35th Museum Council Meeting

Minutes of the 35th meeting of the Museum Council, December 13, 2004, 11:30-13:00,
National Gallery of Iceland, Laufásvegur 12, 101 Reykjavík

Present were: Ólafur Kvaran, Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, Jón Gunnar Ottósson, Gísli Sverrir Árnason, Sigrún Ásta Jónsdóttir, Rakel Halldórsdóttir and Ragnheiður H. Þórarinsdóttir. 

1. Minutes of the 34th meeting signed.

2. Amendments to the Museums Act No. 106/2001.
Ragnheiður H. Þórarinsdóttir, a specialist in the Department of Art and Museums at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, attended the meeting at the request of the council to discuss possible changes to the Museums Act No. 106/2001. There was a great deal of discussion on the matter. At a symposium of the Museums Council and the Association of Icelandic Museums and Museum Owners at the association's mobile school on November 10-12, and elsewhere, the views have been expressed that there is a need for special legislation on state subsidies for the activities of centers, museum guides and exhibitions. These are institutions that carry out certain aspects of museum work. These institutions partially but not entirely comply with Article 4 of the Museums Act and therefore do not fall under the Museums Act and cannot benefit from subsidies from the Museums Fund. It is clear that considerable money is provided from the state treasury each year to institutions of this type, but there is no legislation on subsidies to these institutions.
The Museum Council agreed that these institutions need to find some place in law. 
It was noted at the meeting that Magnús Stefánsson, chairman of the Budget Committee, recently declared at a public meeting of heads of government agencies that the Budget Committee intends to increase funding for the National Archives next year.
It was agreed that the Museum Council would send a formal report to the Ministry of Education and Culture, specifying which issues need special emphasis regarding the revision of the Museum Act.

3. FÍSOS mobile school.
The discussion at the last meeting about funding for the FÍSOS mobile school was continued and it was agreed that the mobile school would be funded if it turns out that there had been a loss in its operations. It is likely that the mobile school will be more or less on a break-even basis after the settlement. The circumstances of the mobile school this year are unique as the school is hosted by the main museum, the National Museum of Iceland, which is not eligible to apply for funding from the Museum Fund. However, the Museum Council considered it important that the mobile school, as an independent unit and an important forum for communicating to collectors on professional issues related to museum work, be funded as has been the case in recent years.  

4. Meeting schedule for 2005. The meeting schedule for 2005 was approved. It is expected that there will be nine regular meetings during the year and a 2-day field trip to Northwest Iceland. Changes to the meeting schedule and other meetings will be assessed as needed.

5. Next meeting and other matters. 
The date of the next meeting will be determined later, but it will be held at the beginning of the new year.

There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 1:00 PM/RH.

Appendix: Museum Council meeting schedule 2005.