European forum given overhaul

The European Museum Forum (EMF) has promised to be more transparent and accountable following an organisational shake-up.

A new chair, trustees and judges for the EMF’s awards have been put in place, while the forum’s offices have moved from Bristol to National Museums Liverpool (NML).

The shake-up of the EMF, which was founded in 1977 with Council of Europe backing to run workshops, lectures and education programmes, aims to make it less UK-centric and more representative of membership.

Former EMF chairman Stephen Harrison, the Isle of Man’s culture and heritage representative, and ex-EMF president Neil Cossons, a former chairman of English Heritage, instigated the revamp. Both have stepped aside and Mikhail Gnedovsky, director of the Moscow Cultural Policy Institute, has been appointed chairman of the board of trustees.

NML director David Fleming has been appointed as one of two EMF vice-chairs. “It is time to modernise and reshape,” he said. “The whole thing has been slightly mysterious and we’re getting that cleared up now.”

Among the key changes, awards judges will now serve for only three years, although they can be reappointed.

“Some of the judges had been there for 30 years,” said Fleming. “It was out of step for all forms of accountability. I am not necessarily being critical, but it was seen as elitist and people did not know what it did.”

The EMF’s relocation was prompted by the retirement of administrator Ann Nicholls, who ran it from home. NML’s Francoise McClafferty is now trust secretary. The EMF archive is in Liverpool and website administration, currently undertaken in Italy, is being brought in-house.

Fleming said he was encouraged by the EMF’s potential. “It is a way of raising management standards around Europe,” he said. “It is the kind of thing British museums should be getting involved in to raise standards.”

Changes have already been made to the EMF’s constitution. It was set up as a British charity despite being pan-European, something that required its trustees to be predominantly from the UK. Fleming added that one ambition was to recruit more members from the former Soviet Union.

The EMF awards are aimed at new museums or those that have undertaken improvement works. Five new judges include former winners from Spain and Estonia, as well as Michael Ryan, director of the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, winner in 2002.

2009
Salzburg Museum

2008
Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn

2007
German Emigration Centre, Bremerhaven

2006
CosmoCaixa, Barcelona

2005
National Heritage Museum, Arnhem

2004
MARQ Archaeological Museum, Alicante

2003
British Galleries, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

2002
Chester Beatty Library, Dublin

2001
National Railway Museum, York

2000
Guggenheim Bilbao