From the Co-Chairs

Mā te huruhuru ka rere te manu. Adorn the bird with feathers and it will fly.

2025 was a year of delivery for Museums Aotearoa. As the last year in our strategic cycle, our successes were the culmination of years of work bolstering the reputation of museums and galleries, extending cross sector connections, developing our people and ensuring above all that Museums Aotearoa is a financially sustainable organisation.

We want to acknowledge the leadership and stewardship of outgoing CEO Adele Fitzpatrick, who designed and delivered a strategy that propelled sector advocacy forward. Adele was not afraid to take on the tough projects and her foresight, particularly around organisational resilience at Museums Aotearoa has set your peak body up for success into the future.

We also want to give our thanks to Interim CEO Sarah Maguire. We know how many of you enjoyed our leaders forums this year - a return to the kind of face-time we enjoyed pre COVID. Sarah’s expertise in advocacy and campaigning meant she was well-placed to fill Adele’s shoes and complete the delivery of our strategy.

And to you our members, thank you for your support this year, for calling on us when you need to and for getting in behind our activities and campaigns in support of a strong, stable sector. Every conversation we’ve had is like a feather, giving our advocacy power and potential, and helping our work here at Museums Aotearoa catch the wind.

Carolyn Roberts-Thompson and David Reeves

Read our full 2025 Annual Report.