Estudio de
Museología Rosario...http://emuseoros.wm.com.ar
...un sitio especializado en museología....visítenos...
De: Per
Rekdal <p.b.rekdal@IMA.UIO.NO>
Para:
<ICOM-L@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM>
Asunto:
ICOM reforms
Fecha:
jueves, 13 de enero de 2000 3:31
Late
last year there was a debate on the List concerning the need
to
reform ICOM, inspired by the message sent out by ICOM Reform
Task
Force's chairperson Bernice Murphy. The debate roused some
critique
of ICOM's present way of functioning, a critique that I
would
characterise mostly as impulsive, since the critique was
not -
with honourable exceptions - followed up with constructive
suggestions.
Still, impulsive critique comes from the heart, and
should
be listened to.
There
are lots of issues that need to be debated and I feel
uncertain
about how to proceed. Last year I sent out questions
and
alternatives, rather than my own opinions. This time I feel
tempted
to present my own opinions as of now plus points that I
think
should be considered as a more or less complete picture,
but
fear that an eventual debate will then concentrate on a few,
popular
issues, leaving many important points not debated.
Nevertheless,
I'll try this approach and see what happens.
I
discuss the following issues:
ICOM
and personal economies.
Meetings
of the Advisory and Executive
National
committees
Membership
Membership
benefits
Membership
and benefits for institutions
Membership
in international committees
ICOM's Triennial
General Conferences and participation fees
ICOM
Economy: can money be saved through more use of electronic
media?
ICOM
Economy: can money be earned through advertisements in ICOM
News?
ICOM
and personal economies.
There
were a lot of complaints on the List last year about how much of
one's
private funds that has to be used in order to take up office in
ICOM.
This is regrettably true, but in my opinion there is no way ICOM
can
subsidise office holders in general. ICOM's economy is dependent on
what
you and I and other members are paying into the organisation. If
we pay
more we get more, but we'd have to pay a lot more should we
subsidise
office holders. Ironically, the large number of passive ICOM
members
is subsidising the ones that are active in the international
committees.
A higher percentage of active members would result in the
resources
being more thinly spread.
A point
to consider would be to create a foundation for office holders
from
poor countries (or use and strengthen the existing ICOM foundation
for
this purpose). Such a foundation would probably inevitably depend
on the
increased payment of ICOM members from wealthier countries.
The way
to solve the problem of the strains on our personal economies
is to
try to get money from our institutions, be inventive in applying
for
grants and/or get some from our national ICOM committees. This is
what we
all have been doing and will continue to do. But through
strengthening
the national committees, we have a better chance of
succeeding.
More about this under National committees.
Meetings
of the Advisory and Executive
It has
been suggested that e-mail contacts may make it less necessary
to meet
that often (Advisory once a year, Executive twice). I think it
is
necessary to meet face-to-face once a year, but the meetings could
be far
more effective if the issues that were to be discussed and
decided
upon could be pre-discussed in the e-mail-list for members of
the
Advisory and Executive. In order to do this; the papers must be
distributed
early enough to make a pre-discussion possible.
The
advantage of having all Advisory and most Executive meetings
between
general conferences in Paris is that it is close to the ICOM
administration
and we have easy and well-established access to the
UNESCO
auditoriums. However, the routine of having meetings in Paris
gives
an extreme advantage to the European members and creates a
situation
where representatives from the wealthiest countries have the
cheapest
access to the meetings.
A point
to be considered could be to have the Advisory/Executive
meetings
in other venues than Paris, making transport costs more evenly
distributed
for representatives from other parts of the world. Say
rotating
meetings between Paris, Mexico City, Sydney and Nairobi (they
all
have in common that they are important air traffic centres in their
part of
the world). The European representatives might find the
consequences
for their private economies of carrying through this
proposal
absolutely impossible, but such an "impossible" situation is
now
normal for our colleagues from other parts of the world. The pros
and
cons of such a proposal should however be carefully considered: we
may
find out that flying to Paris from the other end of the world is
just as
cheap as flying to Nairobi, etc. Distance is not necessarily
what
weighs most in the price of air transport. And the cost of moving
the
ICOM administration ...
National
committees
I do
not think ICOM should subsidise national committees. National
committees
can be strengthened economically by being allowed to charge
more
than the 10% above what is sent to ICOM in Paris.
However,
the best way to strengthen a national committee is by
establishing
a close relationship with the national museum
organisation.
A close relationship may increase the legitimacy of
international
museum work and may open for grants from the ministry of
culture
or other national institutions.
The
situation today is that in some countries, the national ICOM
committee
and the national museum organisation is one and the same, in
others
the relation is very close (for instance by having a shared
secretariat).
In others again there seem to be no or very little
connection
between the national ICOM committee and the national museum
organisation.
In my opinion, this latter situation is both unfortunate
and not
functional. In such cases I think ICOM should remind the
national
committees in question about article 14, pt. 15 in the
statutes,
and stress the positive potential a close connection with the
national
museum organisation has.
Membership
From
time to time one is (very unofficially) told that some national
committees
are extremely restrictive in granting ICOM membership to
their
museum professionals. This being the case or not, it should be
made
clear that a national ICOM committee cannot deny a museum
professional
who fulfils the criteria in the ICOM statutes (article 6
and 2,
pt. 2) membership in ICOM. Co-operation with the national museum
organisation
may help prevent unconstitutional denial of membership,
but it
should also be possible for ICOM centrally to react if such
practices
are found.
A point
to consider is to allow for collective membership in ICOM for
all members
of a national committee. Such collective membership could
be a
result of negotiations with each national museum organisation
wanting
such an arrangement. This may increase the number of ICOM
members
dramatically, but not increase to the same extent the income
from
membership fees, since a discount is inherent in arrangements of
this
character. On the other hand, the higher the number of members,
the
less expenses pr. member.
The
advantage would be that ICOM through this could get rid of some of
the
geographical bias of membership distribution; the membership
benefits
will be more universally respected (and may be extended); and
it may
create new income possibilities for ICOM from commercial sources
(more
on this under Membership benefits and under ICOM economy).
Membership
benefits
It is
generally acknowledged that the ICOM-card giving free access to
museums
may be the main reason for membership for perhaps a majority of
the
ICOM members. This may partly explain why ICOM have relatively few
members
in the USA, which is almost a continent in itself and the
membership
benefits of the national organisation are just as good as
ICOM's.
And it may partly explain why ICOM have many members in Europe,
which
have many separate countries and there is a lot of travel between
the
countries. For the same reason, an eventual EU-based museum
organisation
coming up with the same benefits as ICOM may possibly in
the
long run reduce the number of ICOM members in Europe.
I think
ICOM has a potential for extending the membership benefits,
achievable
partly through making ICOM a more truly global organisation
where
membership benefits are respected everywhere (which is not at all
the
case now) through closer co-operation with the national museum
organisations,
and partly by increasing the number of ICOM members to
such an
extent that co-operation with ICOM becomes interesting for
international
media, carriers, hotel chains, etc, etc, etc. As of now,
ICOM is
too small and too limited: for instance any automobile drivers'
organisation
in one country has far more members than ICOM has world
wide.
To carry the comparison further: automobile drivers'
organisations
have lots of membership benefits of special relevance to
drivers.
The challenge would be to identify and find partners for
benefits
of special relevance to museums and museum professionals.
Membership
and benefits for institutions
Given
the cost for institutional membership and only three ICOM-cards
as
benefit, it is surprising that ICOM has institutional members at
all.
But I assume the institutional memberships are based on the
attitude
that ICOM should be supported and a feeling of solidarity with
the
museum world at large. Which is a truly recommendable attitude.
Lower
the fee and/or give more cards, would seem to be the obvious
solution
for attracting more institutional members.
Personally,
I fear that giving out more cards may make it less relevant
for
museum professionals to become personal members. The result could
be large
numbers of de-personalised memberships under the control of
museum
directors, which again could affect negatively the personal
engagement
in ICOM's activities and hamper the free exchange between
all
kinds of museum professionals.
Lowering
the fee is a much better solution combined with trying to
develop
membership benefits of special interest for institutional
members.
Membership
in international committees
Some
years ago a representative in the Advisory suggested that all
members
of ICOM could choose two international committees and be voting
member
in both. I think this proposal is sensible because it is much,
much
simpler than the present system with voting and non-voting
members.
It is simpler for the secretariat, simpler for many members
who no
longer can remember which of the three committees they are
voting
member in and maybe it forms a more just basis for the
distribution
of money from ICOM.
Of
course, changing from the present system to a new one is costly in
terms
of labour at least. But it could be combined with a campaign
aimed
at 1) receiving members' e-mail addresses (see below on ICOM
Economy:
can money be saved...") and 2) reselecting international
committees.
Additionally,
the forms on which one applies for membership should
contain
selection of international committees in one and the same form,
and not
on two separate forms, like now. Thus the applicant sees the
selection
of international committees as a matter of course.
ICOMs Triennial
General Conferences and participation fees
In some
of the debate on this List last year, it was argued that the
participants
of the conference should pay the real costs of arranging a
General
Conference and that it was wrong to use that much money for
subsidising
participants rather than using the money more generally in
ICOM's
other activities.
With
this I disagree for the following reasons: Firstly, the funding
obtained
and used for General Conferences are earmarked for that
purpose
and has been raised within the host country. It cannot be used
by ICOM
for other purposes. Secondly: without subsidising, the General
Conferences
would be too expensive for each participant. It may be
added
that grants for participants from poor countries are already a
regular
part of the budget of General Conferences.
ICOM
Economy: can money be saved through more use of electronic media?
Several
of the international committees are either now sending out
their
newsletter through e-mail to those that have access to this
service,
or are contemplating to do so. In this there are large sums to
be
saved, in fact most of the money allocated to the int. committees
from
ICOM are used for postage.
I
believe that - no matter which policy ICOM chooses to follow - ICOM
should
as soon as possible launch a campaign towards all its members
with
the aim of collecting e-mail addresses. Not a feeble campaign that
few
responds to, but an easy-to-answer-on-the-front-page-of-ICOM News
campaign
(and at the same time members should be asked to anew indicate
which
international committees they would like to be members of).
I am
sure ICOM can save very large sums by publishing ICOM News on the
Internet
and sending it in a paper version only to those without
Internet
connection. To those with Internet connection, a message
should
be sent telling us that the latest issue are now to be found on
this-and-that
Internet address. The objection to this is that fewer
would
read an electronic version of ICOM News than the paper one. This
is true
at first, but not necessarily in the long run, when this way of
publishing
becomes common. It is a matter of habit and changes in habit
sometimes
comes fast these days.
Likewise,
the heavy piles of papers for the Advisory and Executive
should
be distributed electronically to all that can receive it, just
asking
for a confirmation that the "papers" have been received. I find
it odd
that ICOM still asks us to confirm participation or apply for
this
and that by mail or fax, instead of urging us to answer by
e-mail.
ICOM
Economy: can money be earned through advertisements in ICOM News?
Even
with the current number of members, one would think ICOM News was
attractive
for advertisements. With a strongly increased number of
members,
advertisements could make ICOM News an income earner, even in
a paper
version. I do not think advertisements in any case will make
ICOM
rich, but it may pay part or all of the expenses connected to ICOM
News.
Well,
that's it so far. I would like to come back separately to the
question
of international committees (The Core Question in my opinion)
and to
questions on the composition of the Advisory, the Executive and
committees
appointed to investigate special issues.
Any
comments? Remember: Proposals for the reform of ICOM is under way
through
the Reform Task Force. This is our chance to bring good
suggestions
and points to consider and positively influence the
process.
Per B.
Rekdal
Chairperson
ICME
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I am moved by Per's thoughts to voice my own perspective
on the issue of
reform of ICOM.
From the postings I have read, it appears to me that comments
tend to deal with the symptoms of problems or issues rather than
the root causes. I believe it would be most helpful to the
process to try to rise about suggestions on specific programs,
procedures or organizational structure to a higher "issue" level.
I now provide an example this level of problem/issue:
ICOM has insuffient financial strategies or current funding base
to adquately fund the neccessary level of program to serve the
world museum community.
ICOM's governance structure does not allow for effective and
inclusive discussion of organizational issues and policy matters.
It seems to me that once there is general agreement on the major
root issues/problems, then a concerted effort could be made to
pose possible solutions to the issue/problem and a thoughtful
evaluation of each of those solutions.
I hope all will forgive me for being such a "linear" thinker, but
at AAM we have had considerable experience in this area and I
have observed that there does need to be a step by step process
that allows for and organized and logical sequence or steps in
addressing the larger picture of organizational challenges. At
the same time, if one jumps too quickly to solutions at
structural or programatic level, one is likely to misidentify the
root problem or fail to get broad consensus on what that root
problem really is/. I hope my comments are helpful to Bernice,
her task force and the general discussion of the topic
ED ABLE, President and CEO, American Association of Museums
and Executive Secretary, AAM/ICOM
-----Original Message-----
From: Per Rekdal [mailto:p.b.rekdal@IMA.UIO.NO]
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2000 6:15 AM
To: ICOM-L@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
Subject: ICOM reforms
Late last year there was a debate on the List concerning the need
to reform ICOM . . .
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I have been following the debate on Icom reforms with
great interest. I have
been a member for only one year and i really hope the various contributions
will result in satisfactory outcomes for all concerned.
I have noted with interest that the National committes especially in Africa
are led by people who have been in Museums for a long time. Though they are
an irreplacable source of knowledge, i believe the future of Museums is in
both the younger and older professionals. While we are at reforms we might
want to consider this.
Josephine Thang'wa
Public Relations Officer.
National Museums of Kenya
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I couldn't agree more with you. We are trying to attract
younger member to
CIMAM.
David Elliott
President of CIMAM
Director Moderna Museet,
Box 16382, SE-103 27 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel. +46-8-5195-5276
mobile +46-8-[0]708-83-89-56
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The meaning of ICOM lies in the international committees:
in them important
issues are raised and debated, professional contacts maintained. Their
activities are the blood of ICOM, carrying around the oxygen that makes
ICOM thrive and grow and not suffocate. At least this is true in principle.
And yet, I think the models upon which they are created and maintained are
too stiff, too inflexible to meet the demands of current museal
developments. The international committees are constructed to last, through
ups and downs, through near-death conditions as well as revitalisations.
Sometimes you hear members speak about "their" committee with the
loyalty a
sports fan speak about his/hers club.
I think we are focusing too much upon the strenght and formalities and
duration of the organisational framework of the international committees
and too little on themes, on content, on intentions, on results.
What about light, perhaps shortlasting, structures and heavy themes?
Let me try to explain with examples:
Museums and cultural diversity is a theme that is relevant to many
committees. This is also the case with cultural tourism and museums. What
is happening now is that each international committee - if they find it
relevant - discuss this problem within themselves. Very often these
internal discussions are hampered by the fact that there are only a few
people in each committee that participates in the debate.
Now: what if we had an international committee set up to last for say six
years, constituted for the sole purpose of discussing cultural diversity?
Or cultourism? What if we had an international committee set up for six
years discussing the educational methods in modern art museums? Or a
committee just for discussing the meaning in modern society of putting
indigenous cultures into natural history museums, while the culture of the
"whites" are found in the history museums? Or an international
committee
debating repatriation issues?
OK, the consequences for distributing funds would have to be discussed and
the criteria for being members of the advisory council may have to be
changed and the whole concept of voting and non-voting members may have to
be reconsidered. But we are moving towards a society more fluid than
before, were people (including museum professionals) are looking for arenas
that give them a chance to debate exactly the issues that are now
important. Electronic communication can help us handle this fluidity
organisationally much easier than before.
We soon risk loosing the most valuable initiatives to other arenas. Think
about it!
Per B. Rekdal
ICME chairperson
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One way that younger members might be attracted to ICOM
is for our museum
studies educational places (schools, associations, institutes) to emphasize
the work of ICOM and its many committees and affiliated groups. I'm afraid
my experience is that such is often not the case, especially in North
America.
I might suggest that members active in ICOM earnestly seek out professors of
such programs or courses and offer to talk about ICOM work.
For a good list of such programs, see Patrick Boylan's ICTOP page
http://www.city.ac.uk/ictop/
Thanks,
Lynne Teather,
Museum Studies Program,
University of Toronto.
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In message <Pine.LNX.4.21.0001130611000.16550-100000@grundoon.nrm.se>,
Per Rekdal <p.b.rekdal@IMA.UIO.NO>
writes
>
>ICOM and personal economies.
>
>There were a lot of complaints on the List last year about how much of
>one's private funds that has to be used in order to take up office in
>ICOM. This is regrettably true, but in my opinion there is no way ICOM
>can subsidise office holders in general.
ICOM can, however, acknowledge this. Every institution and personal
contribution 'in kind' as we say here (e.g. paying for an airline
ticket, providing room and lunch for a committee board meeting) should
be submitted to ICOM, and acknowledged in ICOM's accounts as a
receipt/expenditure.
This will have a twofold effect. First, it will show the true cost of
running ICOM. As a potential funder (if I were one) I would feel a lot
happier giving X dollars to an organization with a total budget of Y
dollars, which already attracts Z dollars as in-kind donations, than I
would giving to an organization which has so far, it appears, got little
in the way of member support.
Second, it will make the donors of support in kind feel a bit better!
It is much easier to get continued funding if previous contributions
(even though they are 'only' the cost of an air ticket and hotel room)
are properly acknowledged.
>A point to consider would be to create a foundation for office holders
>from poor countries (or use and strengthen the existing ICOM foundation
>for this purpose). Such a foundation would probably inevitably depend
>on the increased payment of ICOM members from wealthier countries.
I think this is a good idea. I also feel that the existing foundation
should be a registered charity (or equivalent) in each country. This
would enable members to make tax-free donations. Membership, is
sometimes taxed, sometimes not (some governments feel it is a
professional body, others do not).
>Meetings of the Advisory and Executive
I agree 100%.
>And the cost of moving
>the ICOM administration ...
How much admin. needs to go to each meeting? Surely an institution in
Mexico City, Nairobi, etc. could be found which could provide the
hospitality (either as an acknowledge gift in kind, or for payment).
Then what is needed - a trilingual secretary? (Or how are the meetings
conducted - if translators are provided, then translators could be
locally provided, and just one secretary, with one language, could
minute the meeting.
>
>
>National committees
>
Agreed 100%, with this proviso: in some countries, 'the national museum
organization' deals with only one sector of museums. It is common for
such organizations to ignore the voluntary-run museums, and sometimes
they only look at the national museums, or they exclude the national
museums.
>
>
>Membership
>
>A point to consider is to allow for collective membership in ICOM for
>all members of a national committee.
I am not sure what you mean.
>
>Membership benefits
>
To me, the ICOM free entrance to museums is a very small benefit. What
is far more important is the meetings, and the journals. I am concerned
that more and more committees are making their journals for 'voting
members only'. I would much rather see a trend whereby, at cost,
members could receive the journals of any committee which interests
them.
This brings out another question: given that non-voting membership just
used to bring the benefit of the journal, and we no longer get that in
some, what is the point in limiting membership to two non-voting?
I think we should be members of one, voting, and then able to subscribe
to as many journals as we wish. If ICOM centrally thinks it a good
thing, then two journals should remain free.
>
>Membership and benefits for institutions
>
>Personally, I fear that giving out more cards may make it less relevant
>for museum professionals to become personal members.
I believe that the card is a minor benefit: it's the journals and
meetings which are important. Giving a few more people free entrance to
museums while on their holidays - that is a cost which will be borne by
the institutions visited, not by ICOM.
Or are you suggesting that the number of journals received by
institutions should be increased? I think 3 copies is sufficient.
You might also wish to consider a 'small institution' membership, at the
same rate as the individuals, with just one journal (my institution, for
example, has one full-time and two part-time members, of which two are
individual ICOM members, and one is not. Since I am married to an
individual member, who works for an institutional member, we are awash
with ICOM journals at home, and I donate my copies to my institution.
>Membership in international committees
>
>Some years ago a representative in the Advisory suggested that all
>members of ICOM could choose two international committees and be voting
>member in both. I think this proposal is sensible because it is much,
>much simpler than the present system with voting and non-voting
>members. It is simpler for the secretariat, simpler for many members
>who no longer can remember which of the three committees they are
>voting member in and maybe it forms a more just basis for the
>distribution of money from ICOM.
Being a member of two voting committees is fine. But I still argue for
getting low-cost journals (and attending meetings) of others. This is
particularly important for institutional members.
>
>Additionally, the forms on which one applies for membership should
>contain selection of international committees in one and the same form,
>and not on two separate forms, like now. Thus the applicant sees the
>selection of international committees as a matter of course.
Good idea!
I would add that I served on the board of ICMAH, and feel that the whole
management of International Committees needs to be reviewed. It took me
nearly three years to find out that ICMAH did not have a written
constitution lodged with the secretariat, and I gave up trying to work
out how the constitution could be changed when we didn't even have one.
>
>
>ICOM Economy: can money be saved through more use of electronic media?
>
I agree.
>
>ICOM Economy: can money be earned through advertisements in ICOM News?
>
>Even with the current number of members, one would think ICOM News was
>attractive for advertisements. With a strongly increased number of
>members, advertisements could make ICOM News an income earner, even in
>a paper version. I do not think advertisements in any case will make
>ICOM rich, but it may pay part or all of the expenses connected to ICOM
>News.
Good idea. Lots of exhibitions, sponsored by multi-nationals would, I
feel, be willing to advertise in ICOM news.
Thank you for all your hard work in bringing ICOM into the next century.
--
Pat Reynolds
(Museums Development Officer, ICOM-UK, voting member ICMAH, non-voting member
Costume and Regional Museums)
pat@caerlas.demon.co.uk
"It might look a bit messy now, but just you come back in 500
years time"
(T. Pratchett)
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On Tue, 1 Feb 2000, Per Rekdal wrote:
++++ CLIP] ++++
> Now: what if we had an international committee set up to last for say six
> years, constituted for the sole purpose of discussing cultural diversity?
> Or cultourism? What if we had an international committee set up for six
> years discussing the educational methods in modern art museums? Or a
> committee just for discussing the meaning in modern society of putting
> indigenous cultures into natural history museums, while the culture of the
> "whites" are found in the history museums? Or an international
committee
> debating repatriation issues?
========================
Per:
I agree with you - and that's very much how ICOM operated originally
before its structures became formalised (or should that be fossilised?).
However, on your first example above, that is EXACTLY what happened.
A broadly based Ad Hoc committee on cultural diversity issues was set up
in Quebec in 1992, chaired by Amareswar Galla of Australia, and its final
report and recommendations were adopted in 1998 at Melbourne (in both the
General Assembly Resolutions and ICOM Forward Programme for 1999-2007).
In between there was - apparently - very widespread consultation and calls
for active participation; two (or was it three?) drafts were prepared and
distributed, and the committee reported at (almost) every annual Advisory
Committee and at the Stavanger and Melbourne General Conferences.
However, it was only too clear that very little information on this
important and very topical work got through to the ICOM membership as a
whole. The fact that someone as active and conscientious as you seem
unaware of all this is not a matter on which to criticise you in any way.
Instead, it raises very serious questions about the channels of
communication within ICOM. Without thinking for more than a few moments I
can immediately recall several other equally important issues and projects
of my nine year period on the Executive Council about which information
and participation similarly never seemed to get beyond the (overworked)
chairpersons of National and International Committees who make up the
Advisory Committee.
I am not saying that we should go back to the earlier practice of ICOM
(and its pre-war predecessor the International Museums Office) and print
the Minutes (and key reports) of Advisory and Executive meetings in full
in ICOM News. However, that did at least mean that any ICOM member
interested in a particular topic could find out what ICOM was thinking
about it. Also, I know that a few National Committees do include fairly
detailed reports in their national newsletters. However, we need to find
some effective way of communicating such information directly with the
more that 99% of ICOM members who are not on the Advisory and Executive.
Patrick Boylan
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Another way to attract younger members would be institute
some form of
student membership, working through those institutions who have membership
status within ICTOP or another ICOM committee.
Martin Segger
>On Tue, 1 Feb 2000, LynneTeather wrote:
>
>++++[CLIP]++++
>
>> One way that younger members might be attracted to ICOM is for our
museum
>> studies educational places (schools, associations, institutes) to
emphasise
>> the work of ICOM and its many committees and affiliated groups. I'm
afraid
>> my experience is that such is often not the case, especially in North
>> America.
>
>=============================
>
>Lynne:
>
>Agreed. Another would be to allow those National Committees who want
to
>do so to recruit people on specialised advanced museology courses
>(Postgraduate Diploma and Master's upwards) into ICOM as Student Members,
>able to take part in ICOM's activities, but not to hold any ICOM office.
>
>This is the way most professional bodies, including many national museum
>associations, recruit the MAJORITY of their members.
>
>Unfortunately, all such proposals to ICOM have been ferociously blocked in
>the Advisory Committee and have therefore never reached the General
>Assembly for proper consideration, let alone a vote. The only
arguments
>(excuses?) I ever heard offered during my 12 years on the Advisory
>Committee and 9 years on the Executive Council were:
>
>OBJECTION 1. "In our country we don't have museology students.
Everyone
>is now expected to take a PhD to work in a museum, so every one of the
>country's tens of thousands of PhD students could become ICOM members
to
>get the ICOM Card and free admission, and take over the National
>Committee."
>
>ANSWER: If you don't have Museology/Museum Studies students then nobody
>from your country could apply to be a Student Member, so you do not have a
>problem.
>
>OBJECTION 2. "If too many people get free admission through having an
ICOM
>Card museums will withdraw recognition from the ICOM Card."
>
>ANSWER: Most specialist advanced students already have several free
>admission cards, e.g. the UNESCO young persons card, national student
>cards etc. Also, though ICOM membership has nearly trebled in the past 20
>years no museum has ever has so many free visits from ICOM members that it
>has threatened to recognition.
>
>-------------------
>
>The ICOM Training of Personnel Committee (ICTOP) has been convinced for
>many years - like Ignatius Loyola - that "you must catch them
young".
>Currently ICOM rarely recruits museum professionals until they are already
>half way through their working life - in their late thirties or older. In
>contrast, what might reasonably be called "normal" professional
bodies
>recruit their members when they are in their twenties and at their most
>vigorous and enthusiastic.
>
>We have never proposed that National Committees that find the idea of
>Student Members (or even museology courses!) totally abhorrent should be
>forced to accept them. All we ask is that those National Committes
that
>WANT to encourage ICOM membership amongst highly motivated younger
>professionals in this way should not be banned from doing so.
>
>
>Patrick Boylan
>Chairperson, ICOM-ICTOP
Martin Segger
Professor & Director UVIC Government & Community Relations, Maltwood
Art
Museum and Gallery & University Centre Auditorium, University of Victoria,
PO Box 3025 Stn. CSC, Victoria, B.C. Canada, V8W 3P2 Phone: 250 721-8298
Fax: 250 721-8997 E-mail: msegger@uvic.ca
Chair: NEW MEDIA 2000 CONFERENCE February 23-25 at the Univervisity of
Victoria. For program and registration info see:
http://www.maltwood.uvic.ca/nmc2k
For info on the Dubrovnik course: "The Role of Museums in the
Development
of Tolerance and Peace" May 9-13, 2000 see:
http://www.uvcs.uvic.ca/crmp/dubrov98.htm
******************************************************************************
YOU CAN NOW SEARCH THE MALTWOOD COLLECTIONS DATA BASE FROM THE
MALTWOOD
WEB SITE: URL http://www.maltwood.uvic.ca
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On Tue, 1 Feb 2000, LynneTeather wrote:
++++[CLIP]++++
> One way that younger members might be attracted to ICOM is for our museum
> studies educational places (schools, associations, institutes) to
emphasise
> the work of ICOM and its many committees and affiliated groups. I'm afraid
> my experience is that such is often not the case, especially in North
> America.
=============================
Lynne:
Agreed. Another would be to allow those National Committees who want to
do so to recruit people on specialised advanced museology courses
(Postgraduate Diploma and Master's upwards) into ICOM as Student Members,
able to take part in ICOM's activities, but not to hold any ICOM office.
This is the way most professional bodies, including many national museum
associations, recruit the MAJORITY of their members.
Unfortunately, all such proposals to ICOM have been ferociously blocked in
the Advisory Committee and have therefore never reached the General
Assembly for proper consideration, let alone a vote. The only arguments
(excuses?) I ever heard offered during my 12 years on the Advisory
Committee and 9 years on the Executive Council were:
OBJECTION 1. "In our country we don't have museology students.
Everyone
is now expected to take a PhD to work in a museum, so every one of the
country's tens of thousands of PhD students could become ICOM members to
get the ICOM Card and free admission, and take over the National
Committee."
ANSWER: If you don't have Museology/Museum Studies students then nobody
from your country could apply to be a Student Member, so you do not have a
problem.
OBJECTION 2. "If too many people get free admission through having an ICOM
Card museums will withdraw recognition from the ICOM Card."
ANSWER: Most specialist advanced students already have several free
admission cards, e.g. the UNESCO young persons card, national student
cards etc. Also, though ICOM membership has nearly trebled in the past 20
years no museum has ever has so many free visits from ICOM members that it
has threatened to recognition.
-------------------
The ICOM Training of Personnel Committee (ICTOP) has been convinced for
many years - like Ignatius Loyola - that "you must catch them young".
Currently ICOM rarely recruits museum professionals until they are already
half way through their working life - in their late thirties or older. In
contrast, what might reasonably be called "normal" professional
bodies
recruit their members when they are in their twenties and at their most
vigorous and enthusiastic.
We have never proposed that National Committees that find the idea of
Student Members (or even museology courses!) totally abhorrent should be
forced to accept them. All we ask is that those National Committes that
WANT to encourage ICOM membership amongst highly motivated younger
professionals in this way should not be banned from doing so.
Patrick Boylan
Chairperson, ICOM-ICTOP
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I have a perspective on attracting younger people to
organisations
which you may find heretical, but I challenge you to consider its
truth.
Young people tend to have other things on their minds than
professional associations. They may have young families and find that
school or sport activities occupy their attention. They may love
their jobs in museums, but might also love music and dancing, and
devote any extra energy to those ends. They may feel relatively
powerless in their jobs and feel that ICOM participation is, as one
younger heritage person said to me lately, 'too high up the food
chain for me'. I confess that in my twenties and thirties, I felt
ICOM was not my scene becasue that aspect of the museum world wasn't
within my financial reach.
But people change. They get older, more confident, better resourced.
They begin to be interested in organisations like ICOM. To put it
bluntly, maybe there is an age segment to whom ICOM appeals.
We should not dismiss the activity of we middle-aged and older
members. In some ways, I consider the desperate search for young
people to particpate in organisations (it's also an issue in museum
visiting) is a kind of ageism. Young is beautiful, young is best, if
we don't attract the young we are not a vibrant organisation.
In this International Year of Older Persons (older persons are always
20 years older than oneself), let us not devalue the activity of
people over 40, or 50, or 60, or however you define 'not young'.
Of course, for myself, I can sign off as always young!
Dr Linda Young
Research Fellow
History, Research School of Social Sciences
Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200
Tel: 02-6249 4008
Fax: 02-6249 3969
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Dear Linda, Patric,Per et al:
I have been reading all the contributions to this discussion about ICOM
and, frankly, I am impressed with the enormity of the problems we have to
share!
Of all the things that could (and have to be) said on the matter, I would
choose:
a. attracting young people =
Linda, you are right about the
interests of young people and yes, there
seems to be an age segment to which ICOM appeals (at least in some
countries, this is not the case in Brazil). But maybe not only because
young people's interests are different from ours - it may have to do with
the communication system still used in ICOM. In other words, how many young
professionals you know communicate through regular mail and wait until
they receive printed matter to get information? ICOM may not be entirely
fossilized yet, as Patrick says, but by all means, expecting young people
to be attracted to an organization where people still communicate through
postage and printing is like expecting our generation (am I getting old?)
to communicate through smoke signs. I have found that when, back from
Melbourne, I had - as first duty as new chairperson of ICOFOM - to send a
newsletter to 1500 people, without a budget and all by myself (no budget,no
secretary to help). It was a time consuming thing, and it took me several
weeks to get the job done. During this time, I had the impression
that
all I would be able to do in ICOFOM was to write letters, print them, xerox
them, send them. Many of these letters came back, because addresses
change
faster than our capacity to keep them actualized (more than ever, I DO
admire Eloiza and her staff - they do it all the time for 15.000 people!).
That's when we see the importance of
using new technologies, especially
internet. Today, more than 1/3 of our membership is already in address
books - communication is easier, faster, lighter (this is another issue -
young people HATE the formal ways ICOM uses to communicate), infinitely
less expensive and sometimes even gracious. After releasing our first
message via internet, I have received hundreds of emails from members
eveywhere, thanking God - and ICOFOM - for the new communication system.
Yes, it does have to be checked and improved and actualized, and this is
done several times a week, but we have an immediate response to our
messages - as other groups (like CHDEVL and ICOM-L) have. Of course we
still have to post messages to those who still do not have emails - but it
is interesting to observe that such colleagues do not live, necessarily, in
less developped countries: many of them are ... in the richer parts of
Europe!!!! (shall we talk about tradition?)
As for trying to attract young
postgraduate students of Museology and
related matters, I entirely agree. ICOFOM has been doing that already,
with some good surprises: some of the new members who joined the committee
are post-graduate students - from France, Canada, Costa Rica, Czec Republic
(Masaryk and the Chair), Brazil and many other countries. Many are very
young professionals, who have just graduated. But I guess attracting
students is easier for ICOFOM and ICTOP than for other committees.
b. second important issue: cultural diversity
within ICOM
We write a lot about cultural
diversity, we speak a lot about plurality,
yet... we discuss and work in French and in English. How many of the
15.000 ICOM members are anglophones or francophones? How many good
professionals (young and less young) AVOID becoming ICOM members because
they are afraid of not being able to communicate? In Brazil, they are many.
In South America, hundreds. In Africa and Asia, I can't
imagine! I don't
know how to solve this problem, I'd only insist (once more) that we should
use at least Spanish in all ICOM activities. Yet it is not enough.
Regional organizations of ICOM will have to play a vital role concerning
this matter: de-centralization must be encouraged and supported, especially
when we remember the many different ways through which people express their
ideas, according to their cultural backgrounds. I propose ICOM tries to
strenghten regional organizations and national committees, as forums for
the expression of cultural diversity.
And yes, International committees
must be regionalized as well - and
ICOFOM LAM is a wonderful example of it. But, of course, regionalization
of international committees brings us to the very much discussed problem of
financing of international committees: ICOM must acknowledge that it is
very difficult that regional groups of international committees receive ANY
KIND of financial support, from any institution in the region. They do not
represent countries, just ideas. So, regionalized international
committees
(like ICOFOM and CECA) must start to discuss with ICOM how to deal with
this problem.
c. third problem = annual meetings of
international committees
They are expensive, difficult to
organize, they generate a lot of
expectation and anxiety ... and many colleagues that are really active may
not be able to participate. Those who are active in more than one
committee feel divided, either because they lack personal funds or also
because they have not enough time to be away from their jobs. ICOM should
encourage the development of discussion groups via internet and other
alternatives. The best thing are groups like this one, cHDEVL and others,
which enable us to exchange ideas and enhance our work without having to
pay an air ticket.
Yet it is important to meet in person,
and in that case I agree that all
personal and institutional expenses with air tickets, etc. should be
reported to ICOM. ICOM MUST ACKNOWLEDGE OUR FINANCIAL REALITIES. Sometimes
I have the impression we have a lot of phantasies concerning the real
financial possibilities of people: those who think that it is important for
international committees to meet in Europe in alternate years, because
'Europe is Central' may not really know how much is an air ticket from
Chile, Zambia, India, to Europe. Do people really know the average salary
of a museum professional in all countries?
Back to international meetings - the
search for funding is a stress for
those who organize international annual meetings. It is very difficult to
organize an international meeting with a budget of less than US$ 40.000,
even in the less developped countries (especially in them, because of the
cost of translation services and air tickets). In a country where the
average museum has an annual budget of US$ 10.000, to 15,000 (or even
less), this is a huge sum. Few national organizations want to finance that.
US$ 40,000 budgets are, with reason, considered excessive, when compared
to the needs of some countries: the same amount (when it exists) can be
invested in national heritage or in refurbishing a national museum. As
for
international organizations, they do sponsor some things - like
contemporary art, or numismatics. But we haven't seen many willing to
sponsor, for instance, museum theory. What should be done, meet only in
the richest countries? Sponsor the tickets of the colleagues of less rich
countries? That would reinforce the image of 'the rich sponsoring the
poor', which is not exactly what ICOM needs. Should ICOM start a special
fund for international meetings in less developped countries? Or provide
services for meetings in specific regions? ...I don't think most ICOM
members would approve that.
Well, this is all for today. More comments in the next message.
Greetings to all of you,
Tereza Scheiner
chairperson ICOFOM
------------------------------------
At 09:27 AM 2/2/2000 +1100, you wrote:
>I have a perspective on attracting younger people to organisations
>which you may find heretical, but I challenge you to consider its
>truth.
>
>Young people tend to have other things on their minds than
>professional associations. They may have young families and find that
>school or sport activities occupy their attention. They may love
>their jobs in museums, but might also love music and dancing, and
>devote any extra energy to those ends. They may feel relatively
>powerless in their jobs and feel that ICOM participation is, as one
>younger heritage person said to me lately, 'too high up the food
>chain for me'. I confess that in my twenties and thirties, I felt
>ICOM was not my scene becasue that aspect of the museum world wasn't
>within my financial reach.
>
>But people change. They get older, more confident, better resourced.
>They begin to be interested in organisations like ICOM. To put it
>bluntly, maybe there is an age segment to whom ICOM appeals.
>
>We should not dismiss the activity of we middle-aged and older
>members. In some ways, I consider the desperate search for young
>people to particpate in organisations (it's also an issue in museum
>visiting) is a kind of ageism. Young is beautiful, young is best, if
>we don't attract the young we are not a vibrant organisation.
>
>In this International Year of Older Persons (older persons are always
>20 years older than oneself), let us not devalue the activity of
>people over 40, or 50, or 60, or however you define 'not young'.
>
>Of course, for myself, I can sign off as always young!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Dr Linda Young
>Research Fellow
>History, Research School of Social Sciences
>Australian National University
>Canberra ACT 0200
>Tel: 02-6249 4008
>Fax: 02-6249 3969
>
>
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>
Tereza M. Scheiner
President ICOFOM
Av. Ayrton Senna, 2150 sala 223 bloco C
22775-000 Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
tel: 55.21.325 32 08
fax: 55.21.325 66 35
icofom@iname.com
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Re Lynne Teather's notion that the work of ICOM should be
emphasised in
educational places: maybe there is cause and effect at work here,
because when I was studying museum studies at the Institute of
Archaeology in London, one afternoon was devoted to institutions at the
national, national, regional and local level. I seem to remember we had
two speakers, one of which was on the board of ICOM-UK.
--
Pat Reynolds
pat@caerlas.demon.co.uk
"It might look a bit messy now, but just you come back in 500
years time"
(T. Pratchett)
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LynneTeather wrote:
One way that younger members
might be attracted to ICOM is for our museum
studies educational places (schools, associations, institutes) to emphasize
the work of ICOM and its many committees and affiliated groups. I'm afraid
my experience is that such is often not the case, especially in North
America.
This is exactly the case in Africa. ICOM members are making little effort to inform
even their own colleagues about the organisation. Yet ICOM is a fantastic idea
for museum professionals. In my experience the various sub-committees are doing
thier best to keep their members informed, but the idea is to get the members
in the first place. I agree with Lynne Teather.
Josephine Thang'wa
Public Relations Officer
National Museums of Kenya.
On Wed, 2 Feb 2000, Pat Reynolds wrote:
> Re Lynne Teather's notion that the work of ICOM should be emphasised in
> educational places: maybe there is cause and effect at work here,
> because when I was studying museum studies at the Institute of
> Archaeology in London, one afternoon was devoted to institutions at the
> national, national, regional and local level. I seem to remember we
had
> two speakers, one of which was on the board of ICOM-UK.
=========================
Pat:
Yes, of course. Any Museum Studies (or similar) course following either
the original UNESCO/ICOM "Basic Syllabus" or the latest ICTOP
"Curricula
Guidelines" should have this in their teaching programmes.
The problem raised over and over again by ICTOP is that those whose
interest is aroused are then refused membership of ICOM because ICOM
has no Student member category, unlike most other professional bodies.
(It's pretty clear that some national committees ignore this and accept
advanced museum studies students anyway - but that's not the point.)
Patrick
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On Wednesday Feb 2 Patrick Boylan wrote:
>
>A broadly based Ad Hoc committee on cultural diversity issues was set up
>in Quebec in 1992, chaired by Amareswar Galla of Australia, and its final
>report and recommendations were adopted in 1998 at Melbourne (in both the
>General Assembly Resolutions and ICOM Forward Programme for 1999-2007).
>
Pat,
I know very well about this committee, but this is not at all the kind of
committee I have in mind. The committee mentioned above seemed to have
restricted membership and it's aim was to make policy recommendations. All
very good.
I am thinking about committees that are just as open to all ICOM members as
the present international committees are, with the aim of debating an
issue. These debates may be scholarly, practical or political in character
(or a mix, as our debates usually are) and the aim is not necessarily to
present a single final document, but to give food for thought that may have
theoretical, practical and/or political consequences.
Per B. Rekdal
ICME Chairperson
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While we might lay some responsibility at the feet of ICOM members, I think it also says volumes about how our museum educaitonal places in some parts of the world operate, who staff them and what expertise is valued - apparently not international views of museums.
Thanks,
Lynne T.
Re: Pat Young's comments.
When I studied in the UK it was the same thanks to individuals like Patrick
Boylan and Geoffrey Lewis among others. But it's not the same in Canada
where despite the important contribution of some individuals to ICOM the
bulk of our colleagues are just not involved let alone knowledgeable of its
history, work and ideals let alone basic information about how the
international system of museology works.
Thanks,
Lynne Teather.
----- Original Message -----
From: Pat Reynolds <pat@CAERLAS.DEMON.CO.UK>
To: <ICOM-L@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2000 4:45 PM
Subject: Re: ICOM reforms
I would like to add to the debate on ICOM reforms from the perspective of
ICOM.CC - currently the largest of the International Committees of ICOM.
ICOM.CC
has a lot at stake here - it has in many respects become a separate
though
viable organization which only has a fairly limited interest in the activities
of the parent body. ICOM CC has its own Triennial meetings which are almost as
large and complex as ICOM meetings. It has an enviable publication record - Its
Triennial preprints are of very high quality and represent the current best
work
in conservation. It has 23 working groups - each of which is a viable
organization in its own right. Many of these have their own conferences and
produce their own specialist publications. It is much more than a discussion
group or a debating forum which provides coherent input to other International
Committees at ICOM meetings. Since ICOM.CC is so inadequately funded by ICOM in
terms of the high level of activity, ICOM.CC has realized that it has to
start
taking the issue of its own survival very seriously. Clearly, the current
situation has limited viability - we spend about $20,000 more than we receive
in
revenue each year of operation. Somehow we have to recover those funds in order
to survive. Like any other organization face with a funding issue there are two
choices - we either cut costs or raise funds. the easiest way for us to deal
with the issue would simply be to separate from ICOM. That however, is an
option
which is one we do not wish to contemplate since the wonderful thing about
ICOM.CC is the opportunity to interact with the rest of the museum community.
The Working group structure has worked very well - we don't usually worry too
much about insisting on ICOM membership for participation in working
groups -
Hence many enthusiastic younger members of the profession have been attracted
first to these groups and then to ICOM.CC and finally to ICOM. It has been a
very enticing way for younger people to become involved in ICOM. Some of the
working conferences have been extraordinary - as well as great fun. the small
working group meetings have fostered dialogue, creativity and the development
of
networks of professionals throughout the world. And it is the networks of
people
which have become the most important thing about ICOM.CC. We have learned
informally and formally from one another.
What I am saying is that from our perspective our committee has been an immense
success. Where it has failed is in its relationship with ICOM. We recognize
that
we have to improve our level of participation - but as many have pointed out
the
difficulty of travel has been a great barrier.
However, it seems to me that with the development of electronic communications
-
everything has changed. - information and ideas can be shared rapidly - new
networks of people can develop - publication in hard copy is unnecessary. The
old way of doing business is history - nothing will ever be the same
again. we
need to redefine the organization in the light of these changes. ICOM.CC is
planning to do just that in a special session later this year. We plan to bring
on a facilitator and develop a new mission statement and a set of
recommendations on what changes we should make.
One final remark - electronic communications cannot replace human interactions
-
or to put it another way - we still need to party together once in a while so
that we can develop a degree of comfort in sharing ideas and giving of
ourselves
to our colleagues.
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I would like to add to the debate on ICOM reforms from
the perspective of
ICOM.CC - currently the largest of the International Committees of ICOM.
ICOM.CC
has a lot at stake here - it has in many respects become a separate
though
viable organization which only has a fairly limited interest in the activities
of the parent body. ICOM CC has its own Triennial meetings which are almost as
large and complex as ICOM meetings. It has an enviable publication record - Its
Triennial preprints are of very high quality and represent the current best
work
in conservation. It has 23 working groups - each of which is a viable
organization in its own right. Many of these have their own conferences and
produce their own specialist publications. It is much more than a discussion
group or a debating forum which provides coherent input to other International
Committees at ICOM meetings. Since ICOM.CC is so inadequately funded by ICOM in
terms of the high level of activity, ICOM.CC has realized that it has to
start
taking the issue of its own survival very seriously. Clearly, the current
situation has limited viability - we spend about $20,000 more than we receive
in
revenue each year of operation. Somehow we have to recover those funds in order
to survive. Like any other organization face with a funding issue there are two
choices - we either cut costs or raise funds. the easiest way for us to deal
with the issue would simply be to separate from ICOM. That however, is an option
which is one we do not wish to contemplate since the wonderful thing about
ICOM.CC is the opportunity to interact with the rest of the museum community.
The Working group structure has worked very well - we don't usually worry too
much about insisting on ICOM membership for participation in working
groups -
Hence many enthusiastic younger members of the profession have been attracted
first to these groups and then to ICOM.CC and finally to ICOM. It has been a
very enticing way for younger people to become involved in ICOM. Some of the
working conferences have been extraordinary - as well as great fun. the small
working group meetings have fostered dialogue, creativity and the development
of
networks of professionals throughout the world. And it is the networks of
people
which have become the most important thing about ICOM.CC. We have learned
informally and formally from one another.
What I am saying is that from our perspective our committee has been an immense
success. Where it has failed is in its relationship with ICOM. We recognize
that
we have to improve our level of participation - but as many have pointed out
the
difficulty of travel has been a great barrier.
However, it seems to me that with the development of electronic communications
-
everything has changed. - information and ideas can be shared rapidly - new
networks of people can develop - publication in hard copy is unnecessary. The
old way of doing business is history - nothing will ever be the same
again. we
need to redefine the organization in the light of these changes. ICOM.CC is
planning to do just that in a special session later this year. We plan to bring
on a facilitator and develop a new mission statement and a set of
recommendations on what changes we should make.
One final remark - electronic communications cannot replace human interactions
-
or to put it another way - we still need to party together once in a while so
that we can develop a degree of comfort in sharing ideas and giving of
ourselves
to our colleagues.
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Dear colleagues,
I have been bombarded by various messages about ICOM reforms. Of
particular interest is the one from my work-mate here in Nairobi, which
seems to have sparked off a lengthy debate:
>I have noted with interest that the National committes especially in Africa
>are led by people who have been in Museums for a long time. Though they are
>an irreplacable source of knowledge, i believe the future of Museums is in
>both the younger and older professionals.
There has been a lot of back and forth about *attracting* young members;
but Josephine specifically talks of young people *leading* the national
committees. In Kenya, we have been led by the 'old guard' - if you will -
for some time, I admit. But voting is held, and no one bars younger
members from vying for chairman/woman(!)-ship. Leading a national
committee is no small task, and no doubt the more experienced (ie older!)
museum staff have much to offer in the way of guidance and insight.
Communication systems (snail mail vs. email) have little to do with
attarcting new members in Kenya, as very few people have access to the
Internet anyway (the NMK does not have a LAN and there are only a few
single-user dial-up accounts).
In Kenya, our natn'l committee is now mostly made up of 'young' people -
so, the challenge now goes out to them. Who will take it up?
Josephine goes further to say:
>ICOM members are making little effort to
>inform even their own colleagues about the organisation.
I beg to differ [maybe Josephine and I will thrash this out on our own
:-)] Last year the Kenyan national committee made a serious effort to
attract new - AND young - staff (Josephine included) to ICOM; this
resulted in our natn'l membership jumping from about a dozen to 53
members! How could we have attracted all those members without informing
our colleagues about ICOM?
And the REAL questions: How young is young? And how old is old? I hope
we're not counting grey hairs!
Cheers!
Lorna
****************************
National Museums of Kenya
Museum Hill
P.O. Box 40658
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel. (02) 742131/4, 742161/4
Fax. +254-2-741424
Email: abungu@arcc.or.ke
Visit our web site: http://www.museums.or.ke
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Michel Van-Praet wrote:
>L'ICOM a donc un large potentiel de développement si elle répond aux
>demandes des professionnels des musées et leur ouvre des perspectives
>nouvelles.
I could not agree more, and I take as granted that this is the basic
attitude of all participants on this List and the very reason for our
debates.
There is nothing wrong with being "old" and I do not think any of us
has
meant to express such an attitude. One of the phenomena of present times
that I believe to have observed is that there is no longer such a clear-cut
distinction between the ideas and attitudes of younger and older people. I
think we should be reminded that this discussion started with Josephine
Thang'wa asking for the participation in ICOM of "both the younger and
older professionals". And I agree with those being a bit worried about the
- at least seemingly - lack of young professionals being active in ICOM. I
think the contributions to this discussion are very fruitful, and have at
least given me several ideas about how to approach this problem within ICME.
But the discussion have dealt with several different issues:
A) Informal strategies for attracting young professionals (good ideas have
been presented).
B) The possibility that the members, and especially the board, of a
national committee intentionally or unintentionally tend to reserve the
participation in the activities of ICOM for the older, very established
members of the museum profession.
This eventual challenge I guess must be dealt with within each country -
unless there should be a practice regarding membership that is in open
violation with the ICOM statutes.
C) Whether ICOM should allow students to become members.
Personally, I would like to hear more of the pro's and con's. And there are
several questions: Should they be allowed to be elected to positions? How
does one know when their membership should be terminated without
considerable bureaucracy? In principle I am in favour, but I do fear it
could add to the European dominance because of the extreme difference in
the economic possibilities of students in different parts of the world. On
the other hand, there cannot be such an enormous number of them. Anyway,
could anybody come up with a balanced list of advantages and disadvantages?
Per B. Rekdal
ICME chairperson
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