Dear Members of ICOM,
The recently concluded 21st General Conference and 22nd General Assembly
held in Vienna, 19-24 August 2007, may be regarded as a considerable success
in a number of areas. The Vienna ICOM General Conference was attended by
2631 delegates, from 117 countries, several of which had never been
represented before at any General Conference. One major success has been the
ability of the organisation to ensure that over 50 young professionals were
facilitated in attending their first International Committee meetings,
adding to the 42 other ICOM bursary recipients (sponsored by The Getty
Foundation ; ICOM Foundation, ICOM-Austria and UNESCO Participation
Programme) and ICOM's generosity extended to a further 5 who were funded
from other sources. This representation reflected more that 10% of the total
ICOM membership accounting for the highest level of diversity ever achieved
within ICOM's events and very much served as a signal for the direction in
which the organisation has decided to move.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The General Assembly endorsed ICOM's new Strategic Plan
http://icom.museum/strat_plan2_draft.html for 2008-2010 including the 4
strategic objectives and the review and implementation processes that were
proposed, and approved the format and content of the triennial budget
http://icom.museum/download/eng_aug2007/Budgetriennal2008-2010(ang-fr).xls
formulated around these following strategic objectives:
1. Strengthen ICOM's global impact
2. Provide leadership in advocating the value of heritage
3. Champion effectiveness and high standards in museums
4. Ensure the resources required to effectively implement the Strategic
Plan.
Eight Resolutions were adopted by the General Assembly. The Resolutions were
the subject of considerable interest, dialogue and times passionately
debated http://icom.museum/resolutions/eres07.html
These included:
Resolution No. 1: Protection and Promotion of Universal Heritage with
Respect for Cultural and Natural Diversity
Resolution No. 2: Accessibility of Information and Communication
Resolution No. 3: Informing Museums on Intellectual Property Issues
Resolution No. 4: Preventing Illicit Traffic and Promoting the
Physical Return, Repatriation and Restitution of Cultural Property
Resolution No. 5: Disaster and Emergency Planning
Resolution No. 6: Promoting Sustainable Development
Resolution No. 7: Championing Higher Standards and Professional
Development
Resolution No .8: Improving the Consultative and Decision Making
Process
ICOM welcomed three new Honorary Members: Prof. Dr. Byung Kim (Korea),
Prof. Manyando Mukela (Zambia) and Prof. Dr. Vinos Sofka (Sweden) who were
enthusiastically proclaimed to join ICOM's pantheon.
http://icom.museum/honorary-members.html
A new Executive Council (2007-2010) was elected on 24 August 2007, including
five new members, as well as a new Chairperson of the Advisory Committee.
Congratulations to all. http://icom.museum/elected.html
Finally, the General Assembly also finally adopted by acclamation new
Statutes to ensure greater efficiency of the organisation and approved the
most recent version of the document
http://icom.museum/download/eng_aug2007/2005DIV03rev4-eng-STATUS-April07.pdf
as well as the transferral of the administrative aspects of previous
statutes into Operational Policies, thus delegating authority to the
Executive Council to adopt various administrative procedures as the need
dictates.
GENERAL CONFERENCE
Five very challenging and interesting keynote addresses offered differing
perspectives on the state of museums and Universal Heritage. Our
International Committees provided thirty eight sessions including joint
sessions, reflecting on a wide range of perspectives through dynamic
dialogue, mutual collaboration, and demonstrating the breadth and depth of
the scientific commitment throughout the diverse fields of expertise within
ICOM. Thirteen concurrent sessions were organised. The General Conference
also afforded the welcome opportunity to congratulate our International
Committees for their significant achievements over several decades: ICOMAM
which celebrated its 50th anniversary with the launch of a handsome
anniversary publication; ICLM which similarly celebrated thirty active
years in ICOM with the distribution of its 2006 Proceedings and AVICOM with
the FI@MP Award ceremony for film and video achievement, a particular
highlight of the Conference and a demonstration of the creativity
underpinning state-of-the-art museum work today.
The organisation was pleased to receive Representatives from our traditional
partners UNESCO, ICCROM and the WFFM, while at the same time welcoming new
strategic partners,. such as the International Bar Association (IBA) and the
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) who were actively involved
in both Executive Council and International Committee activities.
National Committees, Regional Alliances and Affiliated Organizations were
extremely active in developing and presenting their own programmes, some of
these joint efforts occurring for the first time during a General
Conference. At the same time, it was a pleasure for ICOM to be the venue for
the distribution of the second volume of the International Journal of
Intangible Heritage, a major contribution from our members in ICOM Korea.
ICOM also welcomed the launch of the ICOM Wiki during the General
Conference.
In terms of ongoing programming, ICOM was also proud to launch its Emergency
Red List of Peruvian Antiquities at risk, following the highly successful
launch of Emergency Red List of Afghanistan Antiquities at risk, during the
course of the last year. The Secretariat also organised a very active
Directors Meeting of the Selected Museums on Teamwork for Integrated
Emergency Management course for South Eastern European museums as the launch
for its new training programme for 2007-2008 under the framework of its
Museums Emergency Programme (MEP).
In the passing of the ICOM flag from Councillor Andreas Mailath-Pokorny of
the City of Vienna to the City of Shanghai, we begin to move forward to ICOM
2010 and thank the official Chinese Delegation led by Mrs. Yang Dinghua,
Vice Mayor of Shanghai Municipal Government for her presence and commitment
to encouraging and supporting the success of our next General Conference.
ICOM would welcome your perspectives and constructive criticism on the
General Conference and therefore asks you to take the time to fill in the
questionnaire on ICOM 2007 General Conference, in order to help us to
improve the organisation for 2010, as discussed in our various meetings
http://icom.museum/general-conference2007.html
We expect feedback from you by 31 October, 2007, at the latest. The results
of the questionnaire will then be made available in early 2008.
On your behalf let me thank our excellent host ICOM Austria as well as
ICOM's General Secretariat for all they have done to ensure the success of
this General Conference. On behalf of the members of the Executive Council,
once again, I would like to thank you all for a very intense and active
General Conference and in particular for your involvement in our debates.
Let me personally thank each and every one of you for your continued support
in having re-elected me as your President for a second term. Your confidence
is deeply appreciated. I look forward to working with all of you over the
next three years to fulfill ICOM goals and aspirations.
Alissandra Cummins
President
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Change ICOM-L subscription options, unsubscribe, and search the
archives at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/icom-l.html
|
