Annual General Meeting

Our Annual General Meeting will be held on 14 June at 7.30pm at the Otautau Courthouse. Terms are up for three of our trustees. We hope they all choose to stay on, but even if they do, this is a great time for new people to come in and see what we're all about. You too can make a difference at the museum!

What the museum does
The Otautau Museum is unique in that we put on new displays three or four times a year. Most museums of our size have displays that don't change. But we want to keep things interesting for our community so we try to come up with new ideas.

What trustees do
The museum board is made up of trustees who create the vision for the museum. They meet once a month and handle all matters dealing with the governance of the museum as well helping out with the day to day duties of the museum.

What volunteers do
Volunteers are essential. We're all volunteers, and we know that if we want the museum to grow, we'll need more volunteers with different skills to make it happen. Some jobs are just a one-off while others could entail working a few times a year or even more often.

If you have any of these skills, you can make a real difference at the museum:

• visual/creative - you can help with our displays


• interested in children and youth - you can help us make the museum more meaningful to young people and schools


• money/business - you can help us with a business or marketing plan


• putting things in order - you can help with cataloguing our collection


• computer work - you can create flyers, update our webpage/blog or design a museum brochure for us


• family history - you can help fulfill requests for information


• fundraising - you can help put on fun community events


• meeting the public - you can be an attendant on Wednesdays or Sundays and connect directly with our visitors

What we offer
The Museum Trust has been around since 2002 and has a culture of good old-fashioned values - honesty, comraderie, and trust. They are a great group to work with and joining them links you into the cultural heritage of the community. You'll learn a lot about Otautau's history just by becoming involved.

We offer access to workshops and training through Te Papa/National Services. For those who are really keen, we have a lot of reading materials and guides to help get familiar with how a museum works.

So think about joining and making a difference at the Otautau Museum and email the museum to find out more.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!