Annual General Meeting 2009

2 December 2009, Sackler Centre, Victoria and Albert Museum

Minutes of the 2008 AGM

Wednesday 19th November, 2008 London Transport Museum

The minutes of the 2008 AGM were accepted as a true record.

Apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from a number of members.

Report from the Chair

Commenting that 2009 had been a year of considerable change for MCG Ross reported that proposals to enact the changes developed from the MCG@25 review were on the table for discussion at this meeting.

Changes to the structure of the MCG management committee were being proposed and the constitution had been revised to reflect new objectives and responsibilities.

MCG were starting to respond to key concerns within the sector. Several pieces of work were already underway including the launch of “Live Museum” collaboration between Arts & Humanities Research Council, BT, MCG and the Collections Trust.

It had been a busy year and Ross thanked all the members of the committee for their hard work.

Finance Report

Angus reported that the group’s finances were currently healthy. The annual accounts had been audited. The balance stood at £6500 but there were still a number of items to be processed including the delegate’s fees and costs of the current meeting.

In answer to a question from the floor relating to meetings costs Angus replied that MCG expected to make a slight loss from today’s meeting. Venue policies were changing and while MCG still managed to secure excellent rates the costs of meetings and food were rising. The committee would take account of this when setting delegates fees for future meetings.

Constitutional Changes

Introducing the revised constitution proposals, available on the website for several weeks prior to the AGM, John outlined the main changes and explained how the decisions that arose from MCG@25 had been reflected in the new constitution.

Membership, in particular, had been redefined to follow a different model. We were proposing replacing the paid membership/free meeting model with a free membership/paid meeting model that better enabled us to reflect changes in meeting costs arising mainly from the increasing costs of venue hire and food.

The MCG committee was being changed to create a new more flexible structure that focussed on the key areas of communications, executive, events and research.

Other small changes included clarifications of responsibilities and committee co-option powers and the separation of fees, committee roles and banking arrangements into schedules.

Following a few questions the meeting voted to ACCEPT the new constitution with no objections.

Web Site

Mike Ellis demonstrated our new website which had now moved to a new hosting supplier, 34SP, and was now running using WordPress.

The new site format was designed to be flexible and allow members to develop content more easily. What was needed was content to ensure the site remained interesting and current. Mia Ridge asked anyone who had ideas that they wanted to try out or who could offer content to get in touch with either her or Mike.

Ross thanked Mike and Mia for the excellent work they had done in recreating the site.

The MCG Logo

Ross introduced the new logo explaining how the new logo reflected MCG’s values and objectives to connect, support and inspire members. It was, he commented, a result of a considerable amount of work for which he thanked the designer, Laura Capflow.

Questions from the floor

Members of the committee answered a small number of questions and comments from the floor. One member thought the new logo looked too familiar and risked being confused with other well-known logos within the sector.

In response to a comment that the idea of strategic partnerships seemed to have been omitted from the constitution Ross answered that we have still to decide exactly how we will be developing the various possible roles that MCG might usefully play within the sector. The committee would, he said, certainly consider the possibility of partnerships when discussing proposals for action by the group.

Committee Elections

There being no additional nominations Members agreed the re-election of both Angus Kneale as Treasurer and John Williams as Secretary unanimously.

MCG Committee 2009

Any other business

Closing the annual general meeting, Ross thanked everyone for attending, Gemma and Rhiannon for all their hard work in organising today’s event, and the V&A for their support in hosting the meeting.

In particular he thanked outgoing committee member Jon Pratty for many years of work he had put in supporting the group.

There was no other business and the meeting was closed.