The 25th ICOM General Conference was held in Kyoto from September 1 to 7, 2019. Representatives from ICOM-ITC participated in the 85th ICOM Advisory Council Meeting, the Programme Committee Meeting and the Governing Board Meeting of ICOM-ITC, the Museum Fair and Expo Forum, etc. They reported and publicized the work of the Training Centre, and achieved fruitful results.

ICOM Kyoto 2019

The 85th ICOM Advisory Council Meeting was held on September 1. ICOM-ITC representative reported on the training centre's work since last General Conference in 2016, including the training workshops organized, the form and characteristics of these workshops, and its plan for the future. To enhance the effect of presentation, a video in celebration of the Centre's fifth anniversary (2013 to 2018) was played at the meeting. The video presented the development of the training centre. It also included the evaluation, expectation and feedback from Suay Aksoy, President of ICOM, Dr. An Lai Shun, Vice President of ICOM and several participants, which allowed the attendees to see vividly the development of the ICOM-ITC and its training features. Such concise and powerful report received warm applause from all attendees of the meeting.

ICOM-ITC representatives attended the Advisory Council Meeting

ICOM-ITC representative reported at the Advisory Council Meeting 

The ICOM-ITC played a video in celebration of its 5th anniversary

The annual meetings of the Programme Committee and Governing Board of the ICOM-ITC were also convened at the conference. Representatives of the ICOM-ITC reported to the Programme Committee the November 2018 and April 2019 workshops. The two workshops concentrated respectively on museum branding and collections. Through a variety of well-designed courses, participants were encouraged to learn, discuss and think. According to the report, the November workshop in 2018 was held in Fuzhou. It was the first time that such a workshop was held in another Chinese city. It was a great success, and from then on, the ITC will organize the April workshop in Beijing, and the November one in another Chinese city. The upcoming November workshop in 2019 will be held in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, from November 5 to 14. Selection criteria and quota allocation of the participants were also discussed at the meeting. 

Guo Meixia, deputy director of the ICOM-ITC Secretariat, discussed issues with other members of the Programme Committee

The Governing Board meeting of the ICOM-ITC was held on September 4. The meeting confirmed the revised draft of the Training Centre's Operating Rules and discussed such issues as the extension of the triple agreement on the Centre. The members of the Governing Board Meeting actively participated in the discussion and unanimously recognized the programs launched by the training centre in recent years. Suay Aksoy, President of the ICOM, fully affirmed the achievements of the training centre. She said that the training centre had built a good platform for museum colleagues around the world to learn and communicate. Moreover, it also set an example for other training projects.

ICOM President Suay Aksoy affirmed the work of the training centre

Members of the Governing Board raised their hands to pass the revised draft of the training centre's Operating Rules 

Group photo of attendees of the Governing Board Meeting

During the conference, the museum fair was also in full swing. The training centre showed up at the fair, introducing its programs to museum colleagues around the world, playing promotional videos and distributing promotional materials. The publicity comprehensively showed the positioning, establishment and development of the training centre, its faculties and participants, its curriculum system and team building, etc., which helped museum colleagues understand the training centre in short time. The training centre also prepared brooches and stickers featuring the ICOM-ITC for the conference, which were favored by the museum colleagues. 

The ICOM-ITC played promotional videos at the Expo

Museum colleagues were reading the introduction of the ICOM-ITC

The ICOM-ITC Secretariat distributed the brooches of the training centre 

ICOM-ITC Secretariat introduced the work of the training centre

The museum colleagues wearing the brooches of the training centre 

In addition, to further strengthen the cohesiveness of the “ITC family”, the training centre organized a gathering of lecturers and participants during the conference. The gathering brought together experts and participants from different workshops to talk about the workshops and the influence of the program on their work. They expressed that the workshops were a great memory for them. They not only learned the professional knowledge and information in the museum field, but also made friends with colleagues from all over the world, which is of great benefit to their work and life. 

The past lecturers and participants gathered together

The ICOM General Conference is held every three years. It is an important event in the field of international museums. The conference attracted more than 4,000 museum colleagues from nearly 130 countries on five continents. During the conference, the International Committees, the National Committees, the Regional Alliances and the affiliated organizations held separate meetings to discuss around the theme of the conference “Museums as Cultural Hubs: the Future of Tradition”, and to talk about the opportunities and challenges of museums in future development. Several consensus were reached at the Conference.

The Video of the ICOM-ITC Played at the meeting of the ICOM Advisory Council