International Council of Museums

Created in 1946, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) is a non-governmental organisation maintaining formal relations with UNESCO[1][2] and having a consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. ICOM also partners with entities such as the World Intellectual Property Organization,[3] Interpol,[4] and the World Customs Organization in order to carry out its international public service missions, which include fighting illicit traffic in cultural goods and promoting risk management and emergency preparedness to protect world cultural heritage in the event of natural or man-made disasters. Members of the ICOM get the ICOM membership card, which provides free entry, or entry at a reduced rate, to many museums all over the world.[5]

International Council of Museums (ICOM)
Formation1946 (1946)
TypeNon-governmental organization
PurposeConservation, continuation and communication to society of the world's natural and cultural heritage
Location
Coordinates48°50′44″N 2°18′23″E
Websiteicom.museum

Code of ethics for museums

ICOM adopted its ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums[6] in 1986, a reference tool that sets standards of excellence to which all members of the organisation must adhere. The ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, translated into 39 languages and revised in 2006, establishes values and principles shared by ICOM and the international museum community. These standards of self-regulation by museums include basic principles for museum governance, the acquisition and disposal of collections, and rules for professional conduct.

Fighting illicit traffic

Illicit traffic in cultural goods causes significant damage to heritage, particularly in regions of the world where cultural objects are most susceptible to theft and looting. Supporting the fight against illicit traffic in cultural goods is among ICOM’s highest priorities. In this context, ICOM publishes its Red List series[7] to raise awareness on smuggling and illicit trade in cultural objects. The ICOM Red Lists are tools designed to help police and customs officials, heritage professionals, and art and antiquities dealers to identify the types of objects that are most susceptible to illicit trafficking.

ICOM has already published Red Lists for many different countries and regions:

The ICOM Red Lists

Museums emergency programme

ICOM is committed to providing cultural institutions with the necessary support and risk prevention tools when faced with conflict situations or natural disasters. Through its Disaster Relief for Museums Task Force (DRTF), its Museums Emergency Programme (MEP) and its active role in the Blue Shield,[8] ICOM assists museums worldwide by mobilising its resources quickly and efficiently to provide support in both the prevention and the aftermath of disaster situations.

The Getty Conservation Institute and ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) took part in this programme and helped develop training tools for MEP. ICOM’s action programme offers a long-term global response that strengthens the Blue Shield dynamism.

International Museum Day

Every year since 1977, ICOM has organised International Museum Day, a worldwide event held around 18 May.[9] From America and Oceania to Europe, Asia and Africa, International Museum Day aims to increase public awareness of the role of museums in developing society.

Committees

ICOM operates 34 international committees on a range of museum specialties[10], who conduct advanced research in their respective fields for the benefit of the museum community.

  • AFRICOM - International Council of African Museums
  • AVICOM - Audio-visual & New Technologies and Social Media
  • CAMOC - Museums of Cities
  • CECA - Education & Cultural Action
  • CIDOC - Documentation
  • CIMCIM - Musical Instruments
  • CIMUSET - Science & Technology
  • COMCOL - Collecting
  • COSTUME - International Committee for Museums and Collections of Costume[11]
  • DEMHIST - Historic House Museums
  • GLASS
  • ICAMT- Architecture & Museum Techniques
  • ICDAD - Decorative Arts and Design
  • ICEE - Exhibition Exchange
  • ICFA - Fine Arts
  • ICLM - Literary Museums
  • ICMAH - Archaeology & History
  • ICME - Ethnography
  • ICMEMO - Memorial Museums
  • ICMS - Museum Security
  • ICR - Regional Museums
  • ICOFOM - Museology
  • ICOMAM - Arms & Military History
  • ICOM-CC - Conservation
  • ICOMON - Money & Banking Museums
  • ICTOP - Training of Personnel
  • INTERCOM - Management
  • NATHIST - Natural History
  • ICOM MPR (International Committee for Marketing and Public Relation): this committee was founded in 1977 by Jan Jelínek, and provides training for museum professionals in marketing and communications, through annual conferences and a regular online newsletter.[12] The most recent conference was held in Armenia in 2015, with the theme of “Emerging Trends”.[13] Previous conferences have been held in Taiwan, Rio de Janeiro, Palermo, Brno, Shanghai, Moscow and Yasnaya Polyana, and Paraty and Rio de Janeiro.[14] The MPR board consists of marketing and communication museum professionals from several countries. Each member is elected for a 3-year term at ICOM General Conferences.[15]
  • UMAC - University Museums

ICOM comprises also 118 national committees that ensure that the interests of the organisation are managed in their respective countries. The national committees represent their members within ICOM and they contribute to the implementation of the organisation’s programmes.

General conference

The ICOM General conference is held every three years and gathers museum professionals from several countries. The first meeting was held in Paris in 1948. In recent years, General Conferences have been held in Seoul in 2004 (the first meeting in Asia), in Vienna in 2007, and in Shanghai in 2010. This 22nd General Conference in Shanghai followed the World Expo where an ICOM’s Pavilion was inaugurated and named “Museums, Heart of the City”.[16] The General Conference was held in Rio de Janeiro in 2013 and in Milan in 2016. The last one was held in 2019, in Kyoto.

Governance

The current ICOM President is Mr. Alberto Garlandini. He succeeded Ms. Suay Aksoy who resigned in June 2020 (2016–2020).[17] The current director general is Dr. Peter Keller.[18] He succeeded Prof. Dr. Anne-Catherine Robert-Hauglustaine (2014–2016) and Ms. Hanna Pennock (2013–2014).

Presidents
No. Period Name Country
11946–1953Chauncey Hamlin United States
21953–1959Georges Salles France
31959–1965Philip Hendy United Kingdom
41965–1971Arthur van Schendel Netherlands
51971–1977Jan Jelínek Czechoslovakia
61977–1983Hubert Landais France
71983–1989Geoffrey Lewis United Kingdom
81989–1992Alpha Oumar Konaré Mali
91992–1998Saroj Ghose India
101998–2004Jacques Perot France
112004–2010Alissandra Cummins Barbados
122010–2016Hans-Martin Hinz Germany
132016–2020Suay Aksoy Turkey
142020–Alberto Garlandini Italy

CIDOC conceptual reference model
Main article: CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model

CIDOC, ICOM's International Committee for Documentation, provides the museum community with standards and advice on museum documentation.[19]

The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM), formalised as the official international standard ISO 21127, is used to map cultural heritage information to a common and extensible semantic framework. This "semantic glue" can be used to connect between different sources of cultural heritage information published by museums, libraries and archives.[20]

Online museums

ICOM was the first international organization to participate in the Virtual Library museums pages (VLmp) online museums directory in the 1990s.[21] It was also instrumental in the creation of the ".museum" top-level domain (TLD) for museums online[22] through the Museum Domain Management Association (MuseDoma).[23]

gollark: Possibly the end too.
gollark: Somewhat commonly.
gollark: Also, they're available in the nether.
gollark: Hmm, would you like it to be added?
gollark: SysRQ or something would be great if it actually worked.

References
  1. (in English) "UNESCO/ICOM Museum Studies Training Programme". unesco.org.
  2. (in English) "ICOM among UNESCO's Partners". unesco.org.
  3. (in English) "Partnership between ICOM and WIPO". wipo.int.
  4. (in English) "Partnership between ICOM and INTERPOL". interpol.int. Archived from the original on 2015-05-14. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
  5. "Benefits". network.icom.museum. Retrieved 2018-11-04.
  6. (in English) "ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums". icom.museum.
  7. (in English) "ICOM's actions in Fighting Illicit Traffic". icom.museum.
  8. (in English) "Julien Anfruns, ICOM Director General, at the International Conference of ICBS, December 2011". youtube.com.
  9. (in English) "International Museum Day in Greece". ekathimerini.com. 2012.
  10. "Committees' directory". ICOM. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  11. "ICOM Costume". Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  12. "What is MPR?". ICOM MPR.
  13. "Home". Sergei Paradjanov Museum.
  14. "Previous Conferences". ICOM MPR.
  15. "Board Members". ICOM MPR.
  16. (in English) "Inauguration of ICOM's Pavilion at the Expo". dailymotion.com. 2010.
  17. "Alberto Garlandini appointed new ICOM President". ICOM. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  18. (in English) "Peter Keller appointed Director General of ICOM". icom.museum.
  19. "CIDOC - Supporting Museum Documentation". International Council of Museums.
  20. "CIDOC CRM Home page". CIDOC CRM Special Interest Group.
  21. Bowen, Jonathan P. (2010). "A Brief History of Early Museums Online". The Rutherford Journal. 3.
  22. ".museum Naming Conventions". archives.icom.museum. ICOM. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  23. "About MuseDoma". archives.icom.museum. ICOM. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
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