Minutes of the 28th meeting of the Museum Council, April 1, 2004, 11:30-13:30, National Gallery of Iceland, Laufásvegur 12, 101 Reykjavík
Present were: Ólafur Kvaran, Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, Álfheiður Ingadóttir, Sigrún Ásta Jónsdóttir, Jónína A. Sanders, Ragnheiður H. Þórarinsdóttir and Rakel Halldórsdóttir.
1. The Ministry of Education and Culture announced the position that it no longer considers it necessary for its representative to attend meetings of the Museum Council. The Ministry of Education and Culture then withdrew from the meeting.
2. Minutes of the 26th meeting signed. Comments were made to the minutes of the 27th meeting, they will be signed at the next meeting.
3. Disqualification of council members. It was discussed, in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, when council members should be considered incompetent to discuss matters within the council's scope of work, especially those relating to the Museum Fund, but it is clear that two council members are also interested parties as they are directors of museums that fall under the Museum Act and apply for membership in the Museum Fund. The council members in question, JÁ and GSÁ, have withdrawn from council meetings when matters of the museums they supervise have been discussed. It was decided that the Minister of Justice would send a letter requesting a legal opinion from the Minister of Justice regarding this.
4. Report of the Executive Director. The Executive Director reported on the activities of the Council since the last meeting. The Executive Director has approved the final settlement with the National Museum of Iceland regarding the Council's lease of facilities and services in Feb. 2003 through 2004. No comments were made on the settlement. The Executive Director currently sits on the steering committee for policy development at the Reykjavík Museum.
The Minister was encouraged to apply for membership in the Association of Directors of Government Agencies, which is a forum for various useful knowledge and information on issues related to the administration of government agencies and the handling of cases.
5. Reaction to the 2004 allocation. Reaction to the Museum Council's 2004 allocations from the Museum Fund has been strong and negative voices have been loud. Submissions regarding the allocation have been received from the Reykjavík Museum of Art, the Reykjavík Museum of Photography, the Sveinssafn, the Sauðfjárssetur, the Icelandic Toy Museum, the Technical Museum of East Iceland, the ASÍ Art Museum, the Reykjavík Art Museum and Nonnahús. Requested information regarding the application of the Akureyri Art Museum was also received.
There was considerable discussion about the criteria for the allocation and the tight financial situation of the Museum Fund and the criticism that has been expressed regarding it. Two papers were considered, those of the Sheep Museum and the East Iceland Technical Museum, and it was agreed to provide these museums with full operating funding. In both cases, the previous decision, regarding reduced operating funding, was based on incomplete information about the nature of the funding from the Budget Committee. It was agreed, due to the scope, to postpone further consideration of the papers until the next meeting.
6. Grant processing. Matter postponed until the next meeting.
7. Nodem conference in Iceland 2005. Matter postponed until the next meeting.
8. Cooperation between the Museum Council and Statistics Iceland on statistical registration of museums. Matter postponed until the next meeting.
9. Spokesperson for EMF in Iceland. Matter postponed until the next meeting.
10. Guidelines for self-assessment of museums. Matter postponed until the next meeting.
11. Next meeting and other matters. No other matters were discussed. The next meeting according to the meeting schedule is April 29th, but it was agreed to meet next on April 23rd instead.
There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 1:30 PM/RH.