The proposed new multi-million dollar Shepparton
Art Museum (SAM) will not be affected by our changing climate, or that can only
be assumed if notice is to be taken of the “business case” that articulates the
wonderful benefits a new SAM will bring to the city and area.
New South
Wales firm of Simon McArthur and Associates produced a more than 30 page
document affirming the practicality of the idea, but not once mentioned any environment
or associated climate difficulties.
Eager to keep
the conversation alive, I wrote the following and in submitting to The News,
was politely told that is wouldn’t be given space, unless I choose to use as
one of my regular fortnightly columns.
When is a good thing a
bad idea?
The idea of building a new art museum in Shepparton ticks
all bar one of the boxes and interestingly that last box is the biggest of all
and the one that really matters.
Yes, a new art museum for the city is a wonderful idea for
art is at the heart of everything we do and so to celebrate and recognise its
importance through the creation of the beautiful lake-side proposed complex
suggests a coming of age for the city.
Everything about the idea appears to be as it should, except
for its timing.
A collision of world events suggest the city’s interest and
emphasis should be about building resilience, entrenching what exists and
underscoring the strengths of our culture to ensure we can arrive as unscathed
as possible through the unfolding challenges.
Like many others, I endorse the importance of emphasizing
art, but rather than committing our resources to create something new, we
should be exploring every avenue to use what exists, even if that demands some
changes to our behaviour.
Much of what presently happens at the city’s offices in
Welsford St could be, thanks to modern technology, undertaken and completed
almost anywhere in the city. It is not essential to have all administrative staff
at Eastbank.
Yes, keep the customer/ratepayer contact people, the Mayor’s
office, the council chambers, and any other pieces of the operation vital to
the daily public operation of the city.
The Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) already has space in the
building and so the area cleared of relocated administrative staff could easily
be incorporated into a restructured art museum.
With costs far below that of what is proposed near Victoria
Park Lake, SAM and the existing library building could connected to create a
beautiful centre of the city-community facility that would answer our civic
needs.
Yes, the new SAM is a good idea, but its timing is bad for
rather than such wonderful physical city enhancements, the city should be
acknowledging the changes that are settling upon because of global warming and
along with that playing its part in cutting the world’s carbon dioxide
emissions by at least 80 per cent with a decade or two.
Building a new, stand-alone art museum that oozes embedded
energy is contrary to an efficient and sustainable city future.
Yes, let us use what we have, modifying what exists, provide
the services we want and need and yet do it thoughtfully in terms of our carbon
dioxide emissions.
Yes, despite the opinions of the doubters, skeptics and
others, we have changed our climate system, subsequently the benign weather
that once was is gone and we are quickly moving into an era in which we will
need every resource we can gather.
