The Dowse Art Museum Director Karl Chitham receives Order of New Zealand Merit in this year's King's Birthday Honours for services to the arts, particularly Māori art.
Karl Chitham (Ngā Puhi, Te Uriroroi) has been a champion for the arts in New Zealand for 20 years with a specific interest in toi Māori.
Chitham trained as an artist and educator, and has held curatorial roles in universities, museums and public galleries. He was curator at Rotorua Museum and Director and Curator at Tauranga Art Gallery before becoming Director of the Dowse Art Museum, Head of Arts and Culture for Hutt City in 2019. He has been pivotal in building community support for the Dowse and its notable contribution to the New Zealand arts sector.
Using his own curatorial practice, and through programming at various institutions he has worked with communities of artists, curators and arts professionals to increase the profile of toi Māori and Māori artists. He was instrumental in the opening and curating for the Wairau Māori Art Gallery in the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangārei, the first dedicated public Māori art gallery nationally.
He has written for multiple arts publications including co-authoring the ground-breaking publication Crafting Aotearoa: A Cultural History of New Zealand and the Wider Moana Oceania.
Chitham is a member of Te Roopu Mana Toi, an advocacy advisory for Creative New Zealand and serves on charitable art trusts and in advisory positions for various institutions and arts organisations since 2009.
IMAGE: courtesy of Karl Chitham
Text courtesy of Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet