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1 October 2004

MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES OF NORTHERN IRELAND
BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Trustees held in the Conor Meeting Room, Cultra Manor at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum on Friday 1 October 2004.

Present: Mrs M Elliott (Chairman)
Mr S Neeson
Professor E McLaughlin
Ms W Osborne
Ms P Flanagan
Dame G Keegan
Mr D Harvey
Mr T Shaw
Sir K Bloomfield
Mr H Bicker
Miss L Beers
Dr A Walker
Mr B Montgomery

In attendance: Mr T Cooke (Chief Executive)
Mrs K ODowd (Director of Finance)
Mr M McKee (Director of Operations)
Mr J Gilmour (Director of Development)
Mrs H Henning (Committee Secretary)

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received from Miss L Beers, Dr A Walker and Mr B Montgomery.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 25 June 2004

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2004, were agreed and subsequently adopted by the Board.

3. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 25 June 2004

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the Board meeting held on 25 June 2004.

4. BUSINESS OF EXECUTIVE

4.1 Executive Summary
The Chief Executive reported an overall increase in visitor figures across MAGNI in comparison to the same period (June, July, and August) in 2003 and highlighted the following major events which had attracted significant visitors at each site. The opening of Art of the Garden, a touring exhibition from Tate Britain which explores the impact of the garden on British art over 200 years, attracted between 400 and 500 guests and runs until 6 February 2005. Important forthcoming events at the Ulster Museum were a lecture by Neil McGregor, Director of the British Museum, on 29 October entitled The British Museum in the World on 29 October to launch the Northern Ireland strand of the British Museums UK Partnership Scheme. This initiative will enable artefacts from the British Museums permanent collections to be displayed in museums throughout the United Kingdom. The Annual Conference of the British Association of Friends of Museums (BAfM), 8-10 October, was visiting Northern Ireland for the first time and conference delegates would be visiting the Ulster Museum, the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and W5 as part of their programme of events. The Royal Ulster Academy (RUA) art exhibition opens at the Ulster Museum on 16 October.
Celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum attracted approximately 3,500 visitors and more that 10,000 visitors attended the Bombardier Family Day on 14 August. Century Farm a six-part documentary series depicting life in rural Ireland in 1904 and made for BBC ONE NI at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museums Coshkib Hill Farm was attracting in the region of 100,000 viewers per week.

The Thirteenth Annual Appalachian and Bluegrass Festival at the Ulster American Folk Park attracted some 6,000 visitors with more that 130 performers contributing to the Festival. Over 3,500 visitors participated in the celebrations marking American Independence.

Armagh County Museum received over 3,700 visitors to view the exhibition of work by members of Armagh Art Club. All Change: a Social History of the Railways had also just opened at the museum and will remain on display until February 2005.

W5 was continuing to perform well and would shortly launch an exhibition of the work of P J Lynch, the award winning illustrator of childrens books. W5 was also participating in The Big Draw (the national campaign for drawing) and was hosting Enchanted Forest, a Big Draw event focussing on the work of P J Lynch, on 16 October.

Heritage Lottery Fund Bid
The Director of Development reported that the first draft of MAGNIs bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund had been completed and was currently being edited by the Project Client Panel.

Financial Position
The Director of Finance reported that MAGNI had received an assurance in writing from DCAL that the Department would fund the current in-year deficit together with significant urgent capital maintenance. There had been no response however to MAGNIs bid for PEACE II matched funding or the bid relating to HR time and attendance.

The Director of Finance explained that MAGNI had submitted an urgent capital maintenance bid of around 250k into the September bidding round however towards the end of August DCAL officials indicated that additional capital funding could be available for projects that could be completed within the current financial year. An additional bid was quickly drawn together and submitted to DCAL and confirmation of capital funding in excess of 1m had recently been received. The breakdown was as follows - 895k for capital maintenance, 49k for thatching and 85k for W5. The Director of Operations said that although the funding had to be used within the current financial year it would enable MAGNI to undertake a variety of important projects.

Performance Management Development System (PMDS)
The Acting Personnel Manager reported that following the launch of the Performance Management Development System (PMDS) with senior managers last week, that designated Reporting Officers and Countersigning Officers were currently training on the new system. Every member of staff would also be given a half days training on the system. The PMDS was expected to be live by the end of October 2004 and it was ancitipated that performance appraisal interviews would take place in March/April of next year.

Appointment of Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development
The Chief Executive confirmed that Jude Helliker, currently Head of Human Resources at Tourism Ireland Ltd, had been appointed as MAGNIs Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development with effect from 25 October 2004.

Management Structures
Following the resolution by the Board of Trustees at the April Board meeting that the MAGNI Executive Structure be implemented, the Chief Executive confirmed that job descriptions for the posts of Director of Collections and Interpretation, Director of Learning and Partnership and Director of Marketing & Communications had been drafted and submitted to DCAL for approval and grading. The Chief Executive advised Board members that post of Director of Marketing & Communications had been retitled as Director of Marketing, Communications and Trading and explained the reasons for doing so. Board members agreed the retitling of this post.

Capita Report
This item was discussed under Reserved Business.

SR2004
This item was discussed under Reserved Business.

Management Statement and Financial Memorandum
The Chief Executive advised Board members that DCAL had agreed to a number of the proposed amendments to the Management Statement and Financial Memorandum which sets out the relationship between DCAL and the Board of Trustees and defines the financial and administrative framework within which the museum will operate. Although some issues remained outstanding MAGNI had agreed to sign the document on the understanding that dialogue would continue to resolve these matters.

Audit of MAGNI Collections
The Chief Executive advised Board members that the Northern Ireland Audit Office had indicated their intention to conduct an audit of MAGNIs collections.

Ulster Museum 75th Anniversary
Trustees noted that the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery, originally built on the Ulster Museum site, was scheduled to take place on 22 October 2004.

Corporate Plan 2005-2008
Board members were advised that AEA Consulting had been appointed to take forward the MAGNI Corporate Plan following a tender process. The Chief Executive broadly outlined the proposed framework of the plan and said that it was the intention to present a draft document to Trustees at the December Board meeting. The Director of Operations circulated a proposed framework for the plan and gave Board members a broad overview of the intended subject matter under the various headings.

5. BUSINESS OF CHAIRMAN

Resignation of Board Member
The Chairman announced that Mr Mark Adair had tendered his resignation as a Trustee of MAGNI because of personal work commitments with the BBC. The Chairman had acknowledged Mr Adairs resignation and, on behalf of the Board, thanked him for his service and commitment to the Board and MAGNI as a whole.

6. TRUSTEES COMMITTEES

6.1 Staffing Committee

6.1.1 Verbal report of meeting held on 24 September 2004

Mr Shaw said that Committee members were advised that the Trade Union side had been informed that the two year personal to holder clause contained within the Staff Protocol (which sets out the principles and procedures that will apply to the filling of new posts during restructuring) was Managements final position and that Management Side had recommended that the Staff Protocol be signed off. The Chief Executive also provided the Committee with a progress report on the implementation of the senior management structure. In noting that the Performance Management Development System (PMDS) was now operational, Mr Shaw thanked the Acting Personnel Manager and his staff for progressing a number of human resource issues in the absence of a Director of Human Resource and Organisational Development.

6.2 General Purposes and Finance Committee

6.2.1 Verbal report of meeting held on 24 September 2004
Board members noted that the substantive item of discussion at the meeting centred upon SR2004 and its impact upon the organisation.

6.3 Audit Committee

6.3.1 Verbal report of meeting held on 1 October 2004
Sir Kenneth Bloomfield advised Board members that the Risk Management Strategy has been reprioritised in response to the current funding situation and approved by the Audit Committee. Committee members also received a progress report on outstanding internal audit recommendations and approved the KPMG Operational Audit Plan for 2004/05. The Committee also examined a draft MAGNI Fraud Policy Statement and a Fraud Response Plan and subject to some amendments to the Statement and clarification regarding the Response Plan it was agreed that these documents would be circulated to staff in due course.

6.4 Marketing Development and Fund-raising Committee

6.4.1 Approval of minutes of meeting held on 11 August 2004
The Board of Trustees approved the minutes of the meeting held on 11 August 2004.

7. Whowhatwherewhenwhy (W5)

7.1 Minutes of W5 Board meeting held on 22 June 2004
The Board of Trustees noted the minutes of the W5 Board meeting held on 22 June 2004.

7.2 Minutes of W5 Board meeting held on 30 July 2004
The Board of Trustees noted the minutes of the W5 Board meeting held on 30 July 2004.

7.3 Minutes of W5 Board meeting held on 27 August 2004
The Board of Trustees noted the minutes of the W5 Board meeting held on 27 August 2004.

7.4 Verbal report of W5 Board meeting held on 28 September 2004

The Chairman of W5 reported that W5 had enjoyed record visitors during August resulting in positive levels of income. Expenditure on repairs and maintenance of the building and exhibits was less than anticipated and the Board had agreed that outstanding repairs and replacements should be undertaken to maintain the standard of the visitor experience. Trustees also noted that W5s bid to ReDiscover for the refurbishment and expansion of START (the area for under 8s) had been successful together with the consortium bid with At Bristol, National Museums and Galleries of Merseyside, MAGNA and ECSITE for the design and fabrication of three travelling exhibitions (colour, sport and animation).

8. Any Other Business

None.

9. Date Time and Venue of Next Meeting

The date of the next meeting was set for 17 December 2004 at 1000 hrs in the Board Room of the Ulster American Folk Park at Omagh.

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