Meet the new Association Chair: Merete Sanderhoff

I’m delighted to be the new Chair of the Network Association and its Management Board.

I am Curator and Senior Advisor of Digital Museum Practice at Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK), the national gallery of Denmark. We house Denmark’s largest collection of art, but our museum is not primarily about the stuff we have. It is first and foremost about the people we serve and what we can learn from each other. We strive to be a facilitator of our users’ learning and creativity, and to support a more creative and reflective society. My role at SMK centers around opening up the digitised collections and inviting the public to build on our common heritage for education, pleasure, and innovation. I also initiated the Sharing is Caring conferences to foster cross-sector dialogue on the potentials and challenges in a digital age shaped by sharing economy and remix culture.

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior in Strandgade, Sunlight on the Floor, 1901, Statens Museum for Kunst, public domain

I am a first generation Europeana Members Councillor and elected member of the Board – a role that has taught me that hands-on people like each of us in the Network can take active part in shaping how we want our sector to evolve on a European level. As your new Chair, I am committed to strengthen the sense that as a Network, through our joint efforts, we are contributing to a more culturally reflective and rich society.

I would like to take this opportunity to recap what the Management Board does, and what it’s made of. We are six members responsible for managing the Network Association. We (Max Kaiser, Paul Keller, Johan Oomen, Joke van der Leeuw-Roord, Uldis Zarins and myself) also represent the Members Council and thereby the Europeana Network Association, on the Board of the Europeana Foundation. The Board is responsible for ensuring that we are all working towards achieving our objectives, and it provides direct input into the governance and executive decision making of the Europeana Foundation.

In general, the Board looks after the activities of the Association, accepts new members, and with the Members Council makes recommendations for how to set up task forces and working groups. We also set Association procedures, annual policy and budget, and deliver the annual report and financial report of the Association. In my position as Chair, I manage the Board, act as the voice of the Association, and chair the Management Board meetings, Members Council meetings, and the General Assembly; supported by my Vice-Chair Max Kaiser who carries out these responsibilities if I’m absent; and Paul Keller, our Treasurer, who helps trustees carry out their financial responsibilities.

Since the beginning of the year, we have had two Management Board meetings, and we are currently in the process of preparing for the first Members Council meeting of the year in The Hague to address how we should all work together within the Network and what our next steps should be. You will hear much more about this in upcoming posts that we will share here on PRO.

Finally, I would like to thank Max for his outstanding job as leaving Chair of the Board. Having been the Vice-Chair for Max these last two years, I know the extraordinary effort it takes to manage this amazing community we’re part of. So I’ve learned from the best, and I aim to keep learning from working with all of you in the Network. Looking very much forward to it!