Thursday, May 12, 2016 at: 12:00-14:00
in a meeting room on the 6th floor of the National Museum of Iceland
Present: Ólafur Kvaran, chairman, Anna Sigríður Kristjánsdóttir, Guðbrandur Benediktsson, Haraldur Þór Egilsson, Sigríður Björk Jónsdóttir, Halldór Björn Runólfsson and Þóra Björk Ólafsdóttir, managing director. Absent: Hilmar J. Malmquist and Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir.
1. Presentation case
1.1. Summary of activities since the last meeting.
1.2. Grants from the Museum Fund for 2016 were presented to the Council, and on April 22nd the allocation was announced. The Minister of Education, Culture and Science allocated funds from the fund after receiving the Museum Council's opinion, and in 2016 a total of ISK 108.4 million was allocated. Of that amount, ISK 78.8 million went to individual projects, while almost ISK 30 million went to operating grants to recognized museums throughout the country. This time, applications for grants were received for a total of 152 projects. Grants were allocated to 93 projects and ranged from ISK 140,000 to ISK 2,900,000.
1.3. 2nd draft of new procedures for the Museum Council regarding changed allocation rules from the museum fund presented to the Museum Council.
1.4. Report on the first meeting of the working group for the upcoming symposium on museums and tourism to be held next autumn. Magnús Karel Hannesson, Director of Operations and Publications at the Association of Icelandic Local Authorities, has joined the working group on behalf of the association.
2. Matters for decision
2.1 Offer from Nýherji for FocalForms approved. This is an application form system for applications to the museum fund and submission of data to the museum board by the museum board's clients.
2.2 The request of the Görður Regional Museum to have the Museum Board confirm that the proposed museum building meets the Museum Board's terms and conditions for museum housing was approved.
2.3 Request for postponement of the use of a grant from the Kópavogur Natural History Institute approved.
2.4 Request for postponement of the use of grants from the Icelandic Design Museum approved.
3. Other issues
The Centre for Museum Studies' response to comments on the report on museums and tourism was discussed. Other issues were not discussed.
Meeting adjourned at 2:00 PM/TMB