Minutes of the 37th meeting of the Museum Council, February 10, 2005, 11:30-13:00,
National Gallery of Iceland, Laufásvegur 12, 101 Reykjavík
Present were: Ólafur Kvaran, Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, Gísli Sverrir Árnason, Álfheiður Ingadóttir and Rakel Halldórsdóttir. Sigrún Ásta Jónsdóttir announced her absence.
1. Minutes of the 36th meeting approved and signed. More signatures for the minutes await the next meeting.
2. Report of the Managing Director. Applications are being processed, some applicants still have to submit supporting documents with their applications. The 2005 budget was approved, and a somewhat more extensive campaign to strengthen Icelandic museum work financially and professionally is expected than in recent years. One major symposium is planned for the year and the publication of the Museum Council's annual report for 2004, along with professional articles on museum affairs. The Museum Council declines the invitation of the Icelandic representative on the editorial board of the journal Nordisk Museologi to serve as the Managing Director of the Museum Council on the journal's national editorial board, as other projects at the council will take priority.
3. The Museum – comment according to Article 11 of the Museums Act. At the request of the Ministry of Education, the Museum’s submission requesting a building grant according to Article 11 of the Museums Act was discussed. This involves a new building of approximately 160 square meters and a redesign of the ?Old Store? building, approximately 195.5 square meters. The Museum Council approved the cost estimate and premises with the proviso that laws, rules and standards regarding the safety of service buildings and the preservation of museum objects would be followed.
4. Icelandic Museum of Technology – comment. At the request of the Ministry of Education, a presentation by Valdimar Össurarson, the tourism representative for Austur-Flói, on the Icelandic Museum of Technology was discussed. Valdimar proposes that a fourth main museum, the Icelandic Museum of Technology, be established by amending the Museums Act. The matter was discussed and agreed that it was important to prioritize state spending on matters of Iceland's main museums, but the council considered it urgent to establish the Icelandic Museum of Natural History, as discussed in the Museums Act. It was further pointed out that a special museum in the field of the country's technical heritage as a whole would be a desirable first step.
5. Formal recognition of museums. A presentation by Pétur Kristjánsson was discussed, in which he points out the importance of museums that the Museums Council considers to fall under the Museums Act receiving formal confirmation as recognized museums in some way. It was agreed to discuss the matter in connection with another item on the meeting's agenda, the drafting of a regulation on the Museums Act.
6. Nomination of a museum for EMYA – procedures. Procedures were approved for the nomination of a museum for EMYA (European Museum of the Year Award). It is intended that the Museum Council will request proposals from professionals for nominations in September each year. The professionals that will be approached are the National Museum of Iceland, the Icelandic Institute of Natural History/Natural History Museum of Iceland, the National Gallery of Iceland, ICOM in Iceland and the Association of Icelandic Museums and Museums.
7th NODEM conference 2006. The matter concerns the Association of Icelandic Museums and Collectors and was therefore postponed until the next meeting due to the absence of a representative of the association.
8. Regulations on Articles 4 and 7 of the Museums Act and amendments to the Museums Act. The matter was discussed at length and will be continued at the next meeting, depending on its scope.
9th Museum Council 2005 seminar on policy in museum affairs. The issue was briefly discussed and it was decided to continue the discussion at the next meeting. The Chair and the Chair will meet between meetings to discuss the topic of the seminar. The emphasis will be on museums as part of the education system and questions such as "what do we learn in museums?" will be highlighted. This emphasis is intended to promote understanding of the multifaceted social role of museums, but the discussion in Iceland has been somewhat colored by the emphasis on the social role of museums as institutions for preserving cultural heritage. Furthermore, policy in museum affairs and expectations of authorities to set policy regarding the social mission of museums will be discussed.
10. Allocation from the National Archives Fund 2005. The main criteria for the 2005 allocation were discussed and it was agreed that emphasis would be placed on increased project grants at the expense of operating grants.
11. Next meeting and other matters.
The next scheduled meeting of the Museum Council is February 24. The Museum Fund's Allocation Committee will meet on February 21.
There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 1:00 PM/RH.