ICOM-EUROPE

Minutes
Minutes of the Sixth Board Meeting
Term: 2005-2007

Held on May 28, 2006 6.00 PM – 8.00 PM

At the Palais de la Découverte
Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, Paris, France

Present

Members:
Udo Göβwald, ICOM-Europe (Chair)
Ebba Brännback, Finland
Dominique Ferriot, France
Agrita Ozola, Latvia

In Attendance:
Claude Busuttil, Chair of ICOM-Malta
Jack Lohmann , Chair of ICOM-United Kingdom
Damodar Frlan, Chair of ICOM-Croatia
Mila Popovic-Zivancevic, Chair of ICOM-SEE
Bernard Blache, Director of the Palais de la Découverte and Chair of CIMUSET

Not Attending:
Ralph Ceplak Mencin, Slovenia
Theresa M. Vella, Malta
Barbara Woroncow, U.K.

1. Welcome and short Introduction by the Chairman
The Chair welcomed members to the meeting and thanked Bernard Blache and Dominique Ferriot for the opportunity to have the meeting at the Palais de la Découverte. The Chair introduced the board members and guests.

2. Minutes of the last Board Meeting
The minutes of the 5th board meeting were shortly presented by the Chair. Dominique Ferriot, as a late arrival in the last meeting, stated, that she cannot support the resolution: One Euro for ICOM-Europe. ICOM-France does not get enough financial support in order to be able to provide this amount of money for ICOM-Europe. In all other points the minutes of the last board meeting were agreed as a correct record.

3. Report on Conference “Bridging Cultures through Exhibitions” by ICOM-Arab and ICOM- Europe in Berlin and Oldenburg
The Chair reported, that the conference was attended by 60 people. 10 guests from the Arabian countries had been invited to present papers about their museums and activities. The dialogue was very fruitful and constructive and helped build confidence between museum professionals and the two regional organisations. It was agreed to support all activities, that help make the exhibition “Saladin and the Crusaders” travel to an Arabian country. For 2008 ICOMEurope and ICOM-Arab are planning an exhibition workshop in Tunis. Furthermore it was agreed to organize a conference, that focusses on Euro-Mediterranean issues. Granada was suggested as a venue for this conference. ICOM-Europe will in due course present the contributions of the conference “Bridging Cultutres through Exhibition” on its website.

4. Paper: Aims and Missions of ICOM-Europe
The draft of a Mission Statement for ICOM-Europe was presented as a result of the last Board Meeting in Berlin. The Chair had added a preamble to the text. In general the paper was accepted. Regarding the preamble Jack Lohmann suggested to link it with the strategic plan of ICOM. He offered his help to formulate the final version.

ICOM-Europe will present the final version to the Task Force Regional Organisations and the Executive Committee. It is considered as one of the elements, that will profile ICOM-Europe more clearly. Furthermore Jack Lohmann suggested to present an agenda for the coming years.

The Chair argued, that ICOM-Europe has been active on a variety of fields in the last years. The Activity Report 2005/2006, that will be presented to the Advisory Committee, clearly shows this. There is no doubt, tough, that ICOM-Europe needs to profile its activities for the coming years. On the other hand the members of the Board agreed, that without sufficient support by ICOM and the the National Committees ICOM-Europe cannot fulfill its mission.

5. Resolution: One Euro for ICOM-Europe
At the 5th Board meeting in Berlin the Chair had presented a resolution, that suggested each National Committee to give one Euro per member to ICOMEurope. This would be equivalent to the sum, that ICOM-Germany is providing as support for ICOM-Europe: 3000 Euro per year according to a membership of 3000. At the moment this is the only financial support of ICOM- Europe. Everybody agreed, that this is not sufficient. ICOM-Croatia, ICOM-Malta and ICOM-Latvia reported, that they have voted to support ICOM-Europe on the basis of one Euro per member. Strong objection to the resolution came from Jack Lohmann (ICOM-UK) and Dominique Ferriot (ICOM-France). As Dominique Ferriot had stated earlier in the meeting, also other Board members pointed out, that the National Committees have problems raising the membership fee. Claude Busuttil said, that the salaries of museum professionals are low in Malta and the membership fee is already very high. Dominique Ferriot has sent a letter to the Chair of the Advisory Committee, Günther Demski, in which she asks ICOM to leave more money of the membership fee to the National Committees for their own activities.

As a result of this the resolution was dropped. Instead the Board asked the Chair to work out an application to the Executive Council, that asks for funding on the basis of a clear agenda. It was taken into consideration, following a suggestion by Jack Lohmann, that the National Committees would be willing to support certain projects of ICOM-Europe, if they were outlined clearly enough.

6. Online Plattform on Exhibition Making
An initiative group from the Netherlands has contacted the Chair with their business plan to install a Worldwide Online Platform on Exhibition Making. It was agreed, that the Chair will send them a letter of endorsement. If established, the plattform could advertize its activities on the website of ICOM-Europe and pay a certain fee for it.

7. Activity Plan of the European Council
The Chair introduced a draft made by Armin Mahr, Austria, concerning “collection mobility” in the European Union. Networking among lending stakeholders in connection with long term loans and exhibitions is one of the points of the cultural exchange program during the Austrian EU-Presidency. ICOM-Europe is mentioned as one partner in the European network.

Ebba Brännback mentioned that the same theme will continue during the Presidency of Finland and a congress will take place in July 2006 in Helsinki.

8. ICOM-Europe Museum Tour and Conference in Southeastern Europe
The Chair presented the draft program of Museum Tour and Conference “Museums for Peace and Cultural Diversity” in September 16 -20, 2006. It will be organized in cooperation with ICOM-Slovenia, ICOM-Croatia, ICOM- Bosnia-Herzegovina, ICOM Serbia-Montenegro and ICOM-SEE. Venues are Ljubljana, Zagreb, Banja Luka, Sarajevo and Dubrovnik.

Mila Popovic-Zivancevic, Chair of ICOM-SEE presented the new founded regional organisation ICOM-SEE (south eastern Europe) and its conference about the condition of the heritage in Balkan in October.

9. General Assembly in Vienna 2007
It was agreed, that all necessary preparations should be undertaken by the Chair and the Board to achieve a decision at the General Assembly about a sufficient financial basis for ICOM-Europe in the future. At the meeting of the ICOM-Europe members in Vienna the agenda for 2007 –2010 will be presented and the paper on “Aims and Missions of ICOM-Europe” will be presented in its final version.

There will also be elections of the Chair and new members to the Board, because some Board members already have two full periods. The Chair was aked by Jack Lohman to look for qualified candidates.

10. International Museum Day
The Long Night of Museums on the 20, May has been celebrated in some countries. Some countries, like France, have combined the International Museum Day of ICOM on the 18, May with the Long Night of Museums or have had a museum week in May. In those countries, where the International Museums Day has become a tradition, the French proposal has not been taken into use. The Chair agreed to watch this development and possibly join the European Council as a patron of the event. Dominique Ferriot reported, that the combination has been a great success in France.

11. Miscellaneous
The next Board meeting will be in March 2007. Mila Popovic-Zivancevic invited the Board to Belgrade.