Ffion Heale, Te Papa’s CEO reflects on five years at helm, The Post, 17 December 2024
In the five years since Courtney Johnston became Te Papa’s chief executive, she’s faced everything from the pandemic to protests, to introducing a fee for international visitors.
“The last five years, by necessity, have been a new form of flexibility, and often within constraints, but flexing to match them,” Johnston said.
“I’ve learnt to rely on the wisdom of the people around me. I’m not a person who shuts themselves away in a room and tries to figure it out by themselves.”
Johnston is the youngest ever chief executive appointed at Te Papa and the first woman in the role since its founding leader, Dame Cheryll Sotheran.
She shares the strategic leadership of the museum with Dr Arapata Hakiwai, the Māori co-leader, who oversees the bicultural leadership and support of the museum.
Johnston stepped into the role after the museum’s former chief executive, Geraint Martin, resigned in September 2019.
That followed a period of “really bruising” controversial staff restructuring, which Johnston said left a low morale and concerns of staff feeling undervalued.
“You feel a lot of self-scrutiny when you’re new in a job and you are doing something for the first time,” she said. “I had an actual spreadsheet with all of the teams in Te Papa, and I tracked getting around them and paying attention to each of them.”
Standout moments for her included Te Papa’s celebration of the Matariki public holiday and the opening of Robin White’s exhibition in 2022.
“Walking around next to Robin during the blessing and feeling her almost vibrating watching – it almost felt like the enormity of bringing her whole career of art making together.”
She also referred to a moment earlier on in her leadership – the day that the museum was “put to sleep” at the start of the pandemic.
“It’s almost like some of the moments that sit the most deeply with me are those moments that feel almost private inside the museum … usually just before the wave crests out into the world.”
In the next five years, Johnston emphasised her interest in incorporating AI into Te Papa, both in its operations and its visitor experiences.
“You try something, and you are like ‘woah that was like magic’, and then you try something else and you are like ‘oh that was really off, what do I need to do here?’”
The future would also be about balancing stability and sustainability, with innovation – “always seeking to mean more to more New Zealanders”.
In her application letter she promised the museum her best decade, her 40s, “and I am only halfway there”.
