January 2006

NATIONAL DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

We at CFFM wish you all the best in the New Year.

Our apologies to CFFM director, Danielle Lecours, who is also the President of the RQABM ( le regroupement québécois des amis et bénévoles de musées), for omitting her name as a speaker at the WFFM Conference in Seville last October in our last issue. Danielle took part in a panel discussing Cultural Tourism, and as you will see from her article in this issue, the conference was a resounding success.

CFFM’s Board met in Ottawa on November 18 and was privileged to be able to hold the meeting in the National Gallery of Canada. On the previous evening we visited the recently opened Canadian War Museum ( an amazing building ) and were given a short tour by the Friend’s secretary, Howard Mansfield, and then attended the opening of the new exhibition of war posters, curated by CFFM’s friend, Laura Brandon, with the clever title of “Weapons of Mass Dissemination”.

There is so much going on in the museum world at the moment. In this issue we include an article by Diane Dyer, Chair of Member Services, telling us how the volunteers of the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art have coped with their museum being closed down while it is being enlarged.

Following the lead of the CMA we have continued to lobby Minister Frulla and other Cabinet members to encourage the passing of the new Canadian Museum Policy. We are now awaiting the result of the election, and would ask all of you to question your potential candidates about their attitudes toward the New Museums Policy.

And so off to 2006. During this year we at CFFM intend to work to provide better service to all our members, and to the museum community as a whole.

Jo Breyfogle,
National Director

WFFM XII TRIENNIAL CONGRESS IN SEVILLE OCTOBER 18th-22nd, 2005

Danielle Lecours, President Regroupement Québécois des Amis et Bénévoles de Musées and member of the CFFM Board

The WFFM XII Triennial Congress took place this Autumn, October 18th to 22nd, in Seville, with three hundred and ten registered in the academic programme who contributed largely to the success of this Congress. The main topic was “Museums and Friends Facing New Realities”, in order to analyse how Friends of Museums can cope with the problems that the new world contingency presents.

An internationally acclaimed panel of speakers in addition to many eminent representatives of Friends from around the World contributed to discuss many issues as:

- Management Strategies

- How to attract public to the Museums

- Education in Museums

- From Reality to Utopia: a New Challenge for Friends – Young Friends: a New Perspective

- ICOM challenges for the new century

The opening address was given by the philosopher José Antonio Marina who started with this announcement: “For me, philosophy is a public matter”. He continued by explaining what museums are and what the public can bring to them, with citations of well-known philosophers, historians, and his own thoughts and experiences.

Louise Rickenbacker, from Ottawa, and myself, from Montreal, were the only CFFM representatives i n Seville. Also present, was Valerie Cooper, Executive Director of the Art Gallery of Calgary and Donale Gandossi, President of the Board of Directors of the same Gallery. The four of us were present at all the conferences, worked very hard to take notes and learned from all the interesting topics developed by the speakers. Simultaneous translation was helpful with half the presentations being in Spanish and Italian, a few in French and many in English.

I had the honour to give a presentation about Cultural Tourism, with four other participants from Spain: Mr. Fausto Serra de Dalmases, President of the Friends of Museums of Catalogna, Mr. Antonio Munoz, Touristic Planning Managing Director, Council of Tourism of Andalucia, Mr. Amparo Fernandez, General Manager of Turespana, and Mrs. Anna M. Reggiani, Director of the Department of Archaeology from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Italy. Our panel was under the coordination of Mr. José Rodriguez de la Borbolla, President of Italica Foundation, Spain.

We had a guided visit of the Seville Fine Arts Museum housed in the former Convent of Calced Mercedarians, founded in 1248 by Saint Peter Nolasco after the Reconquest of Seville. We saw Spanish Art works from the Medieval, Renaissance, Mannerism and Baroque periods, even though the Museum’s main theme is the Seville Painting School, especially artists of the 17th Century: José De Ribera, Murillo, Valdés Leal, Francisco Zurbaran, Bécquer, etc.

We also had a guided visit of the archaeological site of Italica near Seville: spectacular ruins of a Roman city founded in 206 B.C, where the Emperors Trajan (53-117) and his successor Hadrien (76-138) were born. It was a very well developed military city in a very strategic area because of the direct access to the Atlantic and nearby North Africa. At this moment, only 30% of the site is excavated and on view to visitors.

The WFFM Seville Congress was a success due to the number of registrants and the number attending all the presentations delivered by expert speakers. It was a very important experience on both a scholarly and an educational basis. The WFFM Seville Congress gave us the opportunity to learn much from all the speakers, to promote the idea of Friends of Museums and to create bonds of friendship. Some sixteen recipients from around the world were able to benefit from the Luigi Bossi Scholarship.

The WFFM Seville Congress was also the opportunity for the President, Mrs. Carla Bossi Comelli, to launch an Art Book in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the WFFM. It is a sumptuous book called “Art Donations”.

The next WFFM Triennial Congress will take place in Jerusalem, autumn 2008 and the WFFM Board will meet in Santiago, Chile, in May 2006 for the next annual meeting.

SUGGESTIONS FOR KEEPING VOLUNTEERS DURING A MUSEUM CLOSURE

Diane Dyer – Chair, Member Services, Gardiner Museum Volunteers

The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, 111 Queen’s Park in Toronto, closed almost two years ago for expansion. What is remarkable is that the number of volunteers of the Gardiner Volunteer Committee (GVC) has remained stable. (We have about 70 Active volunteers and about 40 Sustaining.) Yes, several resigned due to new commitments and one passed away, but several more have joined and others have been turned away because there was nothing for them to do in their areas of interest.

Here are some suggestions for keeping volunteers around and involved:

1. Keep volunteers busy.

The Gardiner Shop, offices and Clay Pit moved to a different location in the city but not far away. Volunteers are still needed in the Shop.

The Archives volunteers, with records and books being in storage, decided to learn a new skill, the use of a video camera, and they have conducted interviews for the Oral History Project. The Docents have recently begun a training program for potential and current docents by presenting hour-long lectures, and these are also open to volunteers and other Museum members. While the collection is in storage some objects are available for viewing on the Gardiner web-site www.gardinermuseum.on.ca (click on “Collections”).

The Admissions Desk volunteers had nowhere to work and some volunteered elsewhere, especially at the Picasso and Ceramics exhibition at the University of Toronto Art Centre that the Gardiner partnered. That exhibition which saw about 30,000 visitors over four months in 2004-5 was a great opportunity for volunteer involvement and also kept the Gardiner in the minds of the public.

2. Organize monthly events.

The GVC Vice-President took the role of transition co-ordinator and called for volunteers to plan excursions ranging from a visit to the historic Distillery District, viewing of a private art collection, and a trip to Waterloo to the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery. Sometimes, due to the partnership, the volunteers at the U of T Art Centre have been invited to join us and they in turn have sometimes included us in their activities.

3. Inform volunteers of activities.

A Calendar of Events is mailed or e-mailed to volunteers every three months.

4. Continue to communicate.

Hold meetings if possible. The GVC has reduced three general meetings a year to two; we are fortunate that the Museum has made arrangements with the Textile Museum and we meet there. The GVC Newsletter containing volunteer reports, staff updates and general and educational information is mailed out three weeks before each meeting.

5. Offer special membership rates.

The GVC has offered a special two-year deal to volunteers and the Museum has offered special deals that include free admission to the Textile Museum and discounts at local restaurants.

Kudos to the Board and staff of the Gardiner Museum. They have kept the members and volunteers informed through e-mails and letters and hosted such things as Shop openings. They have also hosted us at various events and often thank us. We volunteers know we are appreciated and this helps to keep us happily together.

This time of closure has shaken us out of our box and brought us new experiences. We have had an opportunity to explore a new part of town, to do things together socially and get to know each other better and to meet volunteers from other places. Although we are excited about the re-opening of the Museum in June 2006, we cherish this time of transition and are delighted we have all survived so well.

THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE ONTARIO MUSEUM ASSOCIATION – “REDEFINING THE MUSEUM”

Board member, Martha Wilder, and I attended this conference held in Niagara Falls on October 14. Due to requests for a one-day conference, concentrating on one theme, this was tried for the first time. The jury is still out on whether it is a better format than a longer conference. Despite suffering two fire alarms during the conference, when everyone had to leave the building (museum people are very disciplined!) it was extremely interesting, and there was no reduction in networking opportunities.

The keynote speakers were Charlotte Gray “Bringing History to Life” and Gail Anderson “Reinventing the Museum and the Role of Leadership”.

Jo Breyfogle

TRAVEL WITH FRIENDS

Volunteers Circle, National Gallery of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario

Tour Committee, The Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario

ROM Travel, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario

Libya

Russia

Arctic

Argentina

Egypt – Oases

Burma