Thursday, March 7, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Location: The Museum
Present: Ólafur Kvaran, Chair, Anna Sigríður Kristjánsdóttir, Vice Chair, Haraldur Þór Egilsson (by telephone), Sigríður Björk Jónsdóttir, Harpa Þórsdóttir, Hilmar Malmquist, Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, and Þóra Björk Ólafsdóttir, Executive Director. Helga Lára Þorsteinsdóttir was unable to attend.
1. Matter for presentation
- Hilmar Malmquist presented to the council a communication from the Vestmannaeyjar Municipality Knowledge Center, which was received by the National Museum of Iceland on February 27 regarding a change in the operation of Sæheimar. The letter stated that the accredited museum Sæheimar, previously operated by the City of Vestmannaeyjar, will be closed and will henceforth be operated by Beluga Operation Company ehf. (under the name Sealife Trust) and the museum is scheduled to open on March 15 of this year. According to a memorandum presented for discussion at a town council meeting, part of the museum's collection (including taxidermied birds) will be operated by Sealife Trust, but will remain the property of the town. The rest of the collection is to be distributed to the city's institutions. According to the museum's founding charter, upon its closure, its assets are to be disposed of in cooperation with the National Museum and the Ministry of Education and Culture. However, it is unclear to the museum board or the Natural History Museum whether the ministry has received a proposal regarding the matter.
- Overview of the council's activities since the last meeting.
- The Executive Director presented an overview of the 2nd phase of the Council for Museums' monitoring. Of the 46 accredited museums, 40 have received a notice of monitoring and 37 have received an evaluation report from the Council's monitoring committee. One museum will receive its monitoring report shortly, and two have been granted an extension. Five museums will be notified of a monitoring visit this March, and three will be notified later this year or in early next year.
- The Minister of Education and Culture has allocated funds from the 2019 main distribution of the Museum Fund, upon the recommendation of the Museum Council, totaling 113,850,000 kr. In operating support grants, 29,600,000 kr. was awarded to 37 accredited museums, ranging from 500,000 to 1,000,000 kr. In project grants, a total of 84,250,000 kr. was awarded for 85 projects, ranging from 300,000 kr. to 2.5 million kr. 142 project applications were received, and the total requested amount was just over 190 million kr.
- The initial ideas were presented. Working Group on Recognition and Grants.
2. Matters for decision
- There were no cases to be decided this time.
3. Other matters
- Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, the National Museum Curator, informed the meeting of the new organizational chart for the National Museum of Iceland.
Meeting adjourned 1:00 PM / THB