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Featured, PAST EVENT, WFFM

23 July 2025

General Assembly of the World Federation of Friends of Museums (WFFM)

Naples and Caserta, May 15-18, 2025

Fourteen countries, Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, the United Kingdom, met or joined forces at the General Assembly of the World Federation of Friends of Museums, held over four days in Naples and at the Royal Palace of Caserta, in order to implement the new action plan for the World Federation prepared by the Executive Committee.

Fifty-five Friends, including seventeen young people and two representatives of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the president of its foundation, former ICOM President, and the secretary general of the Italian national committee actively participated in these discussions. ICOM’s involvement in these talks stems from its recent decision to recognize the WFFM as an affiliated organization in order to cooperate more closely in the interests of museums.

Five priorities were defined during the Council meetings: to increase the number of member federations and associations in Asia and Pacific, Europe, North and South America, while striving to forge new relationships around the Mediterranean and in Africa; to develop international partnerships with ICOM in the first instance, but also with UNESCO; deepen the exchange of experiences between Friends, particularly through digital means; increase their visibility by internationalizing the European Day of Friends of Museums; and finally, continue the restructuring of the World Federation.

An effort is thus being made by European federations to build closer ties with museum friends in countries around the Mediterranean and in Africa. The arrival of Lebanon, with the membership of the Society of Friends of the American University of Beirut Museum announced in Naples, is a first step in this direction.

A Young Council bringing together one or two representatives from countries with Young Friends groups has been created to share their experiences, develop common tools, and structure a collective dynamic on a global scale.

The Young Friends gathered in Naples around the theme: “How to create and maintain an international network of Young Friends?” A first concrete project has emerged: an interactive world map of Young sections that will serve as a starting point for building a true international network of Young Friends.

As an ICOM-affiliated organization, the WFFM and its members can now establish direct contact with all ICOM international committees, regional alliances, and national committees, particularly to help them identify and connect with new museum friends federations or associations.

A new website has been launched to promote the activities of Friends of Museums around the world and provide members of the World Federation with a dedicated space for exchanges. HOME – WFFM

The third edition of European Friends of Museums Day, scheduled for Sunday, October 12, 2025, will go international with the participation of Canada and, most likely, Argentina.

Several working groups have been set up to revise the World Federation’s code of ethics, identify and contact old and new members, recruit individual members, and seek funding.

Finally, the World Federation’s office is reopening in Paris to facilitate exchanges between Friends of Museums coming to or passing through the French capital, as well as research using the international archives held by the French Federation.

Featured, UPCOMING EVENT

28 March 2025

European Day 2025

The third edition of the European Day of Friends of Museums will take place this year on October 12th to celebrate the community of a million enthusiasts across Europe, under the theme “Your museums, our passion!”

150 associations of 10 countries participated in 2024. We hope more this year to showcase to the public in their museum the actions they carry out throughout the year to share their passion and contribution to their museums’ influence.

Featured, PAST EVENT, WFFM

18 May 2025

Council and General Assembly Meeting of the WFFM Naples, Pompeii and Caserta from 15 to 18 May 2025

WFFM federations and associations will meet in Naples – Caserta for four days to exchange information and to visit the attractions in Naples and Caserta.

The preliminary program and registration form are available below:

Registration →

Featured, WFFM

11 January 2025

WFFM Letter: Notre-Dame de Paris, December 28th 2024

Our letter to all the workers and donators who contributed to the renovation of Notre-Dame de Paris.

English

French

Spanish

Featured, YOUNG FRIENDS

6 October 2024

The Young Council: a new international impetus for Young Friends

Created in October 2024 by the World Federation of Friends of Museums (WFFM), the Young Council is a group of Young Friends leaders from different national federations. Each member country of the World Federation can designate one or two delegates to represent young people involved in museum and community life.

The main objective of the Young Council is to promote international exchanges between Young Friends sections and to give impetus to a common dynamic on a global scale. It aims to structure and strengthen the commitment of young people within Friends of museums associations, by offering them a framework for exchange and cooperation.

The delegates of the Young Council also provide a direct link with the Executive Committee of the World Federation, ensuring that youth-led initiatives are integrated into a global vision. In this way, they participate in strategic thinking and actively contribute to the development of the Young Friends movement internationally.

A key moment for the Young Council is the preparation of the General Assembly of the World Federation, which will be held in Naples in May 2025. This year, the focus will be on ‘How to create and maintain links between Young Friends’.

The challenge is to identify good practice and strengthen synergies between the different sections around the world.

In addition to this event, the Young Council is in line with the strategic priorities of the World Federation, by developing collective projects and supporting local initiatives that contribute to the vitality and structuring of the Young Friends network.

With this initiative, the World Federation of Friends of Museums asserts its desire to support young people in their commitment to culture and heritage, by offering them a framework conducive to exchange, collaboration and innovation.

Featured, YOUNG FRIENDS

16 August 2024

Young Friends Ottawa Canadian Report: August 2024

It was a Franco-Canadian meeting that had been imagined 3 months earlier, as part of the WFFM Congress in Luxembourg: our Young Friends coordinator travelled to Ottawa on her own initiative to meet the CFFM Young Friends delegates in real life once again on Tuesday August 6th, 2024 :

Robin Treleaven (27 y.o) is a professional contemporary dancer, performer, teacher and choreographer. As coordinator of Ottawa Young Friends, she affirms her ambition to “put on events that showcase everyday people“.

Nikita Koziel Ly (24 y.o) has been co-coordinator of Ottawa Young Friends alongside Robin since November 2023. A PHD student in neuroscience, she would like to organize events that bring people into the museum and participate with the space in an active way (for example she was inspired by a scavenger hunt at the National Art center and would like to organize something similar).

Megan Batty, choir director of 25 singers, with whom she will be organizing a concert at the Chapelle Bon Secours in Montreal on December 7, joined the team of a foundation specializing in philanthropy in February 2024, and is the coordinator of Montreal’s Young Friends. In this capacity, she joined WFFM’s international committee of Young Friends delegates to represent Canada from October 2023, and expresses her desire to connect Canadian Young Friends with the WFFM community.

The meeting was an opportunity to welcome Mathilde Mouchon (24 y.o), a French Young Friend from Le Puy-en-Velay, who by chance was on holiday in Canada at the time. A newcomer to the Young Friends network, Mathilde’s ambition is to create a Young Friends section at the Crozatier museum in the Auvergne Rhone Alpes region of France, with the support of the president of her association and the FFSAM. Before resuming her studies in September (Sciences Po), she is fulfilling a dream with a cultural trip to Canada lasting several weeks, which will enable her to visit the main museums in Montreal and Ottawa.

During a tour of the temporary exhibitions at the Ottawa Art Gallery, where Robin will be taking to the stage for a dance and theater show titled subdivision from October 2nd to 4th, 2024, Megan gave a brief introduction to the landscapes paintings of the Group of Seven, Canada’s leading artists of the modern era, some of whose paintings depict European landscapes.

The delegates then followed Robin‘s guided tour of Ottawa’s city center: Kwakiutl Totem in Confederation Park, War Memorial, Lord Stanley’s Gift Monument, National Arts Centre, Parliament of Canada, Château Laurier, the Ottawa locks and the National Gallery building. Enriched by a wealth of anecdotes and a bird’s eye view of downtown Ottawa, Naïma, Nikita, Megan, Robin and Mathilde then sat down at an Italian restaurant in the ByWard Market to talk about their projects in their respective cities and their upcoming initiatives as part of the WFFM network.

Encouraged by Nikita, Megan, Robin and Mathilde’s enthusiastic recommendations to visit the National Gallery of Canada, Naïma went back to visit this amazing art gallery just a few hours before her return to France: impressed by Louise Bourgeois’s immense spider sculpture “Mother”, in front of the building, she was able to marvel and reflect in turn as she discovered the “Radical Stitch” exhibition, which highlights the ancestral knowledge and political-cultural perspectives of Canadian first nations people as expressed through customary beading techniques.

Instagram Young Friends CFFM : https://www.instagram.com/canadian_yfc_cja/
Friends of musée Crozatier : https://amismuséecrozatier.fr/