Subject: Invitation to the ICOM Extraordinary General Assembly (24 August 2022, hybrid, 12:30 to 14:00, CEST)

Dear ICOM Member,

The ICOM Standing Committee for the Museum Definition (ICOM Define), lead by the Co-Chairs, Lauran Bonilla-Merchav and Bruno Brulon, have been working tirelessly over almost two years, with you the members, through four extensive and detailed consultation processes, to create a museum definition that encapsulates the vital role that museums play in our society today. The new, inclusive process, developed by ICOM Define for the consultations with members, is an excellent blueprint for us to work together in the future. I would like to thank all members for their contributions, without you, this process would not have been possible.

At the 91st Session of the Advisory Council on 19-20 May 2022, the Chairs of the National and International Committees, Regional Alliances and Affiliated Organisations selected the museum definition proposal to present to the Executive Board at the 161st Session on 9-10 June, who expressed their unanimous support for the selected proposal and recommended, in accordance with Article 10 – Section 3 of the ICOM Statutes, that I convene an Extraordinary General Assembly, so that members can consider, debate and vote on the proposal to amend the current definition, as set out in Article 3 – Section 1 of the Statutes.

Therefore, I am pleased to invite you to the Extraordinary General Assembly which will be held in person at the 26th ICOM General Conference in Prague and via the online platform Agora on 24 August 2022 from 12:30 to 14:00 (CEST), in accordance with Articles 10 and 25 of the ICOM Statutes.

The Agora platform allows you to access working documents and meetings online, as well as to vote for those who have been appointed by their Chair. The agenda for this Extraordinary General Assembly and the working document with the report by ICOM Define including the proposal for a new definition of ‘museum’ can be found there in English, French and Spanish. Agora can be accessed by using the following link: https://agora.icom.museum/. Your username and password for Agora are the same as for the ICOM Member Space. If you have any difficulties, contact: [email protected].

Please note that:

• Any questions regarding the agenda should be sent to the Secretariat at [email protected] before 10 August 2022 (23:59, CEST);
• Any questions relating to the working document should be sent to the Chair or Secretary of your National or International Committee, Regional Alliance or Affiliated Organisation, who will be responsible of forwarding them to the ICOM Secretariat before 10 August 2022 (23:59, CEST).
• Voting at this Extraordinary General Assembly will take place online. In this regard, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that only the voting members appointed by the National and International Committees (up to 5 voting members), Regional Alliances (up to 3 voting members) and Affiliated Organisations (up to 2 voting members) will have the right to vote (Article 7 of the ICOM Statutes) from the day the voting platform opens until a few minutes before the end of the Extraordinary General Assembly. The Chair of each Committee/Regional Alliance/Affiliated Organisation must register their voting members before 10 August 2022 (23:59, CEST).
• For ecological and sanitary reasons, printed working documents will not be provided at the statutory meetings. Members wishing to have these documents in paper version are invited to print them themselves.

As the organisation of this meeting poses a real challenge from a technical point of view, considering the very large number of ICOM members (more than 49,000 members worldwide), and in accordance with Article 25 - Section 1 of the Statutes, we will follow the process that has been in place since 2020, one Member per Committee/Regional Alliance/Affiliated Organisation (appointed by its Chair) shall act as a representative and may take the floor at the meeting venue in Prague or join the videoconferencing platform where he/she will be able to speak on behalf of his/her Committee/Regional Alliance/Affiliated Organisation. The representative shall also represent the other voting members of that Committee, Regional Alliance or Affiliated Organisation to determine the quorum. All other ICOM members can attend in person or watch the meeting live via webcast (the link to access it will be available on Agora in due course).

The meeting will be recorded for documentation purposes and the recording will also be available for members to watch for a limited time after the meeting has taken place. Due to technical constraints, English will be the main language used during the meeting and simultaneous interpretation in French and Spanish will be provided throughout the meeting.

Finally, as you may know, the Working Group on Statutes and Rules (WGSR) has been reviewing the ICOM Statutes with a view to updating them to better meet the needs of our organisation. Following the discussions at the Advisory Council, the Executive Board requested that the WGSR carries out an information campaign and participatory consultation process beginning immediately, so that the ICOM Committees have the opportunity to study the proposals and to provide initial feedback at the Roundtable Session which will take place in person and online on 21 August 2022 from 14:45 – 15:45 at the General Conference in Prague. I hope many of you will join us to discuss this important topic.

I would like to thank you in advance for your cooperation, and I look forward to seeing you in Prague.

Yours sincerely,

Alberto Garlandini
ICOM President

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