Minutes of the 25th meeting of the Museum Council, National Museum of Iceland, Suðurgata 41, 101 Rvk., 9 January 2004, at 11:30.
Present were: Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, Ólafur Kvaran, Jóhann Ásmundsson, Ragnheiður H. Þórarinsdóttir and Rakel Halldórsdóttir. Gísli Sverrir Árnason was present via telephone.
1. Minor comments were made to the minutes of the 24th meeting. Signature awaits the next meeting.
2. Report of the Executive Director. The Executive Director reported on the activities of the Council since the last meeting. The audited annual accounts of the Museum Fund for 2002 were presented to the Council members.
3. Message to the Museum Council:
a. Submission from the Árnesinga Museum of Local History regarding funding for the reconstruction of the back building of the "Eggjaskúrsinn" at the House in Eyrarbakki. No comments were made on the cost estimate. The Museum Board approves the premises subject to the condition that fire and safety issues and safeguarding are handled satisfactorily.
4. Operational plan 2004. Discussion postponed.
5. Approval of the Service Agreement 2004. Discussion postponed.
6. The Museum Council's allocation system. The Danish allocation system was reviewed, but according to it, the grant amount is calculated based on grants to the museum that are not from the state. It was decided to use the Danish system as a model for the Museum Council's allocation system. The Museum Council will begin to assess applicants with regard to whether the institutions fall under the Museum Act. Following this, each application will be discussed with regard to grant awards. It can be expected that additional information will need to be requested from some museums.
7. Arrangements for activities and meetings in 2004. It was decided to maintain the established meeting schedule for 2004. Additional meetings will be held as needed.
8. Cooperation between the Museum Council and Statistics Iceland on statistical registration of museums, cf. proposal by Jóhann Ásmundsson. Discussion postponed until the next meeting.
The next scheduled meeting is January 29, 2004.
There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 1:20 PM/RH.