Minutes of the 48th meeting of the Museum Council, March 13, 2006, at 13:30 – 15:00,
National Gallery of Iceland, Laufásvegur 12, 101 Reykjavík
Present were: Ólafur Kvaran, Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, Sveinn Kristinsson, Karl Rúnar Þórsson, Álfheiður Ingadóttir and Rakel Halldórsdóttir.
1. The minutes of the 47th meeting were approved and signed.
2. Report of the Managing Director. Survey by the Icelandic Museums Council on the status of museum registration, March 2006The survey, which will be conducted in the QuestionPro.com web application, was reviewed. The survey was approved and will be sent to eligible museums. Seminar on accessibility for people with disabilities in museums, February 23, 2006 went well. A task force on accessibility for disabled people in museums was formed at the seminar. The Director has agreed to move lectures on the Museum Council, museum law, the legal environment for museums and the overall state of museum affairs in this country at the Coast Guard Course at Hólar University and a course in tourism studies at the University of Iceland. The lecture at the Coast Guard Course will be delivered remotely. Revamped Museums Council websiteThe Executive Director has begun work on migrating content from the council's old website to the new one. The website is expected to be operational by the end of March.
3. Akureyri Art Museum – application 2005. The application of the Akureyri Art Museum was discussed. A decision regarding the application has been delayed as the Museum Council has requested a response to a query from the Ministry of Education regarding the interpretation of the Museums Act with regard to the operational form of museums. A response to that query has not been received from the Ministry of Education, but in the Ministry’s response to the Museum Council’s query regarding the Council’s possibility of referring to the ICOM Code of Ethics in its justification, the Ministry points out that the ICOM Code of Ethics was taken into account when drafting the draft Museums Act. In light of that response, the Council agreed to reject the Akureyri Art Museum’s application to the Museums Fund in 2005, as the museum’s operational form conflicts with Article 2 of the ICOM Convention.
4. Natural History Museums – application for project funding from the Museum Fund 2006 for a registration system for natural history museums. Discussion continued on the application from the last meeting. It was agreed to postpone the decision.
5. Amendments to the Museums Act. A letter was approved to the committee working on the revision of the Museums Act under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. The letter outlines the issues that the Museums Council considers important for the committee to consider when revising the act. A meeting with the committee is also requested to discuss these issues in more detail.
6. Development of the Department of Museum Studies at the University of Iceland. A letter has been received from Ólafur Þ. Harðarson, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, expressing the department's support for the development of the Department of Museum Studies. In the letter, Ólafur proposes that a working group be established to work on possible cooperation between the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Museum Council on this development. The Museum Council agreed to nominate the Executive Director as the Council's representative on the working group and that a letter to this effect would be sent to the Dean. The letter also states that the Museum Council, according to current law, is not authorized to financially support projects that are not run by museums. If the Council considered it appropriate for the main museums to examine the possibility of collaboration with the Faculty of Social Sciences for this project, the working group would reach the conclusion of requesting such collaboration.
7. Next meeting and other matters.
Other issues:
Icelandic Museum Day 2006The Museum Council oversaw the promotion of Icelandic Museum Day in 2005 and the council agreed to make the promotion of Icelandic Museum Day an annual project for the council. The executive director will oversee consultation and implementation.
Museum Council field trip 2006. A proposal was made for a 2006 Museum Council field trip to museums, centers and exhibitions in East Iceland, 26th – 27th April 2006. The proposal was approved. The Council's field trips have been an important part of forming the overall view of the conditions of institutions in museum work in Iceland that is essential for the Council's activities.
There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 3:00 PM/RH.