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: [log in to unmask] 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 ****************************************************************************** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Change ICOM-L subscription options and search the archives at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/icom-l.html