Amar Galla, Chairperson of ICOM's Asia-Pacific Regional Organisation, has
confirmed to me that the Region has submitted to the Executive Council
a proposal to amend the Definition of a Museum in Statutes of ICOM (and
hence the Code of Ethics) to include within the official definition of a
museum insitutions and organisations concerned primarily with the
preservation, study and communication of the intangible heritage, such as 
cultural and heritage centres.

Presumably this important proposal, first suggested at the June 1999
Advisory Committee, will be considered at this year's Advisory Committee,
with a view to its inclusion on the agenda of the Barcelona 2001 General
Conference.

However, so far as I can see this far-reaching proposal has not yet been
widely published, so I am circulating it now.

I understand from Amar that the Resolution to amend the Statutes of ICOM
will be as proposed at the 1999 Cairns (Australia) Workshop, as follows:


Amendment to the ICOM Statutes:

          Article 2 – definitions 1. Should be enhanced to
          include a new sub-clause numbered ix as follows:
          
          ix. cultural centres that are not for profit
          institutions engaged in the preservation,
          continuation and management of living heritage
          systems
          
          NB. The existing viii would become ix and the new
          clause is introduced as new text viii.


(I should say that I personally support such a change, which is in
line with the recent re-structuring of the Cultural Division of UNESCO in
which both "physical cultural heritage" and "intangible cultural heritage"
have been merged.)



Patrick Boylan
Chairperson, ICTOP

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