50th Museum Council Meeting

Minutes of the 50th meeting of the Museum Council, May 18, 2006, 11:30-13:00,
National Gallery of Iceland, Laufásvegur 12, 101 Reykjavík.

Present were:  Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, Jón Gunnar Ottósson, Sveinn Kristinsson, Karl Rúnar Þórsson, Júlíana Gottskálksdóttir and Rakel Halldórsdóttir.

 1.      The minutes of the 49th meeting were approved and signed.

2.      Report of the Managing Director. The National Museum of Iceland received special recognition from the Council of Europe's Museums (European Museum Forum) at the Council's annual meeting in Lisbon on 10-13 May, where the results of the European Museum of the Year Award 2006 competition were announced. The Museum Council nominated the museum for the competition in January 2005. Two Icelandic museums have been nominated for the competition and have both received recognition, while the Herring Museum in Siglufjörður, which the Museum Council nominated for the competition in 2004, received the Micheletti Award that year. A response has been received from the Ministry of Education and Culture to the Museums Council's submission, dated November 18, 2004. where the Council proposes to the Ministry that a working group be established to examine the possibility of abolishing admission fees to state museums. The Ministry's response is as follows: ?The Ministry will consider the matter when the pilot project currently underway at the National Gallery of Iceland on abolishing admission fees is completed and its success has been evaluated.? Minjavernd ehf. and Þyrping ehf. presented the Reykjavík City Council with an idea to move the Árbæjar Museum to Viðey, but the council discussed the idea at a meeting on May 4th, where it was agreed to examine the idea in more detail. Staff at the Reykjavík Museum, the Icelandic Museums and Archives Association, and the Icelandic Museum Studies Association have discussed the matter and pointed out the importance of keeping the interests of the museum at the forefront of decision-making. The museum council agreed to publicly present a short resolution on the same subject. Museum Council field trip 2006, scheduled for April 25th and 26th, was cancelled. A new date for the field trip was agreed, September 25th and 26th.  The trip will then end in Egilsstaðir in time for the 2006 Collectors' Travel School, which will be held in Egilsstaðir from September 27th to 29th. Museum Council websiteThe new website of the Museum Council has been well received, with visits to the website numbering several hundred each week (for example, 664 visits were recorded during the week of May 9-15). The Executive Director will continue to work on the development of the website. Icelandic Museum Day 2006The working group for the promotion of Icelandic Museum Day 2006 has begun planning and has begun collecting participants in an advertisement for the day, which will be published in Morgunblaðið on Saturday, May 8th. The deadline for participation will be extended to June 1st. University of Iceland – Faculty of Museum StudiesThe directors of the main museums and the managing director met with representatives of the University of Iceland and others involved in the development of the Department of Museum Studies at the university on May 8th. The university will appoint  a working group that will work on fundraising for the project and on the subsequent planning and development of the department. 

3.      Annual Accounts of the Museum Fund 2005Last year's annual accounts were signed by the general representatives and the managing director in two copies which will be sent to the National Audit Office.

4.      Museum Council logo. Proposals for the Museum Council logo from designers Hildigunn Gunnarsdóttir and Snæfríð Þorsteinns were reviewed. It was agreed to request that one of the proposals be developed further, taking into account comments made at the meeting.

5.      Museum Council survey on the status of registration – resultsDiscussion of the results of the Museum Council's survey on the status of registration was postponed until the next meeting.

6.      Statement from the Árborg Municipal Council regarding the issues of the Ghost Center in Stokkseyri. A letter of response was approved regarding the Árborg Municipal Council's request for the Museum Council's assessment of whether the Ghost House in Stokkseyri falls under the Museums Act No. 106/2001. The Council has not received the documents, such as charter/organizational charter/bylaws, collection and exhibition policy, overall policy, annual reports, etc., which are necessary for the evaluation of the activities.

7.      Speech by Gísli Sverri ÁrnasonGísli Sverri Árnason's report was discussed and it was agreed to postpone the decision.

8.      Application forms for applications to the 2007 Museum Fund. New application forms for applications to the 2007 Museum Fund were approved, with minor comments.

9.      Advertisement for applications to the 2007 Museum Fund. An advertisement for applications to the 2007 Museum Fund was approved. It was decided that there would be no emphasis on specific projects in the allocation of project grants, as was the case last year. Applications will be advertised in the main media, in the Museum List and on the websites of the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Museum Council in early June.

10.  Museum Council symposium, autumn 2006. It was decided at the 46th meeting, on 19 January, that the topic of the autumn symposium would be a direct continuation of the discussion at last year's symposium on the educational role of museums. The idea was to work more closely with this role and in a way that would benefit the museums. In view of these plans, it was agreed at the 50th meeting that the autumn 2006 symposium would take the form of a consultation meeting on a future vision for the educational role of museums. The aim of the meeting will be to work, in close collaboration with the coordinators of the communication/education departments of museums in the country, on a coordinated policy/implementation plan for the educational role of museums. A working group will be responsible for preparing the meeting and organizing the agenda, but a two-day meeting is planned, where working groups will work on a report/plan on a future strategy regarding the educational role of museums. It will be based on foreign models, taking into account domestic laws, regulations and the approved overall strategy (Collection Strategy in the Field of National Heritage Preservation for the Years 2003-2008). The Director General will convene and lead a working group to prepare the consultation meeting. It was discussed that the project would be carried out in consultation with the Ministry of Education. The proposed date for the meeting is 19 and 20 October.

11.   Natural History Museums – application for project funding from the Museum Fund 2006 for a registration system for natural history museums. Continued discussion of the application from the last meetings. It was agreed to postpone the decision until a formal letter has been received from the Ministry of Education and Culture confirming the verbal message to the effect that it was the Ministry's strong desire that the project be postponed until the planned Icelandic Museum of Natural History has been established, as the museum will oversee the project.

12.  Next meeting and other matters. There will be no meetings in June and July. The next meeting was scheduled for August 24th.

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