2014 IAMFA Annual Conference

Scotland 2014

The 2014 IAMFA International Conference will be held in Scotland, so come and see Scotland, post enlightenment, but still living with, and preserving that amazing legacy. You will see what a modern Scotland has to offer, meet the new Scotland and see for yourself how we embrace the past, but constantly reinvent ourselves to meet the new challenges that this ever changing planet has to offer. In 2014 we have the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the Edinburgh International Festival, and the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles; a year of Home-Coming and a referendum just to mention a few of the rival attractions, so get your hotel booked early and come and join the party.

The theme of Scotland 2014 will be the fourth dimension, the fourth dimension being time. We have the past, but how do we reinvent that past to deliver a new cultural heritage for our children to embrace and take forward.

The programme has been carefully selected to tell this story, starting in Glasgow where we will see how an industrialised city reivented itself as a modern cultural tourist destination. Today we will find Glasgow bursting with museums and galleries, some old, some new, but all offering a glimpse of Glasgow's very rich heritage in a truly inspirational way.

We will visit the National Museum of Scotland where we'll learn how between 2006 and 2011 a past Victorian building was reinvented into the stunning example of a thoroughly modern vibrant museum that you see today.

We'll visit the National Galleries of Scotland where we have the cultural city; we have the refurbished buildings, and you will see how we exhibit a collection in a sustainable way.

Your Hotel:

We have selected the APEX International and Apex City hotels, which are four star hotels located next door to each other in the Grassmarket, in the centre of Edinburgh’s old town. We have 60 rooms per night, including a full Scottish breakfast pre-booked for you. To book your stay at either Apex Hotel, please use the link provided. No payment is required at the time of booking so there is no reason to wait. Please book as soon as you can to avoid disappointment. For a single room the rate is £115 per night which includes a full Scottish breakfast. Click here to see what that is in your own currency. For a double room the rate will be £125 again including a full Scottish breakfast. Both rates are inclusive of all local (VAT - value added tax) taxes. Pre and post conference requests, as well as up-grades for supreme rooms, (recommended if you want a view of the castle or a king sized bed), are subject to availability and rates may well vary.

We expect demand to be high, so we have also booked an additional 20 rooms per night, which also includes a full Scottish breakfast at the IBIS South Bridge Hotel which is a brand new hotel opening in January 2014. This hotel has been built on the site of a fire which ripped through the world heritage site in 2003. Both hotels are very close to all the main Edinburgh venues and you will soon find that Edinburgh is quite a small town with all the Edinburgh venues all within easy walking distance.

Sunday 14th September

National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, a five minute walk from your hotel, the benchmarking, registration and opening reception will all be held at the National Library of Scotland headquarters. Walking up Victoria Street will bring you face on to the front of the National Library of Scotland. Your first view will be the seven Lorimer sculptures, and the main entrance. One trick you will have to get used to in Edinburgh is the bridges. At first sight would think main entrance is on the ground floor, but actually you enter on the eleventh floor, yes there are ten floors below you. The street that runs past both Hotels is actually the ground floor of this building. Incidentally, just down the street on the right hand side you will see the Elephant House, coffee shop, the site where J K Rowling wrote some of her first Harry Potter novel.

Monday 15th September

The coaches will leave from the Apex Hotel to travel through to Glasgow. Our first stop will be at the Burrell Museum set in the very picturesque Pollok Park. This is a truly remarkable storey; Sir William Burrell, a very wealthy Glasgow shipping merchant and philanthropist donated his vast collection along with £250,000 to the city to provide a space to exhibit his collection. Knowing a thing or two about his home town, and remembering that Glasgow at the time was a heavily industrialised and polluted city, he thought this was not the place to build a museum to exhibit precious and delicate works of art, so he made a condition that his museum had to be built within the city boundaries, but in a rural setting. Glasgow eventually bought Pollok Park which allowed the construction of the Burrell Museum to be built, being completed in 1983. The guests have a guided tour of the Burrell before they go off to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum for lunch and guided tours. The delegates have a number presentations followed by their guided tour of the museum. After lunch the delegates travel to the new Riverside Museum, very recently voted the 2013 museum of the year, which was opened in June 2011. The museum was designed by Zaha Hadid, this 7800m2 museum; symbolising the dynamic relationship between Glasgow and the ship building, seafaring and industrial legacy of the river Clyde. The guests join the delegates later in the afternoon for a drinks reception aboard the tall ship Glenlee. The Glenlee is one of many hundreds of ships built in Glasgow’s shipyards, originally launched in 1896, but is now one of only five remaining sailing ships still afloat. After the drinks reception we depart for the Kelvingrove Museum and Gallery for a traditional Burns Supper. A tough day but you will get the opportunity to sleep on the bus on the way back to Edinburgh.

Tuesday 16th September

A quieter day than yesterday but no less inspirational, our hosts today are the National Museum of Scotland. Continuing our theme, today we hear about the redevelopment of the National Museum of Scotland, just how you take a building first opened in 1886 and re-invent it as the accessible modern museum you see today. The guests have a guided tour around the Museum, and then take a bus ride to East Fortune, just outside Edinburgh to the National Museum of Flight. There you will get to go on Concord and a guided tour around the air museum. After lunch the guests have a short bus ride across to Rosslyn Chapel, all of you who have read the Da Vinci Code, well it’s that Rossyln Chapel. The guests have for a guided tour before the bus ride home. Meanwhile after lunch the delegates have the AGM followed by a guided tour around the museum.

Wednesday 17th September

Continuing with our theme, our host today is the National Galleries of Scotland with a first stop at the National Galleries on the mound. Today we will be sharing with our conservation colleagues who have joined us for a joint session today, to hear about the very recent refurbishment of the Portrait Gallery. Not the refurbishment itself, but how that refurbishment was used to introduce broader environmental control parameters which manages to preserve the collection, but in a more sustainable way. After lunch the delegates walk across to the Portrait Gallery for a guided tour. After the mornings introduction the guests walk across to the Portrait Gallery for guided tours. Today will be an early finish as it is back to the hotel to get changed for the gala dinner. The gala dinner will be held at the Royal Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh. At the Botanics we will have guided tour through the gardens, eventually taking us to the new John Muir Gatehouse for the team photograph and Gala Dinner.

Thursday 18th September

For those of us who have booked the additional day it’s onto the bus for a trip to New Lanark. New Lanark is a world heritage site created in the 18th century as a cotton mill but made famous by the mill manager and social pioneer, Robert Owen. We arrive just in time for a light lunch followed by guided tours. Watch out for the water driven turbines that used to drive the mill, but is now utilised to generate electricity making the site almost self-sufficient in electricity.