Minutes of the 31st meeting of the Museum Council, June 18, 2004, 11:30-13:30, National Gallery of Iceland, Laufásvegur 12, 101 Reykjavík
Present were: Ólafur Kvaran, Álfheiður Ingadóttir, Jóhann Ásmundsson, Gísli Sverrir Árnason and Rakel Halldórsdóttir. Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir announced her absence.
1. Minutes of the 29th meeting and 30th meeting approved and signed, more signatures await the next meeting.
2. Report of the Executive Director. The Executive Director reported on the activities of the Council since the last meeting. A letter and brochures that the Museum sent to the Council members were distributed.
The Director General has applied for general membership of the European Museum Forum for the Museum Council.
The Director of the Museum is on the mobile school committee for the Icelandic Museum and Art Collectors' Association's mobile school 2004, which is scheduled for November 10-12.
The Minister of Culture is planning a trip to South and East Iceland next August, to visit the main museums in the region. The Minister of Culture was tasked with making a proposal for a 2004 Museums Council field trip to museums in North Iceland in September.
It is timely to consider issuing criteria for museum work in Iceland. The Icelandic Museum Council was tasked with making a proposal for such an issue.
3. Allocation 2004. A letter has been received from the City Attorney requesting further justification for the allocation to the Reykjavík Museum of Art and the Reykjavík Photography Museum in light of the justification stated in the Museum Council's letters to the museums regarding the decision to grant funds. The proposal of the City Attorney in response was approved with some amendments.
Discussion continued on the submissions of the Akureyri Art Museum and the ASÍ Art Museum. Regarding the Akureyri Art Museum: A legal assessment has not yet been received from the Ministry of Education and Culture on the possibility of the Museum Council referring to the ICOM statutes as justification for decisions. The council will send the museum a notification of the outcome after receiving the opinion of the minister, otherwise the matter will be taken up again at the next meeting. It has been revealed that the Húsavík Whale Center is registered as a private limited company in the Companies Register despite plans and draft statutes from 2002 on changing the institution to a non-profit organization. The board of directors was instructed to investigate the matter further and freeze the processing of grants to the institution until its position with respect to the Museum Act is clear.
The processing of the ASÍ Art Museum's report awaits the next meeting, as the chairman and the vice-chairman have not yet had the opportunity to visit the museum due to overlapping work trips by the museum's director and the chairman of the Museum Council.
4. Idea for new emphases in allocations in 2005. The proposal of the Board of Directors to investigate the situation better before considering new criteria for allocations was approved. A questionnaire will be sent out regarding the opinions of museums on emphases in allocations from the Museum Fund, with an application form for 2005. It was approved to advertise for applications for 2005, with an application deadline of October 1st. The need for quality assessment of museums was discussed and the Board of Directors was instructed to adapt the Danish methods for quality assessment of Danish museums to Icelandic conditions. It was also agreed to instruct the Board of Directors to consider a symposium organized by the Museum Council on the Museum Act, its advantages and disadvantages, on the morning of the day the school will begin.
5. Act No. 105/2001. Postponed until the next meeting.
6. Next meeting and other matters. The next meeting according to the meeting schedule is August 26th, but it was agreed to meet the next time in the second week of September.
Other issues:
6.1 NODEM conference in Reykjavík 2005. Representatives from NODEM are expected to arrive in Iceland on August 23 or 24 for the organization's preparatory conference in Reykjavík 2005. It was decided that the head museums would nominate representatives to the conference's project committee before that time.
6.2 Disqualification of Trustees. A response is still awaited to the Museum Council's submission to the Minister regarding when the disqualification of trustees applies with regard to grants from the Museum Fund.
6.3 It was agreed to establish a Museum Fund Allocation Committee, which will include representatives of the main museums on the Museum Council. The committee's task will be to review individual applications and make decisions on allocation. The Ministry of Education will be notified of this decision.
There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 1:30 PM/RH.