Funding for the Dunedin Public Art Gallery to spend on new works of art could be more than doubled to top $1million in the next decade.
Dunedin city councillors voted, at a meeting on the draft 10-year plan, to add an additional $550,000 to the $500,000 already included in the libraries and museums draft capital budget, for additions to the Dunedin Public Art Gallery's (DPAG) permanent collection.
A half-million-dollar allocation of $50,000 a year for the next 10 years was already included in the draft budget, but Cr David Benson-Pope proposed an amendment to increase the amount by $10,000 in the first year and another $10,000 annually, adding up to another $550,000 over the 10 years.
Funding for new art also comes from gifts and donations and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery Society.
Only Cr Lee Vandervis voted against the amendment. He saw the value in the gallery expanding its collection but thought money would be better spent on more accessible artwork, such as sculpture or street art.
Mayor Dave Cull said the gallery was part of the ''richness'' of the city and the council had a duty to make sure it did not go backwards.
He also wanted to see more publicly owned art in the city made accessible to the public, including that in storage at DPAG and the University of Otago's Hocken Library.
