AGM 2012 report

On September 13th, the Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place. This time in European Capital of Culture 2012, Maribor.

AGM was guided by president of ASCE, Ms Lidija Pliberšek and all steering committee members were present or forwarded their votes to other members. During the AGM, several things were outlined and discussed with some important decisions being made:

1. Agenda Overview

1. Financial report for the year 2011 and first 8 months of 2012
2. Changes of the charter of ASCE
3. Report on EUCEMET project
4. Report on Cemeteries route project
5. Report on Week of Discovering European Cemeteries 2012
6. Presentation of new promotional and other tools within ASCE (flyer, banner and insignia at the bottom of this webpage)
7. Report on regular secretariat work

2. Financial Report

Members took note of the financial reports and no issues were raised about them.

3. Charter Modifications

Members of ASCE voted about the important changes of the old ASCE charter. Due to changes in Italian legislation in 2009, we had to make minor expressive changes which do not change the content or meaning of the charter. Changes were accepted with 100% of present members voting for the changes. Secretariat will submit the new charter to Italian authorities.

4. EUCEMET Project Status

Mr. Yvan Corbat presented the EUCEMET project, its history, current status and further activities. The complete presentation of the project is avaliable for download on this link. Within project, 3 very important results are being achieved: photo exhibition (with opening ceremony that was held during AGM in Maribor), Augmented Reality Browser application which was presented during AGM and Q&A guides which will be presented at the next AGM. All the details will be presented at the ASCE website.

5. European Cemeteries Route & WDEC 2012

President Lidija Pliberšek briefed the members about the current status of Cemeteries route project, which is currently managed by outsurced company. Since it was not managed by the expectations of the members in the past year, further developments are being planned that will be introduced to all members. Steering Committee delegated president Lidija Pliberšek and Martin Ernerth to meet with current route managers and arrange future steps and developments.

This year, hundreds of events took place all over Europe in the Week of discovering European Cemeteries (WDEC). We have tried to gather them in the event calendar. All the events we have gathered are also presented in this PDF file.

6. Secretariat Work & IT Communications

In past 12 months, secretariat proposed and created many new tools for collaboration and promotion inside ASCE:

• new website that already has editors from 3 countries; new editors from Netherlands and United Kingdom were arranged during AGM;
• extended use of Google cloud with all documents now properly archived and accessible to other members;
• managed photo archive in Picasa web albums that includes over 115 albums already;
• many additional website services like Google maps and events calendar that make the IT and marketing structure of ASCE easier managable;

7. New Promotional Tools

Especially, all members can now use:

ASCE flyer may be used in any quantaties. Arrange your own printing after you download the flyer at this link. Also avaliable in simmilar design is the ASCE banner.

ASCE Insignia may be used as according to the Insignia rules, set by steering committee of ASCE. Any member who wishes to use the insignia, must ask the secretariat to receive the files necessary to use it.

8. New Members and Future Outlook

AGM 2012 ended with presentations of the new members (Westerveld, A Coruña, Alcoy) and invitation to the next AGM 2013 in Netherlands.

Photo exhibition

In the frame of EUCEMET project, a photo Exhibition opening ceremony occured at Dobrava cemetery in Maribor on Thursday, 13th of September 2012.

Conference at AGM

In 2 days of AGM 2012, 10 amazing presentations, covering different aspects of promotion of cemeteries and their surrounding territories, took place.

Students as ASCE guides

At the AGM 2012 in Maribor, Slovenia, 6 children from Maribor elementary schools guided the ASCE members through Pobrežje cemetery.

Students becoming guides

With the students becoming guides, this represented a very special and different experience for visitors, scholars and the schools.

It all started at Pobrežje Cemetery in April, when Pogrebno podjetje Maribor (the cemetery management company) hosted scholars from 2 schools for the cultural day. Scholars were presented with the history of the cemetery and important people burried there.

With an excellent prepared guidance, scholars immediately became aware that cemetery is not just a place of death and sadness. It was a place of many interesting findings and as they have learned about the important people in the cemetery, scholars were actually learning about themselves and their own history.

For many of them, the experience was so impressive, that they have volunteered for becoming guides  themselves. Preparations started and soon, they were guiding their first visitors, during the Week of Discovering European Cemeteries (WDEC).

Guided tour at the AGM on September 14, 2012

After the first experience, the youngest guides worked with their english teachers and improved the guidance techniques and knowledge for their big challenge: guiding the ASCE members and partners through the cemetery at AGM 2012.

As it turned out, they were surprisingly relaxed, practical and interesting. Present members enjoyed the easy guidance where scholars presented the most important people of Maribor with just enough facts and interesting stories.

Importance of the project

The project has many important implications and presents one of the best possible ways to get every European citizen in touch with the heritage, preserved in the cemeteries. Because scholars are not the only ones impressed. Their families, friends and many others are now learning from them about the importance of our cemeteries.

AGM 2012 sponsors

AGM 2012 Programme

Programe of the annual general meeting in Maribor 2012.