. And ah, I just think that's the wrong way to work.

– Designer Sharon Jansen on how the museum's creation is being managed, early in this documentary

I hope you won't think of me as a crass businessman: this has got to be a rip-roaring success. And you might have to think about things that you don't want to think about, like 'Fletcher Forest Park', or 'Telecom Walk Through Time'. Now, then you start to say "oh hell" — but if I can get $10 million out of Telecom, they can call it what they like.

– Te Papa's incoming Chairman Ronald Trotter talks potential sponsorship, when he meets exhibition team leaders

We already have Goldie, Hotere and probably McCahon booked, and what I'm really wanting to say is 'please please trust me, it is going to happen'.

– Te Papa Chief Executive Cheryll Sotheran talks to the board about upcoming exhibitions

Going forward to the Treaty exhibition, how do we actually make that underpin all our exhibitions? If one of our corporate goals is biculturalism, then what does that mean? ... while the sheep runs were being developed, Ngāi Tahu, in the space of 20 years, lost all their land. Unless people get a sense of why it is that Māori keep on going on the way they are, then I think we're likely to fail on that Treaty exhibition.

– Georgina te Heuheu asks fellow board members if the Treaty of Waitangi exhibition will reflect the museum's commitment to biculturalism, early in this documentary

There's a certain kind of professional respect that's not in this discussion with the Ministry, that has never been in this discussion with the Ministry.

– Te Papa Chief Executive Cheryll Sotheran after a tense meeting with a representative of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs

You're going to turn 'em off —- I'm telling you not everybody will immediately see McCahon alongside a Kelvinator refrigerator ... now I like my drinks straight. I don't like cocktails, and you're giving us a cocktail; it might be an artistic cocktail...

– Te Papa Chairman Ronald Trotter on plans to display artworks alongside other items

The museum is required to generate one third of its operating budget, to be open 365 days a year, and be free to the public.

– From the opening graphics of Getting to Our Place

There must have been 70 or 80 in this particular presentation alone ... the soul of the brand is 'exact imaginings'. And the logo design that we decided we wanted to look for was something that you could see more than one thing in. And to this extent I think we've actually been really successful. In fact we were successful on a number of occasions.

– Saatchi & Saatchi art director Len Cheeseman on the long path to winning approval for Te Papa's logo

...I just have to say I feel uncomfortable with designing a logo by committee, but I have a sense that we're not progressing otherwise. But let's say ... I give you four versions, you come back with different ones, how am I going to resolve it...

– Heather Ware, Te Papa's Marketing and Development Coordinator, on getting agreement from the board over Te Papa's logo

But it's not just for Māori; you must get that. If it is a Māori institution and nothing more, this marae has failed. And they must get that idea, because we are bicultural! ... I'd rather be without a marae, if women can't speak on the marae. So we're all going to be Ngāti Porou, because they'll let women speak. But we can't have a kawa that says women won't speak. I will not chair an institution headed by a woman, if she can't stand there in her own right. Now I know there are sensitivities by some iwi, but we've got to be bold enough to say we're gonna make our own kawa....

– Te Papa Chairman Ron Trotter talks over Te Papa Kaihautū (Māori co-leader) Cliff Whiting while discussing Te Papa's marae

...He was my boss you know, for three years. And I saw a man of vision and commitment and energy, and a man who made things happen, and I wanted him there.

– Te Papa Chief Executive Cheryll Sotheran on Bill Rowling, who was Te Papa's chairman from 1988 until his death in 1995

So revealing are some sequences that we hold our breath waiting for the order to turn the cameras off. But it never comes. [Co-director Gaylene] Preston explains that she was never aware of having to talk anyone into the idea. Her only undertakings were that the footage would remain confidential — that it wouldn't be leaked to the news — and that the major players would get a chance to see the final cut. That did not mean surrendering a right of veto, explains Preston.

– Writer Peter Calder in The NZ Herald,14 July 1999

I had the rare privilege of observing hours of fascinating meetings as the process of creating our new national museum unfolded. There were tears, tantrums and moments of joy as our new museum took shape. Subsequently tapes of unedited meeting footage have been used by university linguistic departments.

– Co-director Anna Cottrell, on her website