Minutes of the 59th meeting of the Museum Council, May 9, 2007, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.,
National Gallery of Iceland, Laufásvegur 12, 101 Reykjavík
Present were: Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, Jón Gunnar Ottósson, Karl Rúnar Þórsson, Sveinn Kristinsson, Júlíana Gottskálksdóttir, Rakel Halldórsdóttir.
1. The minutes of the 57th and 58th meetings were approved and signed.
2. Director's report. Collaboration between ICOM and the Icelandic Museums Council. In accordance with the decision of the 58th meeting, Ms. Sr. had a meeting with Lilja Árnadóttir, Chair of the Icelandic Section of ICOM, to discuss increased cooperation between ICOM and the Museum Council. According to Lilja, the ICOM board considers it positive if the Museum Council seeks institutional membership in the organization. Ms. Sr. will write a letter to the Ministry of Education and Culture and request its position. ICOM and the Museum Council will seek ways to strengthen their cooperation in the future. Meeting of the collaboration committee of parties from public, Nordic museum institutions in Oslo at the end of May. Due to reasons beyond our control, MH will not be able to attend the meeting. It was agreed to request that Anna Þorbjörg Þorgrímsdóttir, who will replace the chairman on maternity leave, attend the meeting on behalf of the Museum Council. UJohn Steinberg's application for a permit to export cultural property, from 2005A response was received from John Steinberg, who confirmed that the export of the relics had been stopped. Nordic cooperation on accessibility issues. Ms. M. met with Ingemar Oderstedt, head of the pan-Nordic project Kultur for alla. Ingemar gave a presentation on accessibility issues and introduced the project at the Museum Council's seminar on accessibility to museums in February 2006. Ingemar requested that the National Museum Curator nominate one of his employees as Iceland's representative in the project. MH will nominate a representative for the next representative meeting. Revision of the Icelandic Industrial ClassificationThe Museum Council received a letter from the Director of Statistics Iceland requesting comments by April 30 on the new industrial classification ÍSAT 95. The Director had no comments and requested comments from the trustees electronically. The Museum Council made no comments on the review. Museum Council website. The Board of Directors is working on redesigning the Museum Council's website in accordance with the council's new logo and decisions made at previous meetings. Hildigunnur Gunnarsdóttir is the website designer, while Kristján Gunnarsson from EC-software is in charge of programming.
3. European Museum Forum 2007 general meeting in Alicante in May. MH, Chairman of the Museum Council, attended the meeting. MH believes the European Museum Forum is an important platform for strengthening communication and collaboration with museums and museum institutions in Europe.
4. Message from the Ministry of Education – Request to the Icelandic UNESCO Committee from the Taylor and Francis Group for a contribution from Iceland to the next edition of the ?Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences?. Guðrún Helgadóttir from the Ministry of Education contacted the Minister of Culture and Sports and requested a contribution on museum work in accordance with the request of Taylor and Francis Group. The Minister of Culture presented the matter. The Museum Council considered that the matter was not of such a nature that it fell within the role of the Council to respond to it. Reference was made to the request in the letter from Taylor and Francis Group that the Ministry nominate an author for an article in Encyclopedia … with whom Taylor and Francis Group would then enter into a contract for the writing. The Council agreed that the Minister of Culture send the Ministry a short summary on museum matters in Icelandic that the author could refer to. It was not agreed that the Minister of Culture spend more time on the matter, unless a contract were specifically made with him by Taylor and Francis Group, which then fell outside his employment at the Museum Council.
5. Issues of the Westman Islands Museum of Local History and Art. In continuation of the discussion at the last meeting, a report was discussed from the former director of the Vestmannaeyjar Museum, who has been dismissed with reference to operational reasons. The Museum Council agreed to send the Vestmannaeyjar Municipal Council a letter requesting information on the matter, referring to the fact that the council has allocated an operating grant to the museum from the Museum Fund for the year 2007, but among the conditions for operating grants is that the museum has a director in at least a 50% position.
6. Natural History Museums – applications for project grants to the Museum Fund 2006 and 2007 for a registration system for natural history museums. According to the decision of the 58th meeting, the Board of Directors had a meeting with representatives of the Kópavogur Natural History Institute, who applied for a project grant on behalf of the natural history museums this year, and representatives of the Natural History Institute, to discuss the project and the conditions for granting a grant. Subsequently, the Kópavogur Natural History Institute submitted a new application for the project. The Museum Board agreed to grant 2 million. ISK. project grant from the Museum Fund to the project. A detailed report on the progress of the project will be requested.
7. Handbook on the preservation of artifacts – request for collaboration with the Museums CouncilIt was agreed to take up the matter again at the next meeting.
8. Next meeting and other matters.
The next meeting according to the new meeting schedule is Thursday, June 7th at 11:30-13:00.
Other issues:
1 New meeting location. It was agreed that future meetings of the council will normally be held in Setberg, the National Museum of Iceland, where the National Museum Curator, Chairman of the Museum Council, is based.
2 Committee salary. The Museum Council's repeated requests for the calculation of committee salaries for representatives of interest groups on the council have been successful. Committee salaries will most likely be paid before the next meeting.
3. Issues of the newly established Icelandic Museum of Natural History. The Icelandic Museum of Natural History was established by Act No. 35/2007. Helgi Torfason has been appointed as the director of the newly established museum and will soon take JGÓ's seat on the Museum Council in accordance with the law. A plot of land that, according to the local plan approved on 28 September 1999, is designated for the Icelandic Museum of Natural History, has been given to the Iceland Academy of the Arts for use or sale. The Museum Council discussed the role of the newly established main museum in the field of natural history according to the Museum Act, including with regard to Article 4 of the Museum Act No. 106/2001 on the activities of a museum. The Council agreed to send a letter to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports.
4. Special agreements on financial contributions from the Ministry of Education and Culture to museums. Discussion was held on agreements that the Ministry of Education and Culture has made with museums and centers without the involvement of the Museums Council. The Museums Council agreed to request information from the Ministry of Education and Culture on special agreements on financial contributions to museums and centers that have been made by the Ministry of Education and Culture so far in 2007. The letter will point out that the Museums Council considers the Council's professional involvement in such agreements important when considering the overall policy formulation on state funding for projects in the field of Icelandic museums.
5. Revision of the Museums Act – statusThe Museum Council agreed to request information from the Ministry of Education and Culture on the status of the revision of the Museums Act.
6. Approval of the government meeting from Friday, May 4th, regarding the solution to the housing issues of the Icelandic Institute of Natural HistoryThe Museum Council welcomed the agreement, which means that a solution to the Institute of Natural History's housing issues is likely to be found this year.
There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 1:00 PM/RH.