The Waihi Art Centre and Museum Association (WACMA) is in financial crisis, and unless there is a significant change in income and/or expenditure is likely to be insolvent within a few months. Dismayed at what he describes as the neglect and non-use of the art gallery which is part of the Waihi Museum, artist and photographer Xavier Radic put forward a proposal in 2006 suggesting a number of ways it could be restored.The Waihi Art Centre and Museum Association (WACMA) is in financial crisis, and unless there is a significant change in income and/or expenditure is likely to be insolvent within a few months. Dismayed at what he describes as the neglect and non-use of the art gallery which is part of the Waihi Museum, artist and photographer Xavier Radic put forward a proposal in 2006 suggesting a number of ways it could be restored.These include leasing the gallery and backroom to an organisation separate from Waihi Museum, and renaming it in recognition of Eric Lee-Johnson who set the gallery up in 1960. Radic says the gallery could take an active role in promoting/participating in an Education Programme to encourage new and emerging artists. The gallery would "set such standards as the Suter Gallery in Nelson and other regional galleries of note, also able to host any national or international art shows".

In the Hauraki Herald (21/4/06), Radic said the gallery needed to be accessible to the outside world: "It's purely coincidental it's in Waihi, and we're fortunate. There have been some big names in this gallery - Toss Woolleston, Louise Henderson, Roy and Juliet Cowan, Barry Brickell, Doreen Blumhardt, Jackie Fahey, Pat Hanley, to mention but some. We need to pay tribute to them."

Up until now, the centre has survived on a 1974 bequest from the Christina Jefferson Estate. While the interest from this investment was initially enough to keep WACMA independent, the 1987 stock market crash meant interest rates were lowered and the capital account was used to fund operating deficits.

This capital has now diminished drastically, and the governing committee is looking for outside funding. They have requested a $35,000 grant from the Hauraki District Council to cover the cost of wages, electricity, maintenance, audit fees, advertising, repairs and insurance.

A review of the WACMA's financial position has been carried out going back to 2000 and confirms the WACMA is running at a considerable loss per year.

In a letter to the Waihi Leader, Radic says "The constitution is misinterpreted and ignored by the committee and management (renamed 'council' to confuse) of WACMA, to suit the aims of a few, at great cost to the community and country at large."

"If this was a sports institution, money and expertise would be thrown at it with great abandon, but historic and cultural amenities fare worse, by being ignored."

While Radic's proposal has found support with many members of the community as well as a number of committee members, "nobody wants to fight over it" according to committee member Bill Ward, who told the Hauraki Herald (21/4/06) that the museum hadn't altered since he first visited as a 16-year-old.

"Waihi has so much potential, but it's being strangled by complacency; just because things have been done in the past doesn't make them right." - Bill Ward, Hauraki Herald, 21/4/06.