In August 2001 Rotorua Museum of Art and History won the award for Best Heritage Attraction at the New Zealand Tourism Awards.
The Museum has continued to develop with the significant renovation of the north-west gallery completed in December enabling international exhibitions previously disbarred from visiting Rotorua, due to the high level of corrosive sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere, to be seen by the Rotorua community.
In addition the foyer of the Museum was retiled in a style as close as possible to the original, part of a process of returning the building to its original state that began some five years ago. The opportunity has also been taken to enable visitors to access the basement of the building where a 'Pepper's ghost' of one of the workers who toiled below ground to keep the therapeutic baths and spas operating explains how the process worked.
The Museum's education programme continued to expand during the year with the innovative development of outreach lessons to schools throughout New Zealand using video-conferencing technology. This enables two-way communication between the pupils in their normal classroom and teachers at the Museum in real time.
During the year the Kaumatua Advisory Council was re-established with representation from across Te Arawa. The Kaumatua Council meets quarterly with Council representatives of the Museum to discuss policy and protocol issues in relation to tangata whenua.