Dear ICOM colleagues,
Apologies for having taken such a long time to write another newsletter, but your ICOM Canada committee has been BUSY!
First, we have been reviewing and revising the mission, bylaws, and Strategic Plan for the organization. This was particularly necessary, as the bylaws had not been reviewed since 2012.
After a very productive face-to-face meeting in Toronto at the ROM (courtesy of Ryan Dodge) the committee agreed that the new mission and vision statements should be as follows:
MISSION
ICOM CANADA highlights, celebrates, and fosters activities of Canadian members working in cultural heritage among the international museum community, and brings awareness of international cultural issues to the Canadian museum community
VISION
The expertise and the work of ICOM Canada’s members will influence and advance worldwide museology.
In addition, we agreed that the strategic priorities for ICOM Canada should be to:
1. Make ICOM Canada more vital in the professional life of members
2. Ensure financial stability and sustainability of ICOM Canada
ICOM Canada’s first strategic priority will be fulfilled in part by three new initiatives. First, we have rewritten the Strategic Plan to reflect some new ideas about how ICOM Canada can better serve its members. The Strategic Plan includes improved communication via social media (this newsletter on our revamped website, Facebook, Twitter, Google Hangouts); hosting sponsored sessions at CMA and other conferences, increasing the profile of members, celebrating members’ authorship and research, and strengthening our relationship with other related associations and organizations.
Second, the student bursary that was initiated this spring by the Board (and is the brainchild of Viviane Gosselin at the Vancouver Art Gallery) is intended to help students who are members of ICOM to attend the ICOM Conference. Students must make a presentation, and are encouraged to attend the full conference. The bursary will
not cover the entire cost of attending the conference, but will cover airfare and accommodation.
Third, we will be hosting quarterly talks online through Google Hangouts, which we already use for meetings (thanks to Ryan Dodge at the Royal Ontario Museum). This exciting initiative is a FREE online professional development series which is viewable on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKxrYAD5CTY #AskICOMca). The series highlights Canadians working in museums museum workers to engage with and provides an opportunity forgroundbreaking discussing colleagues from across the country whileday, work in the museum sector. The first one took place on TuesMarch 31st from 3:00 to 4:00 and was a great success! Sarah Beam-Borg talked to us about her new job as the Exhibitions Manager at the new Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. Sarah spoke about what it is like st exhibitions in a to open a brand new museum and to organize the firnew space. On June 9 we have Robert Janes speaking about in nicely with this year’s which ties –sustainability in museum Museums for a Sustainable theme, “ International Museum DaySociety.” (http://network.icom.museum/international-museum-day).
We are hoping that these new initiatives will inspire further exciting developments for ICOM Canada, and that members will enjoy the enhanced communications.
Finally, the Annual General Meeting in Banff, at the Banff Springs Hotel, held in conjunction with the 2015 Canadian Museums Association conference was very well attended, and thanks to everyone for coming. At that meeting we welcomed two new Directors to our ranks, both of whom come to ICOM Canada with stellar qualifications. Moira McCaffery, Executive Director of the Canadian Art Directors Organization (CAMDO), has been an archaeologist in the Eastern Subarctic for two decades. She was Digital Projects Manager at the Musée de la Civilisation in Quebec City, and VP of Research and Collections at the former Museum of Civilization in Ottawa (now the Museum of Canadian History). Welcome Moira!
Jennifer Carter is a professor of Museum Studies and Human Rights museology at UQAM in Montreal. She specializes in the history of Architecture and Human Rights museums. She has worked
at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Canadian Architecture Collection (McGill). She was a professor of Museum Studies at the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto from 2008 to 2011 before joining the Department of Art History at UQAM. Welcome Jennifer!