1976 - Prato-Bologna, Italy

During the CIMAM-ICOM conference held in New York City in 1974, collector Giuliano Gori spoke with president Thomas Messer and Franco Russoli about holding the next international meeting in Prato, Italy. In 1975 the directorship (president Thomas Messer, Vice President Renilde Hammacher and two top officers Ryszard Stanislawski and Franco Russoli) came to Prato to examine the feasability of organising a conference there on the theme of de-centralisation. They decided on Prato as the conference venue for the following year, to be held from July 7-13th. The few days that had been reserved for conference papers in Bologna were further reduced in favor of the Tuscan venue. The theme of the 1976 conference was museum decentalisation and at the end of the event the directorship expressed its satisfaction for the quality of the meeting.