June 18, 2015 at: 12-14 in the meeting room on the 6th floor of the National Museum of Iceland
Present: Ólafur Kvaran, chairman, Anna Sigríður Kristjánsdóttir, Haraldur Þór Egilsson, Guðbrandur Benediktsson, Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, Anna María Urbancic in the absence of Halldór Björn Runólfsson, and Ágústa Kristófersdóttir, acting chairman. Absent: Hilmar J. Malmquist and Sigríður Björk Jónsdóttir,
Approval and signing of the minutes of the 142nd meeting of the Museum Council
Presentation case
1. Overview of activities since the last meeting, review of the status of projects according to the project plan.
2. The status of the museum fund is presented and is in accordance with the annual budget.
3. The status of the Museum Council's policy development was presented and exceeded the status of the policy development at the main museums as presented in a written response to the Museum Council. Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir commented on the statement in the response from the Natural History Museum of Iceland that no work had been done on the NMSÍ's policy development during the time that MH held the position of director, because work had been done on the policy development at that time.
4. A report with the results of a survey assessing the satisfaction of applicants for the museum fund will be presented and will be published on the council's website and sent to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for information. The comments made in the survey will be responded to as much as possible. The conclusion of the survey is that grantees are generally satisfied with the fund's service and the allocation arrangements.
5. Letter from the Icelandic Herring Museum submitted for presentation.
Matter for decision
1. Due to the work of the Museum Council on policy development in the field of museum affairs, a proposal was approved that the Director of the Museum Council be tasked with preparing a draft table of contents for the main museums' museum policies based on the Museum Act and the experience gained at the National Museum of Iceland in preparing museum policies in the field of cultural heritage. The Director will present the matter to the directors of the National Museum of Iceland and the National Museum of Iceland at a special meeting.
Other issues:
The Executive Director, in consultation with the Chairman, has been instructed to send a report to the Minister of Education and Culture regarding the changed arrangement for the allocation of foundation grants to recognized museums. The next meeting of the Museum Council will be on September 3rd. No further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 14:00/ÁK