Minutes of the 17th meeting of the Museum Council, at Lyngás 7, 210 Garðabær,
April 25, 2003, at 11:00 AM.
Present were: Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, Ólafur Kvaran, Gísli Sverrir Árnason, Álfheiður Ingadóttir, Ragnheiður H. Þórarinsdóttir, Rakel Halldórsdóttir, and Jóhann Ásmundsson, who attended by phone.
Free admission to museums and the Hornafjörður Cultural Center's experiment with eliminating admission fees were briefly discussed.
There was a brief discussion about hiring a staff member, where their responsibility lies – stm. is on the payroll at the National Museum; how does that look to the Museum Council?
1. Signing the minutes of the 15th meeting and approval of the minutes of the 16th meeting. The minutes of the 15th meeting were signed. A minor change was made to the wording of the minutes of the 16th meeting; they will be signed at the next meeting.
2. Contents of the founding document (final version). Provisions will be added regarding the dissolution of the museum and the disposition of its assets in such an event. The chairman shall approve the amendment.
3. Title of the staff member of the Board of Trustees. Deferred to the next meeting.
4. Draft service agreement between the Ministry of Education, on behalf of the Museum Board, and the National Museum / Museum Board's 2003 budget. The service agreement will be amended in accordance with the revised operating plan. The operating plan will be revised so that the operations of the staff and the board are clearly separated. In addition, cost items will be consolidated into a few general categories (e.g., staff, meeting expenses, office expenses, other). We are awaiting a response from the National Museum's CFO regarding the monthly amount for facility and service rental. It was agreed that the National Museum will pay for and book the Museum Board's invoices starting today, although the service agreement will be finalized later.
5. Presentation of the problems of the Museum of the Húnvetningar and Strandamenn. In this context, the need for legal provisions regarding the dissolution of a museum and the disposition of its collections and other assets in such an event was discussed, as correctly pointed out by Pétur Jónsson, director of the folk museum, in a letter to the museum board. Furthermore, the need to revise the museum act on several other points was discussed, and ÁI suggested that it would be appropriate for a staff member of the council to keep track of the shortcomings the council identified regarding the act.
Regarding the Húnvetninga and Strandamanna Museum, a legal opinion is needed on the matter, e.g., regarding ownership shares – what it entails if one party withdraws. The Museum Council is not obligated to provide advice on this issue; it is a matter for the counties. The Museum Council, however, proposes establishing a collaboration between the new museum and exhibition development in Strandasýsla (e.g., the Witchcraft Exhibition on Ströndum, the Sheep Farming Center at Sævangi, and the Riis House in Borðeyri) and the folk museum (A suitable model is in Skagafjörður, where there is a successful collaboration between the Glaumbær Folk Museum and other museum activities in the area, such as the Westward Ho! Museum).
6. Draft of "Which Institutions Can Benefit from the Museum Fund – What Is a Museum?" The guidelines were approved with a change to the title.
In this context, discussion was held about institutions that are on the borderline of the legal definition of a museum and whether such institutions can be called museums by fulfilling all legal requirements. The Council for Collections views various institutions as "settings" or "exhibitions" and believes that such institutions should not try to define themselves as collections, but instead establish a good partnership with the regional museum. The need for the Council on Museums to establish a definitive definition of what a museum is was discussed, and it was agreed that this definition should be stricter than the one set forth in the Museums Act. Those museums that fall under this narrow definition would then be entitled to an operating grant from the council, while other "museums" might be eligible for project grants.
7. Draft of a new application form for 2004 grant applications. The form was approved with a minor change to one section.
8. Museum design/essential services with regard to accessibility for all – draft. Postponed until the next meeting.
9. European Museum of the Year Award 2004, The Herring Museum in Siglufjörður. It was agreed to send the Herring Museum a formal document notifying it of its nomination for the award. A letter from the museum director was presented requesting funding to complete the exhibition at Grána before the arrival of the EMYA delegation this summer/fall.
10. Proposal for a Board of Trustees' Entrepreneurial/Success Award. Deferred to the next meeting.
11. Grants from the Collections Fund 2003.
· Granting rules of the museum fund
The Director of the National Archives presented the collection council with the council's allocation rules, which had been approved by the Minister of Education.
· Grass garden
Draft founding charter from the Botanical Garden was presented. The possibility of operating support for the Botanical Garden was discussed. Since the Botanical Garden is a department under the Gardening Department of the City of Reykjavík, the museum board ruled the institution ineligible for an operating grant, as it had not applied for one this time. A project grant for the Botanical Garden was approved.
· ICOM – Project Grant
The discussion turned to ICOM's application for a project grant, and the application from the Association of Icelandic Museums on behalf of the Farskólinn was also addressed. These entities clearly do not fall under the Museum Act and therefore, by law, should not receive a grant from the Museum Fund. The chairman of the Museum Council, MH, and the representative of the Ministry of Education, RHÞ, were in agreement that it was necessary to resolve this matter so that ICOM would receive a grant from the Museum Fund, as it had been forgotten to include this museum activity when the Museum Act was drafted. RHÞ pointed to a provision in the Museum Fund's allocation regulations which states that the Museum Council shall allocate grants to unspecified projects that the council deems eligible at any given time. The Museum Council decided that since the issues are evolving and the law is being adapted to reality, these parties would receive project grants this year.
· Toy Museum
The wishes of the trustees of the Toy Museum for an operating grant during the year were discussed. Since the museum had not been established when the grant was applied for and no operating grant had been requested, it was decided to award only a project grant.
· Chess Federation of Iceland
Since the application from the Icelandic Chess Federation was not received by the collection committee until April 2003, it will be carried over to the next year.
Reviewed the request from the Egil Ólafsson Museum
A proposal from the Egill Ólafsson Museum was discussed, but it was intended for the Cultural Institutions Renovation Fund, which has since been discontinued. The Ministry of Education forwarded the application to the Museum Council for review. The letter concerns an application for a grant to complete the installation of a security system in the museum. Since the letter reached the Museum Council so late, it was decided to consider it along with next year's applications. JÁ went offline while this letter was being discussed.
· Request for a grant from the Herring Museum.
The Herring Museum's request for a grant to complete the smelting-industry exhibition at Grána ahead of the EMYA delegation's arrival this summer/fall was discussed. It was decided to award the museum an additional 100,000 kr in project funding for this.
Allocations were discussed in general. The Council of Museums agreed that museums operating as part of a larger unit will receive larger operating grants in the future to compensate for this operational economies of scale, which involves increased operational scope. The Museum Council also aims to take greater account of museums' financial capacity and capabilities when awarding operating grants in the future, but data on museum operations must first be collected to make this possible. This information will be collected through an application form for 2004 and the accompanying supporting documents. Allocations from the museum fund for the year 2003 were approved.
12. Report to the Board of Trustees:
· A grant intended for the Renovation Fund, which has been discontinued, from the Egil Ólafsson Museum – see discussion under item 11.
· Deputy to the National Conservator on the Collection Council.
This matter was briefly discussed; no change will be made.
13. Trip to the countryside and staff report.
A proposal discussed at the museum board meeting on February 27 to have the board "go Viking"—taking a short trip out of town to visit museums—was addressed. This would be the first step in implementing the idea for the board to familiarize itself with the operations of museums in the countryside. A proposal was made to hold the next meeting out of town; a decision will be made on that later, but OK pointed out that it is preferable, as much as possible, to stick to the meeting schedule set for the year.
MH proposed that a staff member present in report form at meetings the council's activities that have taken place between meetings. The report would cover the staff member's visits to museums and the main aspects of the activities during the period in question.
There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 1:20 PM/RH.