WFFM INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS (XIII) ~ Abstracts ~

Adrian Adam, Members Manager, The Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney
Danny Ben-Natan, Treasurer of the WFFM and Coordinator of the Congress
Carla Bossi Comelli, President, WFFM
Valerie Cooper and Donale Gandossi, AGC Board of Directors and standing member of the Friends of AGC committee
Izabella Csordás, Executive Coordinator, Friends of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Margarita Lucía Valero Cuevas, Art educator and member of the Mexican Federation
Ana Luisa Delclaux Bravo, President, Spanish Federation of Friends of Museums
Karina Durand Velasco, Managing Partner, Trasciende, Cultural Services Specialists
Carlos Alfredo Ferreyra, President of the Association of Friends of the Historical Patrimony of Ansenuza, Suguia and Xanaes, Argentina
Dr Kevin Fewster, Director of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England
María Florencia Galesio, Valeria Keller y Mabel Mayol, National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires
John Gommes, Chairman Britto Press Ltd, London and Senior Trustee, Britto Foundation
Dr. Susan Hazan, Curator of New Media and Head of Internet Office, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Jose Isaak and Jackie Stapleton, Coordinators, Israel Museum Volunteers Organization
Ro King, President, Indonesian Heritage Society, Jakarta
Svetlana Philippova, Head, International Hermitage Friends Club, St. Petersburg
Gina Tan, Founder of Tangible Strategies, San Francisco
Mark Douglas Trask, Chief, Membership and Annual Giving, National Gallery of Canada Foundation, Ottawa
Thierry Verougstraete, Président de la Fédération des Amis des Musées de Belgique
Shai Yamin, Head of Marketing, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Betty Zucker, President, Volunteer Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Adrian Adam
Will You be My Friend? Facebook Friends vs. Real Friends: Will Museum Friends and Membership Groups Survive the Cyber Age? An Australian Perspective

Museums and galleries, like most other organisations, are now working in an environment in which technologies such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, Flickr, Facebook, Myspace and Youtube have and will continue to play an important role in the museum and cultural heritage sector in engaging with their existing and potential customers. But does all this instant friendship and connecting in cyberspace spell the end of the traditional model of a Friends or Members Group, as museums and galleries race to compete in the new digital age? Focusing on developments at his own museum and others in Australia, this talk will explore the pros and cons of the traditional role Friends groups have played in the life of museums and ask in practical terms if this will be enough to see them survive the current cyber revolution.

Adrian Adam is the Members Manager at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney Australia and has been in this position for the past 6 years. He previously worked with the Australian Film and Sound Archive as manager of their membership program. He is NSW State Vice-President of the Australian Federation of Friends of Museums.

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Danny Ben-Natan
The Relationship Between the Israel Museum, its International Council, and its Friends – An Almost Perfect Model

The International Council of the Israel Museum is composed of some 16 Associations of Friends all over the world ranging from a very large and active organization in the United States to groups in other countries with a small leadership structure and only several donors.

Led by Co-Chairs from the U.S and England; a Secretary General from France, and coordinated by Danny Ben-Natan, Vice President of the Museum, the International Council meets annually in Jerusalem at the beginning of June and holds a mid-year meeting in one of the countries where the Friends are active. These meetings serve to reinforce the Museum "family," provide a format to share the Museum’s recent achievements and challenges, and in short ensure the "recharging of batteries" for the Friends in supporting "their" Museum.

The Friends Associations hold annual activities in their respective countries ranging from educational visits to major fund-raising galas.

The model of the relationship between the International Council and the Museum is based on the mutual understanding which exists and is nurtured on an ongoing basis. The Museum is fully aware and appreciative of the important support of its Friends, while the Friends understand that their principal role is to financially support the Museum, an endeavor in which they excel – raising annually some $ 15 million for the Museum's operating budget (60%!) plus raising funds for the Campus Renewal Project, the Museum’s Endowment, and other funding initiatives.

Given the importance that the Israel Museum delegates to the International Council and to its Friends groups, responsibility for the coordination of all international activities and to the nurturing of the relationship between the Museum and its friends, including donor recognition, dissemination of information, reporting, etc., falls upon a very senior staff person and his professional team.

Is this model "exportable"? Can we draw wider implications which could help other museums and Friends groups to better understand their roles and needs? I believe that this is indeed possible and worthwhile in establishing a "win-win" relationship between museums and their friends.

Carla Bossi Comelli
Towards a New Ethic of Friends of Museums

The presentation is divided into two parts. The first features a brief introduction to the World Federation of Friends of Museums – a non-profit international cultural organization – its objectives and the main activities promoted by its members.

In the history of its more than thirty years now, the World Federation has built and developed both for itself and its members a distinguished identity recognizable and acknowledged in the worldwide community of cultural volunteerism. By achieving this objective, it has become a privileged partner of other international cultural organizations such as UNESCO and ICOM.
The second part of the presentation focuses on the history of the “Code of Ethics of Friends and Volunteers of Museums,” enacted in 1996 by the World Federation of Friends of Museums during its 9th World Congress held in Oaxaca, Mexico.
The establishment of a "Code of Ethics" extends the standards and ethics of professionalism to the field of voluntary work in the museums and enables an increased collaboration with museum professionals. Many affiliated Associations have adopted similar codes of conduct, better defining the roles, rights, and duties of friends, which ensures their being better regarded and received by museums and their staff.
Our activities in cooperation with museum institutions, public and private, aim to be a strong stimulus in favour of the knowledge and preservation of our heritage.

Valerie Cooper and Donale Gandossi
“The Art Gallery of Calgary – The Gallery, Board of Directors and Friends – A Successful Partnership”

In the past four years the Art Gallery of Calgary (AGC) has undergone tremendous positive change due to the effective leadership of its President and CEO, and a synergistic relationship between the Gallery, it’s Board of Directors and Friends of the AGC.

In 2004, when Valerie Cooper, President and CEO of the AGC, joined the organization, she faced many challenges. Acute financial difficulties, high staff turnover and a perilous drop in positive community profile among them.

During this presentation, Cooper and Gandossi will discuss how, with the help of a new and committed Board of Directors and with the dedicated efforts of Friends of AGC , the AGC has achieved the goals outlined in its three-year strategic plan, including the following impressive results.

Now on a firm footing, the AGC is looking ahead. Three strategic challenges have been identified as critical to the next phase of the organization’s growth. Cooper and Gandossi will outline the strategies they have developed to work in tandem with AGC staff, Board members, Friends of the AGC and other community partners to achieve the following.

Valerie Cooper, BA, MM
President & CEO, Art Gallery of Calgary

Valerie was appointed to the position of President & CEO of the Art Gallery of Calgary in March, 2004. She holds a Masters Degree in Management from McGill University, and brings a sharp business acumen to her role. Valerie has extensive professional expertise in management and administration in both corporate and non-profit environments, including seven years at Calgary’s Glenbow Museum and Art Gallery.

Over the past ten years, Valerie has held progressive management positions. Prior to joining the AGC, she was the founding Executive Director of the Canada Safeway Foundation.

Valerie has built a strong team of gallery professionals who strive for excellence in creative and management practices: in the development of exhibitions, education and public programming as well as arts administration. Her leadership skills, experience in team management, resource development, and community development are guiding the AGC as it grows and evolves into a leading contemporary art gallery locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

Donale Gandossi
Chair, AGC Board of Directors
Donale Gandossi’s community and business leadership provides the AGC Board of Directors and the Friends of AGC with a clear picture of the needs of Calgarians. Ms. Gandossi is currently Account Executive for Direct Cash ATM, a leading Canadian owned company whose customer service business is focused on ATM deployment, management and processing.

Ms. Gandossi has been involved in Calgary’s art community, working with artists and galleries, for several years. She previously held a Docent position in the Art Program at the Glenbow Museum. She has served on the AGC Board of Directors for eight years, and chaired the Facility Committee for the AGC in 2002. Prior to her time on the Board, Ms. Gandossi was a member of the Muttart Public Art Gallery (re-named the Art Gallery of Calgary in 2000) and chaired past art auctions and fundraisers for the Gallery.

Ms. Gandossi has also worked as Manager for Calgary painter O.N. Grandmaison. Her company, Fine Art Placement, assisted corporations in building their art collections.

Ms. Gandossi has recently been awarded the Woman of Vision in the Arts Award for Calgary in recognition of her volunteer efforts and her commitment and dedication to the Art Gallery of Calgary over the past fifteen years.

“Can I help you?” – this is how the 80 volunteers at the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts greet visitors when they approach our information desk. This is quite an achievement considering the history of volunteerism in the Central European region. But with high commitment and excellent practical tips, dreams of an excellent volunteer program can be realized.

The Budapest Museum of Fine Arts opened its gates to the public in 1906. The major part of its collection was donated by scientists, aristocrats, scholars - our first ‘volunteers.’

Following World War II, Communist regimes in the region altered society’s basic values, ordering people to volunteer in the regime’s best interest. Then, suddenly, the political changes of 1989-90 offered a free market, the free movement of goods and persons (and ideas), for generations who had grown up and lived in highly regulated political systems.

Just where does volunteerism fit in to such societies? The Friends of the Museum of Fine Arts has existed since 1995 and its volunteer docent program has been traditionally run with the participation of foreigners – mainly the wives of diplomats who were posted in Hungary for several years. Local, Hungarian participants were very rare. This program was taken over by the Museum in 2007. Before this, the idea of creating a Volunteer Program of Hungarians was realized in August 2006 - the first museum volunteer program in the country. While there was significant doubt among our colleagues that this project could be successful 16 years after the political changes, today we are enjoying our second year with 80 participants.

In the framework of this presentation I will share with you the steps in creating and stabilizing our volunteer program while including the best practices in management. You will hear fascinating ideas applied to volunteer management which help motivate volunteers on both the short and long term, facilitating their training, organization of schedules, etc. Major volunteer management elements will be addressed through examples from US institutions (MOMA, Field Museum, Art Institute of Chicago), UK institutions (British Museum, TATE, V&A, Kew Gardens) as well as the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts.

Margarita Lucía Valero Cuevas
Education in Museums and the Learning Process

The learning process can be transformed if we are aware of the two different components of the process itself: teaching that produces -or not- significant learning.

Museums have always had, intrinsically, an educational role, and have played an enriching and complementary function in formal education and schooling. However, new educational paradigms have shown that the regular museum visitor does not necessarily achieve significant learning.

In order to propose a series of ideas that can help improve both the work of professionals in museums and teachers, as well as of volunteers that can reach the visiting public, we need to understand the way we learn and how significant learning enriches everyday life. This can lead to an increase in visitors, and expand our vision of how we can transform education by helping the museum to become more of a “school,” and for schools to have a better relationship with museums.

This presentation examines the components that take part in the teaching-learning process within the museum, from a Constructivist point of view, and shares several experiences regarding museums and the work carried out in the classroom.

Tourism has enjoyed a spectacular increase during the last decades of the
20th century. The improvements to transportation and communication, along with the rise in the world economy which has given people security and well being, are the main factors for this increase. With the time and money to do so, people desire travel to other places on their holidays. In the past, beaches and other sun-drenched places were the most popular destinations, however today people are also interested in visiting historic towns where they can enjoy museums, monuments, and archaeological sites, as well as nature parks. For many tourists, these have become the preferred destinations.

It is known that tourism helps promote awareness for museums and other entities reflecting cultural heritage, but at the same time it is vital to guarantee that the increase in tourist traffic will not result in damage to historic objects and their environments.

UNESCO, ICOM and ICOMOS, have been working hard on a protocol to find ways to protect world heritage from this massive flow of tourists. With these premises in mind, in 2005 ICOM invited WFFM to enter the Committee on Sustainable Cultural Tourism in order to jointly collaborate on a document that would give recommendations to historical sites, museums, administrations, and governments in charge of national heritage on how to deal with mass tourism. The document was approved by ICOM last autumn, and the WFFM will notify the friends of associations of museums of the need for the proper reception of tourists and visitors to museums and archaeological sites in order to prevent, as much as possible, deterioration to collections and monuments.

Karina Durand Velasco
Managing Partner Trasciende, Servicios Culturales Especializados.
Board of ICOM Mexico
Board of trustees of Cultura y Servicio Social, A.C.

Friends of Latin American Communitarian Museums:
Their Commitment and Loyalty

Latin America’s bio- and cultural diversity is reflected in their communitarian museums. These spaces are vehicles used by local groups to strengthen their identity, refresh their history, and communicate the deepest values of their social system. In many cases, they use their every day life as a message and instrument of communication and at the same time as a shield from the challenges that globalization brings.

These kinds of proposals assemble sympathizers: teams and networks of museum professionals and friends interested in supporting the needs of these groups through the museum.

These friends break the paradigms associated with typical relationships with other museums; their practice follows tolerance and respect for different points of view, customs and social systems, plus adherence to Museums Friends’ Code of Ethics. I would like to highlight the fact that the work of these friends is to support the museum life cycle --- because the museum itself represents the communities’ life cycles --- providing as much as possible with their collaboration professional elements to clearly communicate the origins and features of these communities.

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Carlos Alfredo Ferreyra
INTRODUCCIÓN:
Una experiencia pionera en cooperación transversal para la tutela del patrimonio y los museos: la Asociación de Amigos del Patrimonio Histórico de Ansenuza, Suquia y Xanaes (APHA):

La Provincia de Córdoba es una de las más extensas, pobladas y desarrolladas de las 24 jurisdicciones en que se divide la República Argentina.
Ubicada en el centro geográfico de la zona continental del país, está conformada por tres regiones fitogeográficas: las serranías y valles del Oeste, la llanura pampeana al Centro y Sur y la llanura chaqueña lacustre al Noreste; estas tres zonas se las conoce como las Sierras, la Pampa y Ansenuza, cada una de ellas tiene subregiones y zonas de transición.
Poblada por aborígenes cazadores recolectores hace más de 10.000 años, que luego aprendieron las técnicas de la agricultura y la alfarería, la hoy Provincia de Córdoba, se incorpora al mundo occidental cuando en 1573 los españoles fundan su capital: Córdoba de la Nueva Andalucía, en el margen derecho del río Suquia.
Capital de la Provincia de Córdoba del Tucumán y cabecera de la Provincia Jesuítica del Paraguay, con el impulso de la administración colonial y de ese “Estado dentro del Estado” que era la Compañía de Jesús, poco a poco fue tomando preponderancia entre las ciudades coloniales en especial desde que en 1613 se funda el Colegio Máximo (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba desde 1854), que le permitió un sólido desarrollo intelectual y un cosmopolitismo mediterráneo.
A fines del siglo XIX Córdoba entra plenamente en la modernidad: la industrialización, el ferrocarril, el despegue agropecuario, el aluvión inmigratorio, la concentración de profesiones liberales y una oligarquía financiera subalterna, le darán un dinamismo y visibilidad que le llevó a ser (hasta hace una década) la segunda ciudad de la República Argentina.
La diversidad de su poblamiento (indígena, africano, criollo, español, italiano, francés, alemán, ruralidad, industrias, herencia jesuítica) le permitirá llegar al siglo XXI con una rica cultura, en la que se destaca la herencia jesuítica, declarada Patrimonio Cultural de Humanidad en 1999.
Hoy, la Provincia de Córdoba, en sus 165.000 km2 y sus 3.100.000 habitantes, cuenta con 130 museos, de los cuales 2 son nacionales, 10 son provinciales, 16 son universitarios, 90 son municipales y el resto son privados o mixtos. En tanto, el Estado nacional, como el provincial y las municipalidades, han protegido (de muy diverso y desigual modo) algunos de los hitos patrimoniales (naturales, culturales y paisajísticos) que destacan a Córdoba en su identidad mediterránea.
En ese contexto rico, diverso y desafiante, se inscribe la Asociación Civil “Amigos del Patrimonio Histórico de Ansenuza, Suquia y Xanaes”.

ANSENUZA Y SU PATRIMONIO:
La región Noreste de Córdoba, está dividida en tres subáreas: la zona lacustre, la zona fluvial de tradición criolla y la llanura artificializada de tradición inmigrante.
El sector comprendido por sus ríos (el Suquia y el Xanaes) y por su gran laguna (Ansenuza o Mar Chiquita), es conocido por la Historia como “la antigua comarca de Ansenuza”.
En la región se concentra un rico patrimonio aborigen, colonial, criollo e inmigratorio (español, italiano, árabe, francés, alemán, ruso, etc.), edificios rurales de gran envergadura, estaciones de trenes, edificios públicos antiguos, museos, capillas históricas y sitios de interés paisajístico en torno a la gran laguna.
Por ello, en vista de la destrucción sistemática y el expolio que estaba sufriendo el patrimonio de Ansenuza, es que en 1996, un grupo de voluntarios, preocupados por este abandono, comienzan a reunirse semestralmente con el fin de intercambiar experiencias y coordinar acciones en común para mejorar la situación.
Por ese entonces, en la región existían algunos grupos culturales autoconvocados (bibliotecas, centros de estudios históricos, museos, equipos de trabajo) que no lograban que sus esfuerzos tuvieran repercusión en sus comunidades, por ello es que se comienza a pensar en la región como un todo, en Ansenuza como una zona con gran riqueza patrimonial e histórica.
Con el paso de los años, aquellas reuniones se fueron dilatando y relajando, sobre todo a partir de los escasos resultados iniciales: las autoridades no respondían, era imposible acceder a estamentos gubernamentales más elevados, la expansión económica no respetaba edificios ni sitios, los museos estaban desatendidos y la actividad cultural se concentraba en el puro “eventismo”.
Ya hacia el año 2001, la gran crisis económica que vive el país, destruye las últimas esperanzas; había que volver a concentrarse en salvar cada uno sus propias instituciones, pensar en la región se hacía costoso y el poco dinero que teníamos había que utilizarlo para gestionar el patrimonio de cada pueblo.
Fue entonces, cuando en el año 2003, tomó contacto con nosotros la Sra. Beatriz Galler, flamante Encargada de Interior de la Federación Argentina de Asociaciones de Amigos de Museos (FADAM).
A partir de ese año, con el país en plena recuperación, y con el apoyo de FADAM volvimos a pensar en términos regionales: “nadie se salva solo” era nuestra muletilla. Luego de varios meses de intercambios de ideas, y a través del apoyo ofrecido por FADAM -que creo el Programa Ansenuza para apoyarnos- se lograron fijar la figura jurídica y los objetivos de la naciente entidad.
Entre los inconvenientes legales que encontrábamos, era que no podíamos ser una unión de museos (ya que los había de diferentes jurisdicciones administrativas), ni una asociación de entidades custodias del patrimonio (por la variedad y diversidad a la que nos abríamos), ni siquiera una simple red de instituciones (ya que no hay personería jurídica para una red).
Para esas las cuestiones burocráticas y administrativas que corresponden a toda creación de una ONG, FADAM nos puso en contacto con la Asociación de Amigos del Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes “Genaro Pérez” (AMGP) de la ciudad de Córdoba, con cuyos dirigentes establecimos una relación de cooperación transversal.
Con la ayuda de ellos (FADAM y AMGP) fijamos nuestro organigrama y nuestros objetivos: seríamos una asociación de amigos, es decir una persona jurídica de primer grado, que agruparíamos a individuos particulares interesados en la protección, investigación, difusión, promoción y enriquecimiento de nuestro patrimonio regional y nuestros museos.

NACE A.P.H.A.
La Asamblea de Constitución de APHA se realizó el 1 de noviembre de 2004, consiguiendo la personería jurídica en septiembre de 2005.
Nuestra institución es muy particular, ya que no es la asociación de amigos de un museo, ni una ONG creada para salvar un patrimonio singular y particular, ni una asociación para promover la investigación histórica.
Viendo que cada museo o institución patrimonial, que cada edificio antiguo, que cada capilla o templo histórico no podían constituir asociaciones de amigos particulares para cada caso (en especial por la escasez de recursos humanos), decidimos que APHA fuese la asociación de amigos de todo el patrimonio y todos los museos de la región.
Pero inmediatamente a esto el crecimiento y la demanda se hizo tan potente que APHA comenzó a general proyectos específicos propios, como la RED DE MUSEOS SE ANSENUZA que agrupa a veintidos museos, y además ha crecido tanto que no solo atiende las demandas de los museos, sino que además genera proyectos propios de tutela del patrimonio histórico de la región; por ejemplo: relevamiento y mapeo del patrimonio histórico regional, obtención del subsidio del Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales (INCAA) para la realización del film “Hipólito 1935” luego de haber sido elegida como primera finalista en un concurso provincial de proyectos (APHA es productora asociada de dicho film), y recientemente la Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación nos ha reconocido como organismo intermedio en el relevamiento y difusión de los atractivos culturales de la región, al prometernos la impresión de los 5 catálogos del patrimonio de Ansenuza (templos y capillas, museos, sitios de interés, estaciones de trenes y gastronomía y fiestas populares).
De hecho, acabamos de realizar el 1º Encuentro de Museos del Noreste de Córdoba, que congregó a los museos de la red de APHA pero a muchos más, llegando a tener casi 70 asistentes representantes de 40 museos de Córdoba y Santa Fe (provincia vecina); en dicho encuentro intercambiamos experiencias y escuchamos y aprendimos de las exposiciones de reconocidos profesionales de la museología y la cultura de Córdoba.

EXPANSIÓN DE UNA IDEA:
Viendo el éxito de nuestra novel entidad, otras regiones de Córdoba y el país están pensando seriamente en copiar este esquema, es decir, la idea original de FADAM (que contó con el apoyo local de los AMGP), se está expandiendo.
Concretamente, somos ahora nosotros, APHA, quienes estamos proyectando la idea de hacer asociaciones de amigos regionales:

CONCLUSIONES:
Con medidas de acción concretas, pero también con reflexiones y proyectos de largo aliento, con apoyo de gestores y militantes culturales no sólo de la región sino de toda la provincia, con el aliento de amigos y colegas que nos incitan a seguir, con mucha difusión y concientización sobre la población regional, APHA va redefiniendo el concepto del patrimonio regional y aumentando el interés por él.
Ningún alcalde ni ningún funcionario puede desde ahora hacer oídos sordos o cerrar los ojos ante los problemas de nuestro patrimonio y de nuestros museos, APHA estará siempre allí, creando conciencia pero también presionando para que la herencia de nuestros antepasados, nuestras identidades y tradiciones construidas se conserven y evolucionen en un marco de tolerancia y respeto, de unidad en la diversidad.
La gran apuesta de FADAM en el Interior del país se está concretando, un nuevo modelo de asociación de amigos está naciendo, con objetivos regionales y con un pensamiento holístico, que integre el patrimonio y los museos, con sus amigos, a fin de que aquellos sean verdaderas herramientas de desarrollo, incluyendo en dicha palabra no solo lo económico sino fundamentalmente que el patrimonio y los museos construyan identidad, promuevan el arraigo, aumenten la visibilidad y eleven la autoestima de las comunidades.
La asociación se consolida así, ya no solo con acciones de tutelas específicas a museos y patrimonio en peligro, sino con proyectos culturales propios que la destacan en el campo cultural cordobés, con gran visibilidad y fuerte presencia regional y provincial.

Representante de FADAM en el XIII Congreso, Presidente de APHA, historiador, gestor cultural y museólogo.

Cooperación que aún hoy prevalece y que nos ha facilitado la apertura de muchas puertas y la realización de numerosas actividades: muestras itinerantes, presentaciones, organización de encuentros, establecimiento de relaciones con otras asociaciones de amigos, contacto con profesionales para la realización de diagnósticos a conjuntos patrimoniales, etc.

Museo del Gran Hotel Viena de Miramar, Museo de la Región de Ansenuza (Miramar), Museo Fotográfico de Miramar, Museo Histórico Municipal “San José” Estación Balnearia, Museo Municipal de Marull, Museo Histórico Municipal “La Para”, Museo Regional del Trabajo (La Para), Museo Histórico Municipal de Villa Fontana, Museo Histórico Municipal de La Puerta, Museo Histórico Municipal de Villa Santa Rosa, Museo Casa Natal del Cura Brochero, Museo Rural Regional (Río Primero), Museo Histórico y de Ciencias Naturales “Contardo Ferrini” de Río Primero, Museo Histórico Municipal de Villa del Rosario, Museo Municipal de Luque, Museo Histórico Municipal “Santiago Temple”, Museo Histórico de la Ciudad de Arroyito, Museo Histórico Municipal de La Tordilla, Museo Histórico Municipal “Estación El Tío”, Museo Histórico Regional “Padre Cremasco” de Villa Concepción del Tío, Museo Comunal de Cuatro Esquinas, Museo Municipal “Los Sanavirones”.

Who the bloody hell are you? Friends, volunteers, members…or just good mates?

Before moving to England last year to become Director of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, Kevin Fewster had been director of three museums in Australia during his 20+ year career. At each he had fostered strong community engagement programs. His arrival at Greenwich coincided with a major restructuring of the Museum’s long established Friends group into a Museum Members program.

Drawing on his broad experience across different sizes and types of museums on both sides of the globe, in this address Dr Fewster will reflect on the pros and cons of varying models of community engagement and how they might best be applied to individual museum circumstances.

María Florencia Galesio, Valeria Keller y Mabel Mayol
Arte Precolombino Andino en el Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes: El proceso del guión curatorial, museográfico y el programa educativo

En noviembre del 2005 se inauguró la sala permanente de Arte Precolombino del Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA). Esta exposición completó el guión curatorial del museo que, desde enero del 2004, reorganizó sus espacios de exhibición de arte europeo y argentino. La muestra ofrece la oportunidad de acercarse a piezas precolombinas, generalmente exhibidas en museos etnográficos o antropológicos, desde la mirada de un museo de arte. La sala, que lleva por título Arte Precolombino Andino, pone el énfasis en destacar los aspectos estéticos de las piezas, legitimando de este modo la especificidad del arte precolombino, instalándolo en el discurso sobre la historia del arte argentino. De este modo, el Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes pone en valor el arte indígena antiguo y lo ofrece para el estudio y discusión de los públicos actuales en el contexto de un museo de arte.

El proceso de investigación y la concreción del guión curatorial y museográfico de la sala Arte Precolombino Andino, es el resultado deun trabajo interdisciplinario entre historiadores del arte, etnógrafos, museólogos, diseñadores y educadores. Del guión científico al curatorial y de éste al montaje efectivo, se desenvuelven distintas instancias tales como la adecuación del diseño a las necesidades comunicativas y su adaptación a los códigos altamente formalizados de la sala de un museo.

Tanto desde el guión curatorial como desde el diseño se propuso destacar el valor artístico de este patrimonio. Cumpliendo con la finalidad educativa, razón de ser histórica del museo moderno, la sala provee al visitante de elementos conceptuales que la arqueología ha investigado, para sumarlos a la interpretación estética y así acercar algunas de las ideas que dieron origen a este arte. Conocer y reconocer es parte del ejercicio de identidad que los museos proveen.

El museo es “un foro o lugar de conversación, encuentro e intercambio, de socialización y negociación de identidades, una puerta hacia la investigación y la inspiración de nuevas ideas (…) un lugar donde se proponen lecturas, interpretaciones o visiones sin evadir la controversia (…) en su concepción más contemporánea, es un medio de comunicación colectiva y como tal, agente de la democratización de la cultura”. De este modo, eexhibir y contar son dos funciones que el museo ejerce sobre su patrimonio. Los museos implican un espacio de representación y generan políticas. De allí su importancia y la relevancia histórica de esta primera sala permanente de arte precolombino en un museo de arte en el ámbito de la República Argentina.

La concreción de este proceso fue posible gracias al aporte de la Asociación Amigos del Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, que permitió contar con la última tecnología internacional para realizar un diseño de montaje del nivel de los museos del siglo XXI.

Preziosi, Donald, The Art of Art History: a Critical Anthology, Oxford-New York, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 509.

Castilla, Américo con la colaboración de María José Herrera, Florencia Galesio y Rocío Boffo, Una política para los museos de la Argentina, documento de la Dirección Nacional de Patrimonio y Museos, Buenos Aires, 2003.

Creating and maintaining a “retail” base of thousands of friends who pay a low annual subscription serves as a usable database for raising additional funds and commitments, as well as being a profit center in its own right. These members should be referred to as “Friends” or “Associates,” and not classed in such categories as gold, silver, bronze etc. Such potential friends will need a strong perceived benefit to join and that when they do, there should, if possible, be automatic renewal unless cancelled (negative option). The friends should be granted a separate private meeting area in the Museum, similar to an airport lounge, free entry, and they should receive a thrice yearly newsletter (January, April and September) that reads like a letter and keeps them in touch with what is going on in the museum. The best recruitment method is mail, internet, etc.

Dr. Susan Hazan
The Israel Museum New Media Unit and its Friends

In just forty years, the Israel Museum has reached world class status, with a collection of nearly 500,000 objects, thanks to a legacy of gifts and the support from its circle of patrons worldwide. While the Museum receives generous support from its friends and donors for exhibitions and traditional museum activities across the campus, the Museum website and its new media activities are also greatly supported by friends of the Museum.

This paper will discuss the different digital platforms that have come into fruition due to the generous support of friends of the Museum; from the innovative 3D virtual world of SEE, Shrine Educational Experience, jointly created by the Museum, and the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and supported by the Dorot Foundation, the stunning online scrolling manuscripts envisioned by George Blumenthal, and the most recent partnership with IBM, where, the internationally renown scrolls have recently moved into virtual worlds, where they now take on a [Second] Life of their own. The Museum website itself was made possible through the generosity of the Arkin Foundation and now boasts thousands of ‘pages’ in Hebrew, English, French, Russian and Spanish, with Chinese and Arabic additions planned for the near future.

Jose Isaak and Jackie Stapleton
The Reason Our Volunteers Organization is so Special

The Israel Museum Volunteers Organization consists of 360 active volunteers. We have 120 volunteer guides, 110 volunteers in the information services and about 150 volunteers in various departments in the Museum from curatorial to restoration services, including office workers.

The uniqueness of our organization is that we are an independent body completely organized, managed, and staffed by volunteers. Only recently the guides' education program has come under the Education Department of the Museum. For years we provided our own educational training of docents, information desk volunteers, and new guides. We are basically a bilingual organization (Hebrew and English) with about ten other languages represented.

We are unique in that all volunteer departments have a very close association with one another. There are many opportunities for the volunteers to meet as a whole. We have working committees that include guides, information service volunteers, and department volunteers all working together. Our organization also has a general executive where all the different heads of our sub departments, committees, and co-coordinators are represented.

In addition, we sport a two-headed management team. Jose Isaak and Jackie Stapleton are co-coordinators of this very special group of volunteers. They have divided their efforts into areas of specialization. Jose is in charge of the guides, Jackie the information services, and they both work with the department volunteers and the recruitment program. When it comes to planning the Volunteers annual trip and its annual party, they both work closely together.

The Museum holds its Volunteers in the highest regard and shows its appreciation in various ways, including giving all of the Volunteers presents twice a year on the occasion of the Jewish festivals.

Ro King
Learning from Experience: How the Indonesian Heritage Society Works with the Museums of Jakarta

The Indonesian Heritage Society works with the museums of Jakarta on a variety of activities from translating labels to publishing books to guiding tours of the collections. None of our encounters with the museums is without a few glitches. Confucius said, “Be not ashamed of mistakes” and the Heritage Society takes this advice to heart as we share our experiences and the lessons we have learned from them.

Ro King, Chairman of the Indonesian Heritage Society, chooses several projects from the 38-year relationship with the Museum Nasional in Jakarta to illustrate that mistakes, both major and minor, can be overcome with compromise, patience and a bit of good humor.

Svetlana Philippova
The International Hermitage Friends’ Club - A Russian Model

Svetlana Philippova has been Head of the international Hermitage Friends’ Club since its establishment in 1996. It was a difficult time for such an undertaking, but the State Hermitage Museum managed to organize the first such entity of Museum Friends in Russian society.

The Hermitage Friends’ Club combines individual and corporative membership and coordinates the work of the Hermitage Friends societies in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Netherlands. The Hermitage Friends support financially many projects of the Museum’s development. The Hermitage in return provides privileges for its Friends (free museum entrance, special Friends events, discounts in the Museum’s shops).

When organizing the Hermitage Friends' Club, we learned from the rich experience of the European and American museums. But we had to invent our own model and adapt it to the existing situation and legislation of the country in the period of perestroika. In October, the Hermitage Friends’ Club will be entering its 12th year, testifying to the fact that the Russian model of a Museum Friends society, although very different from the traditional European and American models, has not only survived but has proved to be successful.

This talk will focus on the peculiarities of the Russian model as well as prospects for its further development.

Gina Tan
Volunteers are Our Best Friends: How Volunteers Can Make a Difference

Volunteers play a key role in the development of a membership program. They can be your museum’s best advocates and are crucial to the success of your program and its’ long-term viability. How do volunteers interact with staff in a way that leads to success? The session will discuss how volunteers can make an impact within a successful membership program. Case studies will be presented from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Yosemite Association.

Gina Tan is the founder and Principal of Tangible Strategies, a full service agency that provides direct marketing and fundraising consulting services to museums and non-profit organizations. Prior to founding Tangible Strategies in 2006, Gina was Director of Membership and Annual Fund for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco for more than 8 years. She was responsible for overseeing the Museums’ membership program during the period of the re-opening of the de Young Museum and nearly doubled the membership base from 41,000 to 80,000 member households. Gina has also managed the membership programs of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, and the Pacific Asia Museum. Overall, she has more 18 years of experience in museum membership management.

Mark Douglas Trask
I Want to Tell You a Story: Utilizing Storytelling as a Means to Increase Membership

Storytelling in various forms has been integral to every society throughout history, and museums and galleries use storytelling techniques every day to interpret their collections. But, too often storytelling techniques are overlooked by the Membership Departments of those same museums and galleries. Focusing on one particular story currently being utilized at the National Gallery of Canada, this presentation will demonstrate how stories from the collection are used as tools to upgrade Members, and as a means to achieve an integrated communications strategy that can increase both the numbers of Members and the revenue generated from those Members.

For the last five years Mark Douglas Trask has held the post of Chief, Membership and Annual Giving at the National Gallery of Canada Foundation in Ottawa, Canada. Prior to that he has held the posts of Director of Marketing and Development for Opera Lyra Ottawa, performing at Canada’s National Arts Centre; Director of Community Development for Opera Ontario; and positions with at the Centre for the Arts at Brock University and at the world famous Shaw Festival. He has served as a panelist on a variety of funding juries for different arts funding agencies and has received funding as both a consultant and mentor through the Ontario Arts Council Compass Program. For the last three years he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Ottawa Chapter where he currently sits on the Executive Committee.

Thierry Verougstraete
Président de la Fédération des Amis des Musées de Belgique
Thème : Profils et apports du volontariat en Belgique

Les associations sans but lucratif en Belgique, comme dans plusieurs pays d’Europe, occupent une place importante dans la société.

En Belgique, 50.000 associations employant 1.500.000 volontaires (non rémunérés) contribuent à raison de 5 % de la formation du produit intérieur brut.
Une vaste enquête sur le volontariat a été effectuée dans le pays, enquête dont les principaux résultats seront présentés.

Force est de constater que le volontariat joue un rôle majeur dans la société belge. Cet engagement contribue à sa cohésion sociale et morale.

Shai Yamin
The Israel Museum Campus Renewal Program — Maintaining Membership in a Time of Transition

In June 2007, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem began a comprehensive Campus Renewal Project, aiming to make the Museum more accessible and user friendly and to broaden the museal experience for its visitors. This is the most complex and comprehensive project that the Museum has undertaken since its founding in 1965. The festive reopening is projected for mid-2010.

The renewal period is challenging for the ongoing maintenance of the ties between the Museum and its membership. Thus, in order to preserve its membership circle, the Museum has taken steps to enrich its operations on two fronts: One is the enrichment of activities within the Museum, including lectures and workshops on the Museum’s collections; special events included in the price of the entrance ticket; and shows and additional activities for members’ children. The other is the strengthening of ties with other museums and cultural institutions, including guided tours of other museums; cooperation with the membership departments of museums in the Jerusalem area; discounts at other cultural institutions; and guided tours in Jerusalem. With this wide variety of activities, the Israel Museum has succeeded in maintaining its membership.

The Art Councils at the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art have been essential to establishing the Museum’s reputation as a world-class arts institution. At present, there are over 70,000 members of the Museum and 3,000 council members. Over the years, the councils have acquired, or helped acquire, nearly 5,000 works of art for the Museum.

This talk, accompanied by a power-point presentation, will present an overview of LACMA featuring the following topics:

In relating to the images, the presenter will discuss how the councils are organized, the annual Collectors Committee, the organization of volunteer councils, and the contribution made by the LACMA volunteers.