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