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
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