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