WFFM - FEDERAÇÃO MUNDIAL DE AMIGOS DOS MUSEUS / 2013-12-28 10:54:34

Dear friends,  This will be my final report to you, our wonderful members, for 2013 and happily I can tell you that our World Federation of Friends of Museums (WFFM) is doing well.  I already reported to you that our Council and General Assembly meetings in Seoul last April went well and our Korean Friends went out of their way to host us in a wonderful fashion. One of our decisions was to double the number of our Individual Members and I am delighted to be able to report that we achieved our goal (!).This is a good opportunity to welcome our new members into the fold and thank them for showing their interest in museums and museum friends also in this way.  I also already reported to you on my participation in the General Conference of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in Rio de Janeiro in August where we signed a renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between ICOM and the WFFM. I am currently discussing with ICOM the possibility of enabling our members to also join ICOM. As you may know, the membership card in ICOM enables free entrance to most museums in the world through priority access entrances.  Our Regional Vice Presidents have been active these past months with Suk Mynn Yoon our Vice President for Asia, Africa and the Pacific holding a regional meeting in Seoul and initiating a WFFM Africa-Asia-Pacific Regional Newsletter.  Our energetic V.P for South America, Sofia Speroni, held  a regional meeting in Buenos Aires in August taking advantage of my visit there with Argentinian, Uruguayan and Chilean participation. The results of Sofia’s efforts included the re-establishment of the Chilean Federation, the possibility of the establishment of an Uruguayan Federation, the joining of two Uruguayan new Associate members and the registration of 25 friends from the region in the Berlin World Congress.  Our Vice President for Europe, Ekkehard Numann hosted a European Regional meeting in Hamburg last month and we took advantage of this to hold a meeting of the Executive Committee in Hamburg in conjunction with the regional meeting.  Your Executive Committee held a very productive meeting much of which was dedicated to the May 2014 World Congress in Berlin which will be held together with the annual meeting of our Council and General Assembly. We also discussed and approved the budget for 2014 and the procedure for the election in Berlin of a new Secretary General of the WFFM.In addition we heard a report from Ana Luisa on the updating and upgrading of the Federation’s web site.  Our Vice President for North America, Elias Sacal Cababie is working with his Mexican colleagues on preparing the 2015 Council and General Assembly meetings in Mexico and will be presenting his plans and the proposed dates at our Council and General Assembly meetings in Berlin this coming May.  I have mentioned a number of times the upcoming World Congress in Berlin.Our German hosts led by Ekkehard Numann, Kathrin Erggelet and their colleagues are preparing for us a wonderful Congress full of content, museums, visits and events. I am delighted to be able to report that we  now have  a registration of 110 (!) friends  from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Korea, Israel, Mexico, Philippines,  Portugal, Spain, Uruguay and the U.S.A.  I call on those of you who have not yet registered to do so now and before the end of this month (year) before the registration fees go up.  You can find all the latest information on the Congress and the registration form at: www.wffm2014berlin.com and please don’t miss this opportunity to attend a quality World Congress in Berlin which is perhaps the cultural capital of the world with people like you from all four corners of the world.  I want to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a wonderful Holiday Season and a Healthy and Happy New Year.  Danny  Daniel Ben-Natan, President World Federation of Friends of Museums