185th Board of Trustees Meeting

Friday, September 27, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: Museum House

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

1. Presentation case

    1. Summary of activities since the last meeting.
    2. The Museum Council welcomes the increase in funding for the Museum Fund by over 100 million króna in the 2020 draft budget, to 250.3 million króna for the year 2020. 245.5 million króna in 2021, and 240.6 million króna in 2022. This increased funding will enhance the Museum Fund's ability to support professional museum work in the country.
    3. Museum Board Strategy Session – The Executive Director gave an oral update on the project's status.
    4. Introduction – from the ICOM World Congress. The Executive Director of the Museum Council attended the ICOM World Congress, which was held in Kyoto, Japan, from September 1-7. She attended lectures organized by INTERCOM, the ICOM sub-committee for museum management and operations. However, the main topic of discussion at the conference was the new museum definition, which was to be voted on at the conference. This was, however, abandoned, and the vote was postponed until the next ICOM General Assembly.

2. Matters for decision

  1. It was approved that the Museum Council will partner with FÍSOS and ICOM Iceland for discussion meetings about ICOM's new museum definition.
  2. The following recommendations for allocations from the museum fund were approved.

Proposal 1: The museum fund shall remain intact.
Grants awarded from the endowment fund and the discontinuation of the use of the terms operating and project grants.
Operating grants will be incorporated into the general allocation.

Proposal 2: Fellowships.
In the main allocation, a new category of grants will be established, awarded for 2-3 years, subject to the fund's funding.

Proposal 3: Continuing education grants should be established and strengthened.

3. Other issues

Hilmar Malmquist submitted a letter from the National Museum of Natural History of Iceland to the Ministry of Education and Culture regarding the affairs of Sæheimar in the Westman Islands.

Meeting adjourned 12:50 / ÞBÓ