Minutes: 1st Meeting of the International Young Friends Delegates
From top left: Naïma Sagna (WFFM, France) Shanice Page (Germany), Megan Batty (Canada), Mélanie de Jamblinne (Luxembourg), Eugénie de Froissart (France) and Heather Stracey (UK)
Naïma Sagna, WFFM Young Friends coordinator, welcomes the 5 participants to the very 1st meeting of the international Young Friends delegates committee on Monday 4 December 2023.
The objective : to develop a space for international Young Friends delegates to exchange experiences and work collectively to promote Young Friends projects in the WFFM network through a small working group that will meet every 7 weeks.
1) 5 participants from 5 countries : a new start for the WFFM Young Friends network
Shanice Page (Hamburg, Germany) has been working for the Young Friends section at the Kunsthalle in Hamburg for 3 years, and is part of the Young Friends Federation's network, where some thirty delegates meet twice a year in Germany to share their experiences.
Megan Batty (Montreal, Canada) is a member of the board of the Canadian Federation and Young Friends network split between Montreal and Ottawa, which has been organising numerous visits and meetings in French and English since 2019.
Mélanie de Jamblinne (Luxembourg) is the Young Friends delegate for the Friends of Luxembourg Museums association, a board member since 2016 with Joana Weitzel, with whom she has developed the Young Friends section, which currently has 113 members. A special feature is the JAM / Jeunes Ados group (14-17 year-olds).
Eugénie de Froissart (Paris, France): has just joined the FFSAM (French Federation of the Friends of Museums) as Young Friends coordinator for a 2-year work-study programme. She is responsible for boosting the network of 20 Young Friends sections in France.
Heather Stracey (Royal Tunbridge Wells, England) won the Young Museum Professional of the Year award from the British Association of Friends of Museums and has just been appointed Young Friends Ambassador in the UK.
2) A meeting to connect Young Friends together in January 2024
As the WFFM organised an online event a few years ago - "Well being in the arts" - the idea is to offer a Young Friend international delegate the opportunity to curate an online event on a theme of particular interest to Young Friends of museums.
For the 1st event, which will take place at the 31rst of January 2024 to symbolically start the year with a new beginning for the international Young Friends network, Megan Batty has carte blanche to choose the theme and the speaker.
3) Upcoming WFFM Congress in Luxembourg from 2 to 5 May 2024
On the one hand, this meeting provides an opportunity for Young Friends delegates who have taken part in previous congresses to share their experiences. On the other hand, it gives all participants an opportunity to take stock of what can be offered at the congress to be held in Luxembourg in spring 2024: meetings, visits, etc.
There is a real desire to organise workshops and a round-table discussion of interest to all participants, and to make the event as accessible as possible for Young Friends delegates.
