AVICOM
International Committe for Audiovisual and New Technologies
AVICOM advises, keeps informed and increases the museum professionals’ awareness about the possibilities audiovisual methods and the new technologies offer to the museums. The AVICOM Working Group on Photography is devoted to the still image and is currently in the process of compiling information for a thematic directory of art and documentary photograph collections in museums and cultural establishments the world over. The AVICOM Working Group on Multimedia is devoted to cinema, video, multimedia and the Internet. It offers evening workshops for students and the general public in order to introduce them to new technologies. This working group also organises the International Audiovisual Festival on Museums and Heritage (FAIMP) which promotes and disseminates multimedia products created by museums and cultural heritage institutions, and awards prizes for the most original productions.

CAMOC
International Committee for the Collections and Activities of Museums of Cities
CAMOC is a forum for professionals working in or interested in museums about cities. This Committee allows them to share knowledge and experience, exchange ideas and explore partnerships across international boundaries. CAMOC seeks to stimulate dialogue and co-operation between museums by supporting and encouraging them in the collection, preservation and presentation of original material related to the past, present and future of the city, reinforcing the city’s identity and contributing to its development. Activities include regular annual meetings, working groups, publication of proceedings of meetings and newsletters, etc.

CECA
International Committee for Education and Cultural Action
CECA gathers museum educators and other museum professionals with an interest in education and in culture who work in research, management, interpretation, exhibitions, programmes, media and evaluation. The committee aims at exchanging information and ideas about museum education at an international level, ensuring that museum education is part of the policy, decisions and programmes of ICOM, advocating the educational purpose of museums around the world and promoting high professional standards in museum education. CECA holds annual conferences for which proceedings are published as well as a newsletter and an annual review entitled ICOM Education.

CIDOC
International Committee for Documentation
CIDOC is dedicated to the documentation of museum collections. The committee gathers curators, librarians and information specialists interested in documentation, registration, collections management and computerisation. Members receive a newsletter and may participate in annual conferences and a number of active working groups on data standards (for general as well as specific aspects of cultural heritage), multimedia or the Internet.

CIMCIM
International Committee of Musical Instrument Museums and Collections
CIMCIM promotes and organises professional activities related to collections and museums of musical instruments. Members participate in meetings and contribute to the publications of the following working groups: Communications, Conservation, Documentation, Education and Presentation, Traditional Instruments, Training, and the International Directory of Musical Instrument Collections. Members receive the CIMCIM Newsletter in which various studies and bibliographies are published.

CIMUSET
International Commitee of Museums of Science and Technology
CIMUSET is composed of museum professionals from the fields of science and technology. The committee is not only dedicated to traditional museums of science and technology, largely historical and collection based, but also to contemporary science centres, working primarily to popularise and promote science and technology among children and young people. CIMUSET organises an annual meeting.

CIPEG
International Committee for Egyptology
CIPEG promotes collaboration among colleagues for the study, preservation, and presentation of Egyptian collections, monuments and sites. In addition, it supports collections of Egyptian art and archaeology, including the heritage of the Ancient Sudan, with a special focus on smaller collections, within the framework of ICOM and in close co-operation with the International Association of Egyptologists (IAE).

COMCOL
International Committee for Collecting
COMCOL is ICOM International Committee with the mission to deepen discussions and share knowledge on the practice, theory and ethics of collecting and collections (both tangible and intangible) development. COMCOL is a platform for professional exchange of views and experiences around collecting in the broadest sense. The Committee is in charge of collecting and de-accessioning policies, contemporary collecting, restitution of cultural property and respectful practices. COMCOL’s aims are to increase cooperation and collaboration across international boundaries, to foster innovation in museums and to encourage and support museum professionals in their work with collections development. COMCOL organizes annual meetings and working groups and publishes a newsletter for its members.

COSTUME
International Committee for Museums and Collections of Costume
The International Committee for Museums and Collections of Costume is delighted to welcome ICOM members with a specific interest in apparel. Established in 1962, the over 400 members of the Costume Committee are museum professionals and costume historians from all over the world committed to the study of all aspects of presenting, preserving, researching and collecting apparel. Members share their expertise through presentations at annual meetings and publications in both digital and print formats. Topics include research projects, exhibitions, the discussion and demonstration of conservation and storage techniques, aspects of design, manufacturing and many other subjects related to dress. Annual meetings are held in locations throughout the world. An unsalaried Board of Officers, elected by the membership governs the Committee.

DEMHIST
International Committee for Historic House Museums
DEMHIST is an international forum for debating problems and solutions particular to the conservation and management of historic house museums. One aim of the committee is to create a classification system of the numerous kinds of historic house museums in order to assist professionals in understanding their houses better so that they may formulate more effective “mission statements”; goals; conservation, restoration, and security choices; and communication with other professionals and with their visitors. Considering the artistic, architectural, cultural, and social wealth present in historic houses, the committee organizes conferences to address these issues common to all kinds of historic house museums, and publishes the results in order to give its members a professional platform for sharing their ideas, as well as to disseminate as widely as possible the solutions reached in order to increase their effectiveness.

GLASS
International Committee for Museums and Glass collections
The International Committee for Museums and Glass collections is open to curators and conservators of glass from around the world. Members do research and care for glass vessels and windows from all countries where glass has been made, and from antiquity to modern times. Members receive a newsletter and participate in annual meetings worldwide.

ICAMT
International Committee for Architecture and Museum Techniques
ICAMT is the committee in which information, best practices and ideas come together about aspects from the architecture of the museum building, the techniques in the museum building and the techniques of exhibitions. The members of ICAMT exchange, share and discuss these aspects during conferences and workshops. ICAMT provides a forum for the communication between members of ICOM/ICAMT by organizing the conferences and workshops, and the content on the website and newsletters.

ICDAD
International Committee for Museums and Collections of Decorative Arts and Design
ICDAD is devoted to museums and collections of applied and decorative arts conserved in museums, houses, castles and historic monuments. The committee is interested in historic interiors, applied art collections and contemporary design. Members participate in annual meetings organised under a specific theme which goal is to exchange ideas. During these meetings, members may also participate in organised visits to museums, historic houses and monuments, artists’ and designers’ workshops, galleries and private collections.

ICEE
International Committee on Exhibitions and Exchanges
ICEE is a forum for the dissemination of knowledge and experience about exhibitions. The committee deals with many different aspects of exhibition development, circulation and exchange. It also collects information about potential as well as existing travelling exhibitions. Annual meetings feature discussions and valuable networking opportunities for museum professionals involved in exhibition planning. A recently launched publication series will offer information and practical solutions to concrete problems in order to help professionals organise exhibitions that are useful, informative and cost-effective.

ICFA
International Committee for Museums and Collections of Fine Arts
ICFA’s membership is made up of professionals who work in museums and art galleries that collect old master and nineteenth century oil paintings and sculptures. The annual meeting allows the members to discuss problems and exchange opinions on themes including collections in Eastern Europe, museums design and architecture, and illicit traffic in artworks.

ICLCM
International Committee for Literary and Composers’ Museums
ICLCM’s main aim is to develop activities such as research, publishing, exhibition and education for literary historical/biographical museums and composers’ museums. Its members receive one newsletter per year and have the opportunity to participate in annual conferences and in the activities of a number of working groups.

ICMAH
International Committee for Museums and Collections of Archaeology and History
ICMAH is dedicated to museums of archaeology and history. As the interpreters, mediators and repositories of cultural heritage, these museums illustrate man’s complex relationship to the society. ICMAH is concerned with the interpretation of history and works to develop various research methods in a multidisciplinary framework. The committee also considers archaeology as an essential aspect of historical research. It offers museums of archaeology and history an opportunity to communicate with each other, providing them with advice and information. ICMAH publishes a newsletter, ICMAH Information, leads several working groups and organises an annual meeting which minutes are then published.

ICME
International Committee for Museums of Ethnography
ICME is devoted to ethnographic museums and collections from local, national and international cultures. The committee is concerned with the challenges facing ethnographic museums and collections in a changing world. ICME informs its members of its activities through a newsletter. It also organises annual meetings on a particular theme.

ICMEMOHRI
The International Committee of Memorial and Human Rights Museums

ICMS
International Committee for Museum Security
ICMS acts as the main advisor to ICOM and its membership in matters of security, fire protection and disaster preparedness. The objectives of ICMS are to provide education, training and assistance and to protect persons and cultural property from theft, vandalism, fire and destruction. ICMS has established working groups on Physical Security, Technical Security, Fire Security, Disaster Preparedness, Training, Publications and Rules. Committee members receive security publications and newsletters. Members may participate in annual meetings during which the international situation of museum security is discussed and analysed.

ICOFOM
International Committee for Museology
ICOFOM is the main international forum for museological debate. In its broadest sense, museology is concerned with the theoretical approach to any individual or collective human activity related to the preservation, interpretation and communication of our cultural and natural heritage, and with the social context in which a specific man/object relationship takes place. Although the field of museology is much broader than the study of the museum itself, its main focus remains the functions, the activities and the role in society of the museum as a repository of collective memory. ICOFOM also studies the various museum professions. Practical aspects of museum work are referred to as museography or as expography. All papers of the annual conferences are published in the ICOFOM Study Series. A newsletter keeps members informed about what is going on.

ICOM-CC
International Committe for Conservation
With its 21 working groups, ICOM-CC offers conservators, scientists, curators and other professionals the opportunity to collaborate, study and promote the conservation and analysis of culturally and historically significant works. Members participate in specialised international meetings and receive the committee’s activities through the newsletters of the Directory Board and working groups and Preprints, published for triennial meetings. Approximately 1000 professional papers have been presented and published in the past decade.

ICOMAM
International Committee for Museums of Arms and Military History
ICOMAM fosters the study of arms, armour, artillery, fortifications, uniforms, flags and medals and develops and maintains relations between museums and other institutions concerned with the preservation and interpretation of such artefacts. It is the only International Committee of its kind dealing comprehensively with this particular subject area in the field of museology. ICOMAM holds triennial congresses and annual symposia or conferences and organises the triennial Justus Lipsius Award for outstanding published research in the field. ICOMAM’s approach is historical, scientific and objective but always within a social context. It seeks to explore both the technical development of the material culture of its subject area and the often profound impact this has had on national and international politics and economics, society and art.

ICOMON
International Committee of Money and Banking Museums
ICOMON was created for museums of numismatics and museums of financial and economic institutions or companies. This Committee is exclusively dedicated to the museological problems of its members and is a forum of discussion for problems regarding the acquisition and conservation of objects, theft, management, educational projects, conceptual questions, presentation and display, control of climatological conditions, etc. The committee offers its members broad or in-depth discussions. It also organises annual meetings.

ICR
International Committee for Regional Museums
ICR was created for regional museums and is interested in the role of these museums in their community with respect to culture, history, environment, social development and language. It is particularly concerned with the challenges, philosophy, methodology, and international co-operation of regional museums in a period of social and political change that has affected the fundamental identity of millions of people. ICR distributes a newsletter twice a year and organises an annual meeting.

ICTOP
International Committee for The Training of Personnel
ICTOP’s primary aim is to promote training and professional development and to establish standards for museum personnel throughout their careers. The Committee publishes the International Directory of Museum Training as well as a newsletter twice a year and it organises an annual meeting. ICTOP also acts as an advisor for the establishment of syllabi for personnel training and works closely with other ICOM Committees to achieve its goals.

INTERCOM
International Committee on Management
INTERCOM works toward the development of sound museum management throughout the world. The Committee’s main concerns are the managerial aspects of policy formulation, legislation and resource management. It also watches over the implementation of ICOM’s Code of Ethics for Museums.

MPR
International Committee for Marketing and Public Relations
MPR gathers museum professionals working in marketing, communications and development (fund-raising). MPR provides its members with the opportunity for professional growth, works to develop good communications and marketing practices, and encourages professional networking amongst professionals. It acts as an advisor to ICOM when required. MPR provides information to its members and other professionals through the pulbication of books and newsletters as well as through the electronic media. It plans and conducts annual meetings that bring together communications and marketing professionals from museums and other fields.

NATHIST
International Committee for Museums and Collections of Natural History
NATHIST is concerned with the conservation of biological diversity in museums collections as well as in the natural environment, the scientific study of the world’s natural heritage and the education of the wider public through museum displays, conferences, field trips, etc. A newsletter ensures contacts between members of the committee which should be increasingly called upon considering the ever-increasing interest in nature and its protection.

UMAC
University Museums and Collections
UMAC is a forum for all those working in, or associated with, academic museums, galleries and collections (including herbaria and botanical gardens). UMAC is concerned with the role of collections within higher education institutions and the communities they serve. It provides its members with a forum to identify partnership opportunities concerning the resources in the collections, to share knowledge and experience, and to enhance access to the collections. The aim is to protect the heritage in the care of universities. UMAC communicates with its members and when required, advises ICOM and other professional bodies on matters within its jurisdiction.