Minutes of the 66th meeting of the Museum Council, January 15, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
National Museum of Iceland, Suðurgata, 101 Reykjavík
Present: Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, chairman, Halldór Björn Runólfsson, Helgi Torfason, Karl Rúnar Þórsson, Sveinn Kristinsson, Anna Þorbjörg Þorgrímsdóttir
1. Minutes of the 65th meeting approved and signed.
2. Director's report:
Museum policy of the Icelandic Museums Council and the main museums. Work on preparing a museum policy presented to the Museum Council. The museum policy in the field of national heritage preservation 2003-2008 will be the basic premise of the work. A committee with representatives from all major museums must be appointed. It was decided to also work on the Museum Council's policy.
Statistics Iceland The acting director has been in contact with Statistics Iceland regarding official statistical information on museums. It is planned to start cooperation between the Museums Council and Statistics Iceland on information gathering and processing. A meeting will be held with Statistics Iceland representatives in the near future.
EMYA 2009 The board of the Icelandic section of ICOM will not nominate an Icelandic museum for the award in 2009. The answer is consistent with the answer of the main museums and the board of FÍSOS. Therefore, no Icelandic museum will be nominated for the award in 2009.
Export of samples from archaeological excavations The acting board is working on an agreement between the Museum Council and the Icelandic Archaeological Conservation Authority and procedures in accordance with the decision of the last meeting. A draft agreement and procedures were presented at the meeting and the board will forward the documents to the Icelandic Archaeological Conservation Authority for further discussion.
Museum charters. The acting board of directors is continuing to work on the matter. The data will be submitted for approval at the meeting of the Museum Council on February 14th.
Article about collections and preservationThe acting director is working on an article about museums and cultural tourism that will be published later this year in the Journal.
Icelandic Museum Day 2008. The acting Ms. Board of Directors proposes that Icelandic Museum Day be dedicated to the preservation role of museums. Such a theme is in line with the Museum Council's increased emphasis on the internal work of museums and in line with discussions in the Icelandic Museum Day 2007 committee. The proposal was approved and Ms. Board of Directors was tasked with taking the idea forward.
3. Museum Council Budget 2008. The Museum Fund has been allocated 87.7 million ISK in the 2008 budget, which is a 4% increase from the previous year. It is expected that the cost of office operations, meetings and various consultation projects will be 9.56 million ISK, which is a 2% increase from the previous year. Division approved, as well as the Museum Council's budget for 2008.
4. Utilization of grants 2007/ Applications to the museum fund 2008Discussing arrangements for the allocation meeting on February 1st.
5. Giorgos Samaras' ideas for a school art museumSamaras' proposal on this subject was sent to the Museum Council by Eiríkir Þorláksson, an expert at the Ministry of Education. The Museum Council agreed that it was more of an exhibition than a museum and that Samaras' idea of a school art museum in Iceland was therefore outside the scope of the Museum Council.
6. Design of the appearance of a confirmation documentThe designer's proposal was discussed and the CEO was instructed to continue with the matter.
7. Response from the Remuneration Committee. A response has been received from the Remuneration Committee to the Museum Council's repeated request for information from the Ministry regarding the amount of committee salaries to multi-member government and administrative committees operating under the Ministry of Education and Culture and comparable to the Museum Council. Once again, the Remuneration Committee has chosen to misunderstand the request and refers to the Ministry's rules on payments instead of providing the requested information.
8. Budgets must reflect museum laws. The Museum Council approved a letter to the Chairman of the Budget Committee. The letter contains comments on budget item 02-919 Museums, various contributions in the 2008 Budget, as the budget item does not reflect Article 4 of the Museums Act No. 106/2001. The Museum Council considers it important that the funds specified in the Budget under the Museums item go undiminished to promote and strengthen the activities of Icelandic museums and to museums that work to preserve and disseminate Icelandic cultural heritage, but are not confused with exhibition activities, which are more often than not related to cultural tourism.
9. Entrance fees to museums. The Museum Council sent a report to the Ministry of Education on 18 November 2004 requesting that the Ministry appoint a working group to examine the possibility of abolishing admission fees to national museums. In a response from the Ministry on 2 May 2006, it was stated that the report would be considered when the success of the National Gallery of Iceland's pilot project on abolishing admission fees had been evaluated. The Ministry was instructed to examine what the success measurement entails and to provide data to the Ministry if necessary.
10. Ministry of Education's response to the Museums Council's resolution on the name change Iceland. At a meeting on 2 November 2006, the Museum Council decided to send the Minister of Education a resolution proposing that the Ministry formulate a policy on authorizations for the use of the name suffix Iceland in the name of institutions in the field of museum and/or cultural work. The authorization will only be granted in the case of an institution that has been formally granted a national role in the institution's field of work. The Museum Council has now received a response from the Minister who rejects the Museum Council's resolution as it lacks legal authority.
11. Speech by Eva G. Þorvaldsdóttir, Director of the Reykjavík Botanical Garden. A request is made for a deferral until 2009 to utilize project funding from 2007. The request is rejected as the Museum Board is only authorized to grant permission to defer the utilization of funding for one year. The Botanical Garden is advised to apply for project funding again next year.
12. Presentation from the parliamentary committee division. Commentary on the bill for the Fine Arts ActThe bill was discussed in detail and the Minister was subsequently tasked with preparing comments in consultation with the Chairman of the Museums Council.
13. Presentation from the parliamentary committee division. Commentary on four bills on primary schools, secondary schools, kindergartens and the education and employment of teachers and school administratorsThe bills were discussed and the Minister was instructed to present a general comment on the educational role of museums and the importance of schools using museums in teaching.
14. Message from the National Gallery of Iceland. Request for permission to export 5 works by Kjarval that fall under Act No. 105/2001 on the export of cultural property. The works will be part of an exhibition of works by Icelandic artists to be held at the Bozar exhibition hall in Brussels, Belgium. The Museum Council grants permission for export. The Museum Council also granted the National Museum of Iceland permission for the temporary export of 14 carved corners. The acting Minister of Culture has been instructed to send the report to the minister who must approve the export of museum objects before the Museum Council can issue an export permit.
15. Other issues: The next meeting of the council is an allocation meeting which will be held in accordance with the meeting schedule on Friday, February 1st, from 12:00-17:00.
There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM.