Organisation structureTe hanga a Te Papa

Ngā Manu Atarau
(Communities, Repatriation, and Sector Development)

The role of the Ngā Manu Atarau Directorate is to connect communities with their taonga, artefacts, and other valuable heritage items.

It achieves this by:

• helping to build the capacities and capabilities of museums, art galleries and iwi to care for and exhibit their valuable heritage items

• securing the return and care of toi moko/mokomokai from overseas collections to Aotearoa

• creating and maintaining quality relationships with iwi communities so that their contribution to the care and exhibition of relevant taonga, and the Te Papa contribution to Treaty of Waitangi settlements, is secured

• overseeing and, at times, leading the bicultural dimensions of Te Papa including during significant events (e.g. Matariki) and the management of the Te Papa marae.

Along with the Kaihautū, Ngā Manu Atarau provides strategic leadership for partnerships with tangata whenua and contributes to the ongoing life and day-to-day culture of the museum.

At the heart of its work is the concept of mana taonga, a philosophy and practice which seeks to meaningfully involve communities in the care and exhibition of their valuable heritage items, and shares the authority for the care and exhibition of taonga with their source communities.

Audience and Insight

The Audience and Insight Directorate develops and applies audience-centric strategy, standards, and solutions to the design and delivery of exceptional experiences for our visitors.

Taking an integrated approach to how Te Papa connects people, taonga, and stories in order to achieve a sense of wonder, belonging, and purpose is achieved through applying a mix of differentiating capabilities.

Functions such as audience analysis and insight, programme management, evaluation, marketing, brand, content, experience design, learning and public programmes are brought together to help our people create and operate visitor facing activities that maximise the value, reach, and impact of our offering.

It also provides Te Papa with the museological edge needed to deliver an outstanding audience experience.

Collections and Research

The Collections and Research Directorate is home to our core museological capabilities that collect, curate, conserve, and protect Taonga in order to deliver on Te Papa’s mission as New Zealand’s national museum.

Physical and digital access to our collections and expertise is provided through activities spanning curatorial research, collection management and development, conservation, exhibition development and outreach.

Collection and Research’s strong leadership, technical expertise, and ability to build enduring relationships with external agencies and communities, ensures we extend accessibility, and that we are recognised as a centre of museological excellence.

Finance and Operations

The Finance and Operations Directorate enables Te Papa to sustainably deliver on its purpose by creating frameworks and delivering products and services that enable better business outcomes.

The group delivers to visitors to Te Papa and to Team Te Papa by leading services across:

• people, safety and culture

• property, facilities and security

• information technology

• finance operations and procurement

• finance strategy

Finance and Operations is involved in setting a range of policies and frameworks for the organisation to work within its statutory context, delivering advice and services across Te Papa, significant investment in renewing infrastructure, and keeping visitors and staff safe.

The group ensures that Te Papa is successful and operationally effective, both as a museum, and as a Crown Entity.

Museum and Commercial Services

The Museum and Commercial Services Directorate delivers exceptional services and experiences that provide value for money, enhanced brand and financial sustainability. It plays a direct role in enabling Te Papa to deliver on its mission through contributing to the generation of revenue.

This is achieved through identifying and maximising commercial opportunities and through functions such as events management.

Driven by operational excellence, our ‘front of house’ capabilities include Visitor Services, Retail, and Hospitality.

Strategy and Performance

The Strategy and Performance Directorate provides strategy development, enterprise performance planning, and reporting capabilities to ensure the most effective integration and coordination of resources across Te Papa both now and into the future.

Reputation, credibility, long-term decision making, and financial sustainability is enhanced through the functions of corporate social responsibility, risk and assurance, and planning and performance which provide a comprehensive demand and supply view of our capabilities.

With a focus on enterprise-wide organisational programmes and projects, and maintaining governance frameworks, the Strategy and Performance team is also responsible for the development and publication of key organisational documents such as our annual report.

Partnerships and Development Directorate

The Partnerships and Development Directorate establishes partnerships that support Te Papa’s mission to understand the past, enrich the present and meet the challenges of the future.

Our partners become part of the Te Papa whānau and treasure our mahi as much as we do – we aim for partnerships that are enduring, values-based, and achieve common goals.

Te Papa’s sustainability relies on securing funding from a wide range of sources and the Partnerships and Development Directorate plays an ambitious role in this work, including growing philanthropic support via the Te Papa Foundation and Friends of Te Papa, obtaining central and local government funding, developing commercial partnerships, and securing contestable grants. The development and delivery of successful domestic and international touring exhibition programmes is another key way in which the directorate supports Te Papa’s reach, impact and sustainability.

The directorate’s ambition is to be an enabler, allowing Te Papa to flourish and do great things. The support we receive ultimately assists Te Papa to deliver outstanding experiences within Aotearoa and internationally; provide engaging programmes to the public; create rich learning and education opportunities; conduct world-leading research; collect and care for taonga of national significance and much more.