120th Museum Council Meeting

March 20, 2013, 1-3 pm at the National Museum of Iceland

Present: Ólafur Kvaran, chairman, Ragna Árnadóttir, Guðbrandur Benediktsson, Haraldur Þór Egilsson, Sigríður Björk Jónsdóttir, Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, national monument curator, and Ágústa Kristófersdóttir, Ms. Halldór B. Runólfsson, director of the National Gallery of Iceland, announced their absence.

  1. Museum accreditation, draft checklist and timeframe reviewed. Approved that applications for accreditation will open on June 1st and the last date for applications to be considered in 2013 will be September 15th.
  2. Museum charters, review checklist for museum charters. Approved that charters will be advertised for review and confirmation on April 1, with an advertisement in newspapers as well as on the mailing list and on the website. A confirmed charter is a prerequisite for a museum to apply for recognition.
  3. Appointment of a working group on policy development. It was agreed that the three main museums, together with the museology department, will be asked to appoint representatives to a working group on the Museum Council that will work on policy development for museum work in accordance with Article 7(b) of the Museums Act. The Museum Council's representatives are HÞE and ÁK, who will lead the work. The group will submit a draft to the Council in early 2014.
  4. Museum Board meeting schedule. Approved that meeting invitations will be sent out according to schedule.
  5. Other issues:
    1. Possible disqualification of trustees in allocation from museum funds, RÁ will review the matter before the next meeting.
    2. Research Center for Museology: GB, the representative of the Museum Council on the RS board, reported on board meetings and the center's work.
    3. Nordic cooperation: ÁK compiles a memorandum of sister institutions in the Nordic countries.
    4. Spring meeting of the National Museum on April 8th: ÁK will attend the meeting on behalf of the Museum Council and briefly discuss the aspects of the accreditation process that the Council has already approved.
    5. GB introduced the ICOM Nord meeting to be held in Reykjavík on June 6-8.
    6. The next meeting of the Museum Board, an allocation meeting, will be held on April 18th from 12-4 p.m.

 

There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 3:00 PM/AK.