International Committee on Management

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM
October 4, 5 & 6, 2004
SEOUL, KOREA

Unless otherwise noted, all sessions are at the COEX convention centre in Seoul.

Monday, October 4, 2004

10:00 am Welcome, Introductions

Nancy Hushion, INTERCOM Chair
John McAvity, INTERCOM Program Chair

11:00 am Korean Museum Community and Strategic Issues

An overview of the Korean museum community and strategic issues facing it.

11:30-12:45pm Establishing an International Museum of Living Culture

With the opening of its landmark museum in Washington in September 2004, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) completes its “establishment” as a museum complex of living cultures. This panel of NMAI leaders presents the key elements and strategies of NMAI’s development, in direct collaboration with Native people, including its mission and policies, planning and funding strategies, programs for preserving and advancing Native cultures of the western hemisphere, repatriation program and collections care practices, etc

Speakers: W. Richard West, Jr, Founding Director, NMAI
Douglas E. Evelyn, Deputy Director, NMAI
James A. Volkert, Associate Director for Mall Transition
Elizabeth Duggal, Director, External Affairs & Development.

1pm-2:30pm lunch break (on your own)

2:30pm LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE
REPATRIATION OF STOLEN AND ILLEGALLY EXPORTED CULTURAL PROPERTY: IS THERE A MEANS TO SETTLE THE DISPUTES?

(Joint session with ICME and ICOM Legal Affairs Committee)

National and international efforts to preserve and protect the cultural heritage of humanity continue, but the problem remains that, while all museum officials condemn the illicit trade in art and antiquities, some persist in retaining within their collections illegally exported and stolen cultural property. Questions of how international efforts can resolve adequately the problems concerning the ownership of cultural objects continue.

This program provides an engaging and informative discussion of the laws and ethical concepts relating to the return/restitution of illegally exported and stolen cultural property. It will address the issue of whether such laws and ethical considerations mandate the repatriation of all stolen and illegally exported cultural property. The program provides a dialogue between speaker and participants of the best form (and availability) of dispute resolution that can be initiated to resolve most satisfactorily the difficult return/restitution questions.

Moderator: Geoffrey Lewis, former ICOM President

Keynote Speaker: Marilyn Phelan,
Robert H. Bean Professor of Law and Museum Science
Texas Tech University School of Law, USA

Respondents: Harrie Leyton
Senior Lecturer of Museology
Reinwardt Academy
Amsterdam, Netherlands

W. Richard West, Jr
Founding Director,
National Museum of the American Indian,
Washington, DC,USA

4:30pm. Adjourn for the day

TUESDAY, October 5, 2004

9:30am-10:15am Planning for Effective Management

Preparation for development of a new museum or historic site poses challenges and opportunities for its planning team. This paper will examine some of the critical planning issues including: Determining the facility program and operating plan; Creation of an overall storyline and collections policy; Establishment of staffing criteria and an outline for the effective management of both paid staff and volunteers; Budgeting and fundraising for both capital and operating purposes; and Strategies for financial self-sufficiency.

Trudy Cowan,
Executive Director
Lougheed House
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

10:15-11am Museums and Cultural Industries: a myth in Taiwan!

Since the concept of cultural industries was introduced to Taiwan, museums and quasi-museums in Taiwan have been seen as a economic engines for the economy. Local policy makers have come to expect that museums would be self-sufficient and generate spin offs for the local economy if properly managed. This paper is to examine and investigate the myth that, under the present scope and structure, it is impossible for museums in Taiwan, as educational institutions, to reach such a goal.

June Chi-Jung Chu
Department of Cultural Affairs
Taipei City Government,
Taipei, Taiwan

11-11:30am coffee break

11:30 am-12:15pm Management Challenges for the 21th Century Museum

A critical look at strategic challenges facing museums today by several directors. Topics will including funding, commercialism, managing change (attitudes, skills, partnerships, project management), globalization, etc.

David Fleming, Director, National Museums Liverpool, UK
Joy Ice, Director, Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, USA
Greg McManus, Director, Rotorua Museum of Art and History, New Zealand

12:15-1pm Preserving Intangible Cultural Heritage

Problems of preserving intangible heritage and traditional national culture have been topical for museums. Using examples of work in eastern Russia, Mr. Ruban will highlight examples of lessons learnt in preserving and exhibiting intangible heritage.

Nicolai Ruban
Director
Grodakov Khabarovsk Regional Lore Museum
Russia

1pm - 2:30pm lunch break (on your own)

2:30pm- 3:15pm THE MUSEUM AS WORKPLACE: STATUS OF THE PROFESSION IN THE UNITED STATES

As museums assume their place in the market driven economy, there is a perception that the nature of museum work is changing. What new skills and core competencies are being developed to advance museum workers in the profession? What are museums doing now to plan for a diverse workforce
of the future, and what methods are being used to attract, retain and improve the quality of the museum workplace? This session will discuss initiatives that are being used in US museums, including creative, cost-effective recruitment and retention methods; professional development training; motivation techniques; and the importance of succession planning, as well as issues related to compensation.

Geri Thomas, President
Thomas & Associates, Inc.
New York, USA

3:15-4pm Total Leadership: A New Approach to Work/Life Balance

By assessing the time spent in the four domains in our lives--Work, Home, Community, Self--Total Leadership looks at ways to increase business results while enriching our lives and the lives of our employees. Create change in the workplace and at home by examining results from two perspectives--as a business leader and for you personally.

Jose Ortiz
Manager of Administration
The Cloisters
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

4-4:30pm coffee break

4:30-5:30pm BUSINESS MEETING for INTERCOM

All members and prospective members are invited to attend and to hear reports on INTERCOM activities and to discuss future directions. Chair, Nancy Hushion.

WEDNESDAY, October 6, 2004

9:30am- 1pm THE QUEST FOR THE ETERNAL BLOCKBUSTER
Impressionist Paintings of Egyptian Dinosaurs?

(a joint session with INTERCOM and ICEE B International Committee on Exhibitions and Exchanges; ICAMPT - International Committee for Architecture and Museums Techniques; CIPEG B International Committee for Egyptology)

At first glance, perhaps, intangible heritage and blockbuster exhibitions may appear to represent polar-opposite manifestations of the museum profession. On closer examination, however, there is a synergy between the two. Four collaborating ICOM committees will discuss the interplay between physical exhibitions and intangible heritage. Strategic positions, conservation issues, and business challenges will be addressed as well as how blockbusters are developed, managed and toured, the impact they have on the staff and operations of the museums that organize and host them, on the museum community for which they have become a staple, and on the museum-going public that has come to expect them will round out the program.

Speakers: Dr. Rita Freed,
Curator of Egyptian, Nubian and Near Eastern Art
Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston, USA

Brent Cooke,
Director of Exhibitions
Royal British Columbia Museum
Victoria, Canada

Han Meeter,
Director
Projecburo Meeter
Leiden, Netherlands.

Conclusion of INTERCOM program.

For further information on the INTERCOM program, contact

John G. McAvity
Chair Programme Committee
INTERCOM
Jmcavity@museums.ca