Board - Minutes

 

Members of the Board

 

 


ICOM-EUROPE

Minutes
Minutes of the Fifth Board Meeting
Term 2004 – 2007

Held on March 22, 2006 2.00 PM – 4.00 PM

At the Museum Neukoelln, Berlin
Ganghoferstrasse 3, 12040 Berlin, Germany


Present

Members:
Udo Goesswald, ICOM-Europe (Chair)
Ralf Ceplak Mencin, Slovenia
Barbara Woroncow, Great Britain

In Attendance:
York Langenstein, Chair of ICOM Germany
Chedlia Annabi, Secretary-General, ICOM-Arab

Not Attending:
Theresa M. Vella

Apologies:
Hans-Martin Hinz, ICOM Executive Council
Ebba Brannback, Finland
(Both had given late apologies owing to illness)

Late Arrivals:
Dominique Ferriot, France
Agrita Ozola, Latvia

1. Welcome
The Chair welcomed members to the Museum Neukoelln and to Berlin.

2. Minutes of the last meeting
The minutes of the last Board meeting were agreed as a correct record.

3. Perspectives for ICOM-Europe
i) Members discussed the development of ICOM’s Regional Organisations and the co-operation between them. It was agreed that ICOM Europe’s cooperation with ICOM-Arab was particularly important and timely.

It was reported by Chedlia Annabi, who is also Chair of AFRICOM, that the annual conference of AFRICOM will be in South Africa in October 2006. This led on to a broader discussion as to how ICOM-Europe might develop further support for museums in Africa. It was agreed that it would be better to complement and enhance existing activities rather than to start new initiatives. SAMP, the Swedish-Africa Museum Programme was assisting with AFRICOM finance and had worked in the area for many years. ICOM-UK had worked with The Centre for Heritage Development in Kenya (formerly known as PMDA, the Programme for Museum Development in Africa) and Francophone Africa’s work was based in Senegal. ICOM Executive member Per Rekdal is ICOM’s representative on AFRICOM. Board members agreed to arrange for further information on these various initiatives to be sent to Udo Goesswald so that next steps could be considered at the next Board meeting.

York Langenstein reported on projects of ICOM-Germany with participation of ICOM-Europe (Conference “Museums Bridging Cultures” organized as joint Annual Meeting of ICOM-Germany and ICOM-UK in London) respectively on projects of ICOM-Europe (conference “Shifting Borders – Changing Identities…” in Vilnius / Brest / Lviv, Sept. 2005, and conference “Bridging Cultures through Exhibitions” in Berlin / Oldenburg, March 2006) supported by ICOM-Germany. He commented on the financial resources of ICOM-Germany and the capacity of the staff of the German ICOM-secretariat defining the limited possibilities to support the work of ICOM-Europe. But there was a general understanding that the cooperation of both committees shall be continued.

ii) Board members had been circulated with a paper prepared by Hans-Martin Hinz, who is a member of ICOM’s Task Force on Regional Organisations. Ralf Ceplak Mencin is ICOM-Europe’s representative on the Task Force. The paper stressed the need to strengthen the Regional Organisations through a clear focus on the aims and mission, and an agreed constitution. Any proposed documents would have to be ready by the end of May, the date of the Advisory Committee in Paris. Subsequently, all the National Committees would have to be consulted before the proposals were put forward to the Executive Council in December for formal approval.

Board members spent considerable time discussing a draft of the mission and aims for ICOM-Europe , a copy of which is attached separately.

Other points made relating to Hans-Martin’s paper included:

- The need for Regional Organisations to add value and not be perceived as simply another layer within ICOM’s organisation.

- The need to increase staff resources to develop activities. It would be best to attach this to an existing ICOM office.

- In the Rules for Regional Organisations (discussion version, 22.08.2005) under 7. Finances of the Regional Organisation, it was agreed to add “sponsorship” and in 8. Meetings of the Regional Organisation, it was agreed that it should be made clear that there was no financial obligation from the Regional Organisation towards any sub-regional organisations.

iii) In order to resource the future development of a more formalised ICOM-Europe (including the provision of pump-priming funding to enable grant applications to be made) the following text for a resolution to be discussed and passed at the next Board meeting was agreed:

Each Member to give One Euro for ICOM-Europe

“In order to foster the growing need of a profound and sustainable role of ICOM-Europe in the region (see paper by Task Force) the ICOM-Europe Board calls on all National Committees in Europe to annually transfer 1 Euro per European member to support the programme activities of ICOM-Europe. At the same time the ICOM-Europe Board calls on the Advisory Board and the Executive Council of ICOM to propose, that this sum is matched by also transferring 1 Euro per European member through the main office in Paris. Furthermore, the office of the National Committee of the chairperson of ICOM-Europe provides sufficient support to carry out necessary administrative duties.”

Board Members also discussed other possible sources of funding such as the forthcoming EU 2007 – 2013 Culture Programme.

4. Relationships with other ICOM bodies
In the absence of Agrita Ozola, it was agreed to defer this item.

Links already exist with SEE ICOM (South-East Europe), CEICOM (Central and Eastern Europe) and could be developed further across the Mediterranean, the Baltic States and on a Trans-Atlantic basis.

5. Conference Tour “Museums for Peace and Cultural Diversity” through South-Eastern Europe
Udo Goesswald reported on the programme and budget for the conference tour which would take place from 17 to 21t September 2006. All the organisers were now signed up to the event: ICOM-Europe, ICOM-Slovenia, ICOM-Croatia, ICOM-Serbia and Montenegro and ICOM-Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was envisaged that a core of about 30 participants would undertake the entire tour, provisionally to Ljubljana, Rovinj, Zagreb, Belgrade, Srebrenica, Sarajevo and Mostar, ending in Dubrovnik for the “Best in Heritage” Conference. The group would be augmented by additional participants at each individual venue, as had happened at the previous “Shifting Borders” Conference Tour in Eastern Europe in 2005.

The aim is to have subsidies for the core costs of 12,000 Euros. The chair will apply for funding from the Museum of European Cultures in Berlin, the ICOM-National Committees and Museums in the Region, the German Foreign Ministry, the European Cultural Foundation in Amsterdam and further foundations.

6. International Museum Day and Late Night of Museums
The Chair had received a request by the director of the French museums to link the Late Nights of Museums across Europe to International Museums Day. Although such an idea was supported by the Board in general, it was felt that local independence on this issue needed to be maintained.

7. Any Other Business
There was no other business.

8. Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Board will be held in Paris on the 28th of May. The meeting is expected to last approximately two hours.

NB The late arrivals to the Board meeting were subsequently fully briefed on the discussions and gave their support to the matters agreed.