2 juli 2008
Return address: P.O. Box 76709 1070 KA Amsterdam
Date / Our reference / Your reference / Direct telephone numberJuly 2008 / U-2008.0793 / +31645674438
Subject / E-mail
Participation in Collection Mobility 2.0 /
Dear……………….,
Museums, libraries and archives manage an important part of our cultural heritage. It is vital that this heritage is accessible to everyone and that it functions optimally as material evidence of our cultural identity and as a source of reference for the future. This can be achieved in a number of ways: by organising exhibitions, issuing publications, facilitating research, loaning objects, and the digital provision of collection data. Objects are thus given a context and a dialogue with society is created.
The project Collection Mobility 2.0 (CM 2.0) aims to stimulate the cultural dialogue and improve the performance of collections through the exchange of objects between cultural institutions. Through the exchange of cultural objects, Collection Mobility 2.0 wishes to make a positive contribution to the intercultural dialogue between member states of the European Union (EU).
Much has been achieved already in the past few years in the field of collection mobility. During their chairmanship of the EU, various member states centred symposia on this theme. A report ‘Lending to Europe’[1] has been published and a number of international working groups within the ‘Action plan for the EU promotion of Museum Collections’ Mobility and Loan Standards’[2] have presented solutions to eliminate the legal and administrative barriers to the mobility of collections, through the standardisation of procedures and byfostering trust between institutions. In the period 2009-2010 CM 2.0 wishes to further embed the results and to bring about a change in mindset in the cultural field such that Collection Mobility will become part of daily collection management.
During 2009-2010 CM 2.0 will operate on three levels: 1) Tools: Collections Mobility 2.0 provides a digital platform enabling interactive communication between the stakeholders. It will be a centre for standards, contracts/agreement forms, recommendations, best practices and a networking point for all Collection Mobility partners. Producing a Handbook on collections mobility will challenge professionals and students to think and re-think the use of the collections. 2) Implementation of the collection mobility practices [praxis] will include all the stakeholders from EU level to national, institutional and professional level. The focus of the implementation process is on professional training that takes place in EU-wide conferences, national seminars and in-house workshops. 3) Practice: Collections Mobility is put into practice by testing the tailored toolkit, i.e. Collection Mobility contracts, standard loan forms and best practice recommendations.
In order to finance the foregoing activities the initiators plan to submit a European grant proposalbefore October 1this year to The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Agency Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Union. The initiators at the present time are:
- Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN), Amsterdam
- Finnish National Gallery (FNG), Helsinki
- Finnish National Board of Antiquities, Helsinki
- Institute for Museum Research (IfM), Berlin
- Spanish Ministry of Culture (SMC)
- Collection Trust (former MDA), London
- Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
- Network of EuropeanMuseum Organisations (NEMO), Berlin
- The Byzantine and ChristianMuseum, Athens
- Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, Boekarest
- Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Athens
- Arts and Heritage Agency, Flemish Communit, Brussels
It is clear that an ambitious plan such as this gains in strength through the efforts of many. On behalf of the initiators I invite you to participate in this project and to contribute to the strengthening of the European cultural identity. To participate as a co-organiser in the further development of plans we request a financial contribution of € 10.000 actual money per year (i.e. € 20.000 for 2009 and 2010). A more modest contribution is also possible by taking part in the project as an associate. The contribution will of course be lowered with the rising of the number of participants.
Please let me know whether and in what way you wish to associate yourself with a number of top institutions in Europe and bring collections mobility to the next level.
With kind regards,
Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN)
Henriette van de Linden
General Director ICN
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