Minutes of the 33rd meeting of the Museum Council, 28 October 2004, 11:00-12:30, National Gallery of Iceland, Laufásvegur 12, 101 Reykjavík
Present were: Ólafur Kvaran, Gísli Sverrir Árnason, Jón Gunnar Ottósson, Sigrún Ásta Jónsdóttir and Rakel Halldórsdóttir. Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir was present by telephone.
1. Minutes of the 32nd meeting signed. Minutes of the 31st meeting will be signed at the next meeting.
2. Report of the Executive Director. The Minister of Education went to an interview with the Budget Committee of the Althingi on Wednesday, October 20th at 10:30, to advocate for the strengthening of the Museum Fund. It was agreed to send the Ministry of Education a letter requesting the ministry's position on the Budget Committee's direct allocation of funds to museums. Sigurður Rúnar Sigurjónsson, Committee Secretary of the Budget Committee, has written the master's thesis "The Budget Process of the Parliaments" in which he argues against this method.
An interview with the director was published in the Morgunblaðið newspaper on October 9th regarding the upcoming annual report of the Museum Council.
The Museum Fund has received an identification number from the Directorate of Internal Revenue's Corporate Registry - the identification number is 700904-3340. It was agreed to send a letter to the Ministry of Education requesting accounting services for the Museum Fund, comparable to those provided by the House Preservation Committee.
A letter has been received from the Ministry of Education and Culture regarding the Museums Council's inquiry regarding the ministry's involvement in matters related to the planned Aquarium. According to the letter, the matter is in the normal course with regard to the ministry's involvement.
3. Applications 2005 – presentation.
Applications have been received from 76 institutions. The total amount of applications is just under 200 million ISK.
4. Entrance fees to museums.
The government's resolution from the 1990s on admission fees to state-owned museums was discussed. It was agreed to propose to the Ministry of Education and Culture that a working group be established to review the resolution in light of the international debate on admission fees to museums and the abolition of admission fees in the UK and Sweden.
5. Museum Council's seminar on museum policy and cultural policy, autumn 2005. It was decided to define the goals of the seminar and the main themes for discussion at the next meeting. ÓK pointed out that special cultural laws apply in our neighboring countries. It was discussed that the conference would be two days long and that it would likely cost about 2 million. ISK. The conference must be included in next year's operating budget.
6. FÍSOS Mobile School 2004. The Association of Icelandic Museums and Collectors sent a letter requesting that the Museum Council support the FÍSOS mobile school this year as in previous years. It was agreed to deny the request for funding. SÁJ withdrew from the meeting while the matter was discussed.
7. Annual Report 2003. It was agreed to have the Museum Council's annual report 2003 printed and to send copies to museum institutions, ministries, members of parliament and the media. The Minister will consult with Álfheiði Ingadóttir at the Institute of Natural History regarding the printing and publication of the report.
8. Other matters – 1. Annual accounts 2003. The annual accounts 2003 were approved by the council and signed by the chairman in two copies to be sent to the National Audit Office.
9. Other matters – 2. Application from the Ghost Center in Stokkseyri. JGO received an application from the Ghost Center in Stokkseyri to the Museum Fund 2005. It was agreed that the application will not be accepted as the application deadline has expired. The Minister of Culture invited the Ghost Center to provide an assessment of its activities in accordance with the Museums Act.
10. Next meeting. It was decided to go on a previously scheduled field trip to South Iceland on November 25th and meet the same day in Stokkseyri or Eyrarbakki.
There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 12:30/RH