The Museum Council's annual report for 2015 is now available on the council's website. The report was approved at the council's 153rd meeting on August 30. The report reviews the activities of the Museum Council in 2015 and includes an overview of the allocation from the museum fund in 2015. It also contains a summary of the operations of recognized museums in 2014, which may be useful to museums …

The procedures can also be downloaded (PDF file) here. 1. Role of the Museum Council According to the Museum Act, the role of the Museum Council is to provide an opinion on grant applications to the Museum Fund. When the application deadline has passed, the Director of the Museum Council reviews the applications and excludes those that do not meet the Museum Council's requirements. If there are any doubts, they are presented to the chairman. The Museum Council receives a list of …

The Museum Council would like to remind you that the last date for submitting applications for recognition under the Museums Act, in order for the application to be processed before the application deadline for the 2017 Museum Fund expires, is 31 August 2016. Applications received after that time will not be processed until after the 2017 Museum Fund has been allocated. Only recognized museums other than state-owned museums …

  The Museum Board office will be closed for summer vacation from July 15 to August 15. If the matter is urgent, the Executive Director can be reached at 820-5450.

The new allocation rules for the Museum Fund came into effect on June 1st, and the fund will therefore be allocated according to the revised rules at the next allocation. The revised rules will be better presented to museums and stakeholders next fall, but the rules can be found here. The allocation rules have been confirmed by the Minister and published in the Government Gazette (Opens in a new browser window).  

The Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, after receiving the Museum Council's opinion, has allocated a total of 108.4 million ISK from the Museum Fund for 2016. Of this amount, 78.8 million ISK goes to individual projects, while almost 30 million goes to operating grants to recognized museums throughout the country. This time, a total of 152 projects received applications for grants. Grants are being allocated to 93 projects …

According to the Museum Act, those who receive grants from the Museum Fund must submit a final report within a year of the expected end of the project. It is now almost two years since the allocation of grants in 2014, and since grants are awarded for one year, it can be assumed that a year will have passed since the end of all projects on the 30th. …

  For information regarding the allocation from the 2016 Museum Fund: The Museum Council's allocation meeting was held on Thursday, March 3rd, and a proposal for allocation from the 2016 Museum Fund was sent to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science on Monday, March 7th for confirmation by the Minister.

The Research Center for Museum Studies at the University of Iceland and the Institute of Economics at the University of Iceland conducted a study on the interaction between museums and tourism at the request of the Museums Council during the year and have now submitted a report with the results of the study. The main objective of the study is to analyze the status and economic impact of cultural tourism, with an emphasis on museums and museum-related activities, and to conduct opinion surveys among stakeholders …

  The Museum Council has appointed Þóra Björk Ólafsdóttir as the Director of the Museum Council. Þóra Björk holds a BS degree in Business Administration from Reykjavík University and an MA degree in Museology from the University of Iceland. Þóra has worked as a specialist in the finance and services department at the National Museum of Iceland and served as the Director of the Department there, at the Natural History Museum of Iceland, in addition to …