Education programmes

$6 per student

$8 per student

$10 per student

$8 per student

$10 per student

Exscite

Open now

The Exscite gallery is jammed-packed with great interactive ways to learn about science. The programme includes a classroom session (tailored to your group), exhibition tour and interactive fun – inclusive cost $8.

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Inventors and Innovations: Waikato Bright Sparks

Open now

People have brilliant ideas everyday but how do these ideas get transformed into something bigger and real? Inventors and Innovations: Waikato Bright Sparks examines some of our region’s problem-solving success stories through an immersive experience that will take you on a journey through time and space. Learn how bridges work then design and build your own. Power up an electric fence and find out what’s in the DNA of an innovator. This exhibition is sure to motivate the avid inventor and endless tinkerer in everyone. 

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 Galileo - Scientist, Astronomer, Visionary

20 February - 7 June 2021

Galileo Galilei was an Italian natural philosopher, astronomer and mathematician who made fundamental contributions to the sciences of motion, astronomy, strength of materials and to the development of
the scientific method. Through interactive exhibits we explore Galileo’s study of motion and his discoveries with the telescope, which paved the way for acceptance that the Sun is central in our planetary system.

This exhibition allows visitors to discover Galileo through interactive experiments. Developed by The Artisans of Florence, whose Da Vinci and Archimedes exhibitions we have shown previously, this exhibition is ideal for children, families, and school groups, keen to experience science hands on. Waikato Museum is pleased to be the first venue in the world to showcase this latest exhibition.

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Marti Friedlander – Portraits of the Artists

22 May - 25 July 2021

Marti Friedlander (1928-2016) is one of our most prominent and highly regarded photographers. Her work has been central to New Zealand’s social and cultural life.

This exhibition is full of novel and compelling images of both well-known and now ‘forgotten’ or little-known artists, writers, craftspeople and actors, who were prominent players in expanding and vitalising cultural fields in New Zealand in the 1960s, 1970s and later.

Curated by Dr Len Bell, toured by New Zealand Portrait Gallery.

Image: Detail, Marti Friedlander, Don Driver in his studio, New Plymouth, 1978. Courtesy the Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust.

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Robin White - A Life in Prints 

On now until 30 May 2021

Robin White’s (Ngaati Awa) prints are windows into her world, both public and private. She has made prints for more than five decades and continues to develop her practice alongside painting. Inspired by her family, faith, and environment, White’s prints are technically and aesthetically testimony to her versatility as an artist. She is very much an artist of the Pacific, which is reflected in the content, and materials of her prints. This exhibition showcases a cross-section of White’s prints, the majority of which are from the Museum’s collection.

Image: Robin Adair White, White’s Place, Raglan - Edition 16/30, 1971. Collection of Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato

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Where Children Sleep

On now until 9 May 2021

Venice-based British photographer James Mollison initiated an ongoing photographic project drawing attention to the poverty experienced by children around the world, but in so doing, shows us the joy that each child possesses and exudes in coping with their own lives alongside some in more privileged settings. To highlight their plight, he has photographed where they sleep. Not always in a bed, nor even inside a building. His compassionate focus privileges us with a rare insight into the individual places where they rest their heads. Where Children Sleep shares 25 photographs of their sleeping spaces from Nepal, provincial China to downtown New York.

Exhibition developed and toured by Expressions Whirinaki 

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Shaping Hamilton Huringa Kirikiriroa

On now

Maps, historical artefacts, art, photographs and installations tell the story of the changing demographic and geographic shape of Hamilton.

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The Hamilton County Bluegrass Band – New Zealand Bluegrass Icons

8 May - 29 August 2021

It may surprise you to know that one of the longest running internationally renowned bands in Aotearoa New Zealand today is not from the genres of pop, disco, punk, metal, hip-hop, house or trance: it is bluegrass. The Hamilton County Bluegrass Band has been making bluegrass music together since 1966!

This exhibition honours the longevity of a band that began here on the green grass of the Waikato but has its musical roots in the blue grass of Kentucky and the Appalachian Mountains in the United States.

From their beginnings, the prolific discography and musical triumphs and losses, this is an exhibition about music excellence, friendship and family as a way of life.

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