August 28, 2014, 12-2 p.m. In meeting room on the 6th floor of the National Museum of Iceland
Present: Ólafur Kvaran, chairman, Anna Sigríður Kristjánsdóttir, Sigríður Björk Jónsdóttir, Haraldur Þór Egilsson, Ólöf K. Sigurðardóttir, Anna Lísa Rúnarsdóttir, Halldór Björn Runólfsson, Hilmar Malmquist and Ágústa Kristófersdóttir, executive committee members.
Minutes of the 133rd meeting signed.
Presentation case
1. Summary of activities since the last meeting.
2. Supervisory role of the museum board – memorandum with draft implementation submitted and discussed. A more detailed implementation will be presented to the next meeting along with the results of a cost survey. The Icelandic branch of the Nordic Conservation Association will be consulted on the implementation.
Matter for decision
1. Symposium on museum research, agenda submitted and approved.
2. Symposium on museums and tourism, agreed to seek bids for the project from the Research Center for Museology.
3. Message from the City History Museum, agreed to respond to the message in the following manner:
a. A new merged museum does not need to apply separately for re-accreditation. However, it must submit a new charter of the merged museum to the Museum Council for approval and must also submit a formal request to have a certificate of accreditation issued in the name of the new museum.
b. In light of the ongoing work on formulating new rules for the allocation of operating grants, the Council cannot answer the question at this time. The City History Museum's application for an operating grant will be considered when other applications for operating grants are considered.
4. Statement from the Prime Minister's Office regarding amendments to the Cultural Heritage Act, agreement that the Museum Council will not comment on the act.
5. The following recommendation to museums that are non-profit institutions is adopted: museums that are defined as non-profit institutions in their charter should review Act No. 33/1999 on non-profit institutions engaged in business and Act No. 19/1988 on funds and institutions operating under a confirmed charter and ensure that the registration and operations of the institution are in line with the laws that the activities are to comply with according to the charter. The recommendation should be addressed to museums that they ensure that registration in the business register is in line with the laws that the museum operates under.
6. Proposal to text advertisements for applications to the museum fund in 2015 approved.
7. Resumption of processing of the Hunting Museum's accreditation, approval to send a proposal to the Minister of Education and Culture for the museum to be granted accreditation with the proviso that it change the arrangement of annual accounts so that the museum's assets are not specified among the museum's assets that can be pledged, as it is not permitted to dispose of museum assets without consultation with the main museum in accordance with Article 16 of the Museums Act No. 141/2011.
Other issues:
1. That a general recommendation be made to recognized museums that they not list museum items among the museum's assets that can be pledged, as it is not permitted to dispose of museum items without consultation with the main museum in accordance with Article 16 of the Museums Act No. 141/2011.
2. Proposal that the next meeting be held on September 25th from 12-2 pm.
No further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 14:00/AK