184th Board of Trustees Meeting

Friday, August 23, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Location: Museum House

Present: Ólafur Kvaran, Chair; Anna Sigríður Kristjánsdóttir, Vice Chair; Haraldur Þór Egilsson; Helga Lára Þorsteinsdóttir; Sigríður Björk Jónsdóttir; Harpa Þórsdóttir; Hilmar Malmquist; Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir; and Þóra Björk Ólafsdóttir, Executive Director.

Minutes signed.

1. Presentation case

    1. Summary of activities since the last meeting
    2. Strategic planning for collection work in collaboration with parent institutions. Introduction to the project's process and timeline.
    3. Collaborative project in which the council is a participant, Museums of Impact! (My Own Identity!) received a €365,650 grant from the Creative Europe fund. 346 applications were received and 19 projects were awarded grants. MOI! aims to develop a model for museum self-evaluation and quality development, which will be useful for both the museums themselves and museum regulators (such as the Museum Council). The project is also intended to help museums increase their impact on society as well as improve their services to it. The National Museum Council is one of the project's 11 partners, but the project is led by the Finnish Heritage Agency and is scheduled to begin in December 2019. The participants in the project are:
      • Finnish Heritage Agency (formerly National Board of Antiquities), FI
      • Istituto Beni Culturali IBC, Regione Emilia-Romagna, IT (NOTE: If you fall off the wagon, BAM! Strategie Culturali will take over)
      • Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, EL
      • German Museums Association/NEMO Network of Museum Organisations, DE
      • Museum of Cycladic Art, EL
      • Estonian National Museum/Eesti Rahva Muuseum, EE
      • Finnish Museums Association, FI
      • European Museum Academy, NL
      • Museum Council of Iceland
      • Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz SPK, DE
      • MUSIS Styrian Museum Association, AT
    4. At the 183rd Museum Board meeting, it was approved that the Museum Board and the major museums would write a joint letter in response to a letter from the Ministry of Education and Culture to municipalities regarding the 2018-2024 Regional Policy Program, and the letter was presented to the meeting.
    5. A symposium on natural monuments will be held in the fall of 2020, and it is a joint project of the Museum Council and the National Museum of Natural History of Iceland. Hilmar Malmquist and Þóra Björk Ólafsdóttur presented the initial ideas for the symposium.
    6. Recommendations of the working group on the museum fund discussed and the group's report, Status Report on the Recognition and Types of Grants of the Collections Council received.

2. Matters for decision

  1. It was approved that Helga Lára Þorsteinsdóttir, Curator of the Collection, be added to the steering group for the Museum Council's strategic plan for museum work in collaboration with major museums.
  2. The council's oversight of accredited museums and the work of the supervisory board were discussed, and the council was informed about upcoming projects. It was approved to increase the board's pay by 20%, as the rate has not been raised since 2016.

3. Other issues

No other issues discussed.

Meeting adjourned 17:50 / TBÓ