Dear Terry,

I think that this is all good sense. I am 200% in support Mario's original
proposal and aim, i.e. to broaden ICOM's membership by recruit and
encouraging far more younger professionals to join and be actively
involved. But I (along with a number of others, it seems) question whether
this should be a formal and separate International Committee of ICOM. As I
keep pointing out if this solution was adopted then under the Statutes its
members could not be full members of or hold office in their appropriate
professionally-related International Committee.

Also, would arbitrary age limits be the answer to defining such a
Committee?  You remind me in your e-mail of the UK's old Junior Museum
Officials Group/Museum Assistants Group - now the Museum Professionals
Group.  In September 1967, still aged only 28, I was supposed to be taking
over as the Secretary of the Museum Assistants Group (MAG), but found
myself barred from this because the previous month I had been offered, and
accepted, the Directorship of the Exeter City Museums and Art Gallery
with effect from the following February, on which date I would be
required to resign from the MAG!

I have already pointed out that the 50 or so people attending ICOM's
inaugural meeting in Paris in November 1946 included one representative of
the Junior Museum Officials Group included in the UK Museums Association's
delegation to the meeting as an indication that ICOM's founders looked
for a fully inclusive membership.   The top priority in my view is to
focus on the inclusive spirit of 1946, rather than to seek to divide even
further.



Patrick

===============


On Fri, 2 Sep 2005, Terry Suthers wrote:

> >
> Dear Patrick
>
> I very much take and support your point that a splinter group of Young
> professionals is likely to result in distancing that group as such from the
> main ICOM Committee and the good work of other International specialist
> Committees.
>
> Whilst I and possibly you yourself were once active members of the then
> slightly radical Museum Assistants group of the UK Museums Association, and
> at the time that seemed a good group to belong to for eager young
> professionals, with its own conference and newsletter [I remember designing
> its letterhead when I was in Hull] it would be a shame not to find other
> means of encouraging the active participation of young professional members
> and means of fostering their interests and an outlet for papers within the
> main agendas and publications of ICOM and its international committees.
>
> There is bound to be periods when increased frustration is being felt
> amongst younger members when so many seemingly much older and possibly less
> radical members dominate committees and thus set the agenda for all.
>
> I am not sure if this is the case at present but my own view is that is in
> the best interests of ICOM and its members internationally to engage the
> active interest and participation of younger members in the committees,
> possibly finding an opportunity periodically for younger members to get
> together internationally through subsidised meetings/travel opportunities so
> that the 'old guard' are not always the ones to attend since they are the
> ones who do tend to have long established roles on Committees in part
> because they are free to travel and can usually allocate their own travel
> funds for that purpose without recourse to more senior management.
>
> Having been an ICOM member for at least 30 years I can see both sides of
> this argument but hopefully common sense will prevail and a stronger,
> increasingly younger, fully representative and wholly united international
> membership of ICOM will prevail.
>
> Interestingly perhaps, this e-mail debate has prompted me to encourage my
> own younger staff to think seriously about joining ICOM - some are members
> of the UK Museums Association and active in specialist interest groups.  But
> I was rather shocked by the initial response that they had little clue as to
> what ICOM really is and certainly they did not see it as being for them.  So
> we have much work to do to encourage the next generation.   Perhaps this
> attitude is more prevalent amongst UK staff, especially those working
> outside the nationals but I would be interested to know if that is the case
> since we may need to promote ICOM better if so.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Terry Suthers
>
> Terence Suthers
> Director & CEO
> Harewood House Trust
>

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