Donate an artwork
When you gift a work of art from your collection to The Dowse’s permanent collection, you'll ensure they become a permanent part of New Zealand’s art history, and are available for people’s enjoyment far into the future.
The team meet once a month to discuss potential acquisitions for The Dowse Art Museum collection. When making a decision, we consider:
- storage - our collection stores are limited and already near capacity
- condition - we do not have onsite conservators or a large budget to restore objects
- fit - we only accept artworks that complement and strengthen our current collections and have the potential to be used in future exhibitions
- provenance - the history of an artwork and the objects, artists or donors connection to The Dowse.
We're always open to offers to donate works of art, but keep in mind that we do have a selection process we follow.
If you want to donate an artwork, please complete this form.
Regardless of whether a donation offer is accepted, we'll be in touch to let you know the next steps.
After we've seen your art work at your home, we'll bring it to The Dowse for further analysis by a curator.
This is so we can assess the overall condition of the work and examine its history, significance and fit with our collection.
If the work is selected, our Director, curators, and third-party experts will make a decision whether or not to accept it.
If we accept your art work, you'll need to sign a deed of gift to formalise our acquisition.
Note: The entire process of donating an art work to The Dowse can take several months.
If you have any questions about donating an artwork, get in touch with our Collections Manager, Joanna Wehrly.
T 04 560 1484
E jo.wehrly@huttcity.govt.nz