Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the AAMC & AAMC Foundation
Sunday May 15, 2011
Cooper-Hewitt Museum
MEETING MINUTES:
* denotes ex-officio members including staff, committee chairs and emeriti trustees
In attendance:
Paola Antonelli
Sally Block*
Graham Boettcher
Cynthia Burlingham
Christa Clarke*
Judith Dolkart
Elizabeth Easton*
Carol Eliel
Helen Evans
Rita Freed
Vivien Greene
Gloria Groom
Hannah Howe*
Simon Kelly*
Paul Nagle* GUEST SPEAKER
Emily Neff*
Marina Pacini
Jordana Pomeroy
Carolyn Putney
John Ravenal
William Rudolph
Annemarie Sawkins*
Mark Scala
Jon Seydl
George Shackelford *
Gary Tinterow*
Kristina Van Dyke
Absent:
Brooke Anderson, Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, Stephan Wolohojian, Siri Enberg, Laurie
Winters, Mary Morton
I.
Welcome – John Ravenal
a. Conference Overview – run-through of schedule, sponsors, events
II.
Advocacy Discussion
a. Paul Nagle:
i. Institute supports public policy that supports arts in public life
and community
ii. Goal is generate data that can inform and change public policy
to make the arts counted and less isolated
iii. Established series of fireside chats with leaders and artists to
promote conversation in community
iv. Employment statistics don’t include all the part time workers
in the arts sectors. Need to produce numbers that account for
the thousands of workers that earn income from the arts.
v. Valuing intangible assets
vi. Survey – funded by Rockefeller Foundation that poses question
in interesting way – hitting on new way of evaluating the
importance of arts
vii. Must find partners in other sectors, network internationally,
learn to create metrics that policy makers will respond to.
viii. Arts community adopts ideas quickly – attractive quality to
other sectors
ix. Identify common goals with different sectors and industries
1. No legacy without stewardship
2. Diversity is key to strength
b. Sally Block: need to draft guidelines about what issues the AAMC will
engage with, policy should be in place for when AAMC will react
c. Call for volunteers to spearhead Advocacy Task force:
i. William Rudolph, Graham Boettcher, Vivien Greene, Carol Eliel,
Jordana Pomeroy
d. Discussion of possible partners and other organizations. The position
of the AAMC should always keep the curatorial perspective at front
and center.
III.
Nominating and Governance Report
a. Jon Seydl – Governance
i. 1st time with president elect in 6 month pre-term, expanding
BOT by 4 members, 22 total
ii. Slate for Board/Officer appointments (See Attachment A)
iii. Movement to appoint Emily Neff, Vice President for
Communications
iv. Appointment of Cynthia Burlingham as Vice President for
Programs
v. Approval of new Board slate: Mary Morton, Carolyn Putney,
Laurie Winters, Lynda Roscoe Hartigan
vi. Confirmed another term: Judith Dolkart, Deborah Cullen,
Jordana Pomeroy
vii. Emily Neff rotating off Prize Ctee chair
viii. Christa Clarke rotating off as Membership Ctee chair
ix. Lynda R. Hartigan rotating off as Conference Ctee co-chair
x. Siri Engberg rotating off as Website Ctee co-chair
xi. Brooke Anderson rotating off as Professional Development
Ctee co-chair
IV.
Committee Reports (See Attachment B)
a. Prize Update – Emily Neff
i. Hard work of prize committee to navigate restructured prizes
ii. Ctee member, Georgiana Uhlyarik, worked particularly hard to
bring in Canadian nominations and membership
b. Finance Update – Sally Block (See Attachment C)
ATTACHMENT A
NEW AAMC TRUSTEE SLATE 2011
CYNTHIA BURLINGHAM
THE HAMMER MUSEUM
Cynthia Burlingham is Deputy Director of Collections and Director of the UCLA
Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts at the Hammer Museum. She is responsible
for all Grunwald Center collection and exhibition activities, as well as the Armand
Hammer Collection, and the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden at UCLA. Since
coming to UCLA in 1985, she has curated numerous exhibitions, including Outside
the Box: Edition Jacob Samuel, 1988-2010 (2010); Rembrandt Prints (2010); And Then
Again… Printed Sets and Series, 1500-2007 (2008), Masters of American Comics
(2005), The Eunice and Hal David Collection of 19th- and 20th-Century Works on Paper
(2003), The World from Here: Treasures of the Great Libraries of Los Angeles (2001),
and The French Renaissance in Prints (1994). Her forthcoming projects include an
exhibition on Gustave Moreau's Salome, organized in collaboration with the Moreau
Museum in Paris. Recent publications include a book on the history of the Murphy
Sculpture Garden at UCLA published in 2007, and she co-edited the catalogue for the
exhibition Heat Waves in a Swamp: the Paintings of Charles Burchfield in 2009. Ms.
Burlingham holds an M.A. in art history from Oberlin College and has lectured and
written extensively on the history of the print from the 16th through the 20th
centuries.
* Ms. Burlingham is listed on this slate as candidate for Vice-President, Programs
LYNDA HARTIGAN
THE PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM
Lynda Roscoe Hartigan is The James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes Chief Curator of the
Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. There she serves on the museum’s executive
leadership team, leads an energetic and innovative curatorial and exhibition
program developed by PEM’s 11 curators with expertise in diverse areas of
international art and culture, and oversees the museum’s publications, collection
services, and conservation programs. Prior to joining PEM in 2003, she was Chief
Curator of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC. Hartigan’s
MA in Art History is from George Washington University. Her research specialties in
modern art, Joseph Cornell, American folk and outsider art, and African-American
art have yielded numerous widely recognized exhibitions and publications. Most
recently, Hartigan curated the traveling retrospective, "Joseph Cornell: Navigating
the Imagination," co-organized by the Peabody Essex Museum and the Smithsonian
American Art Museum, and wrote the companion book (Yale University Press, 2007).
She serves on the selection committee of the Claremont/Getty Leadership Institute
and is a member of the Institute’s 2000 class. Her professional affiliations and
volunteer activities have included AAM, AHAA, ArtTable, CAA, and the advisory
boards of the Folk Art Society of America and Spaces Inc. (LA), as well as diverse
community service regionally and nationally as a juror, lecturer, exhibition and
dissertation advisor, and mentor to emerging and peer colleagues.
EMILY B. NEFF
THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON
Dr. Emily Ballew Neff is curator of American painting and sculpture at the Museum
of Fine Arts, Houston. She received a bachelor’s degree in art history from Yale
University, a master’s degree in art history from Rice University, and a doctorate in
art history from the University of Texas at Austin. She has curated a number of
exhibitions, including The Modern West: American Landscapes, 1890-1950, which
traveled to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; John Singleton Copley in England,
which she co-organized with the National Gallery of Art; Houston’s Sargents;
American Painters in the Age of Impressionism; American Watercolors, and the
inaugural installation of the museum’s American art collection, including twenty
additional private collection loans, in its first dedicated spaces for American art in
the museum’s Beck Building. Fellowships include the Center for Advanced Study in
the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art (CASVA, 2008), Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
Research Center, Santa Fe (2004-2005); the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute,
Williamstown (2004); the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she was a Jane and
Morgan Whitney Fellow (1993-1994); and Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens,
where she served as a Jameson Fellow (1989-1990). Grants received for projects
under her responsibility include the National Endowment for the Arts (1994-1995,
and 2004); the National Endowment for the Humanities (2003, 2004, 2008); and
The Henry Luce Foundation (1999). In 2006, Yale University Press published Dr.
Neff’s The Modern West: American Landscapes, 1890-1950, and in 2000 Princeton
University Press published her Frederic Remington: The Hogg Brothers Collection of
the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She also authored John Singleton Copley in
England; American Painting in the Age of Impressionism; and co-authored American
Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. In addition to her work at
the MFAH, she has lectured around the country, served as distinguished lecturer in
the art history department of Rice University, and published on a wide variety of
subjects including the photographs of Lee Friedlander and the Modernist road trip.
* Ms. Neff is listed on this slate as candidate for Vice-President, Communications
MARY MORTON
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
Mary Morton is curator of French paintings at the National Gallery of Art in
Washington DC. She received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in
history, and her PhD from Brown University, concentrating on 19th and early 20th
century European painting. Dr. Morton began her curatorial career in the European
art department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and spent five years as
associate curator of paintings at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. She has
worked on numerous exhibitions and publications in her area of expertise,
organizing an international loan exhibition in 2006 on the landscape paintings of the
Realist master Gustave Courbet, an exhibition in 2007 devoted to exotic animal
portraits by the 18th century painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry, and a monographic
project devoted to the French master Jean-Léon Gérôme. She is currently focused
on a Gauguin exhibition organized by Tate Modern, and on plans for a reinstallation
of the 19th century French collection at the National Gallery.
CAROLYN PUTNEY
TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART
Carolyn Putney is Director of Collections, Chief curator and Curator of Asian Art at
the Toledo Museum of Art. She is responsible for a large work group including
curatorial, exhibitions, research and publications, registrars, archives, library and
the visual resources collection. In addition, she is the head of a new cross-functional
team charged with the objective of expanding access to the collections. Since coming
to the TMA in 1978, she has moved as head of the visual resources collection to the
curatorial area and has curated numerous exhibitions, including Japanese Treasures:
The Art of Netsuke Carving (2000), Princely Pursuits: The Miniature Painting of India
(2003), Strong Women, Beautiful Men: Japanese Portrait Prints from the TMA(2005),
The Lure of Pompeii (2007), Mummies to Monet: The Libbeys Collect (2008), Life in
Miniature: Ceramic Netsuke from the Silverman Collection (2011), Inspired Giving:
The Apollo Society’s 25th Anniversary, 2011(all curators involved). Her forthcoming
projects include an exhibition on the Toledo Museum’s renowned collection of
Japanese modern prints. Her publications include a book on Japanese netsuke
published in 2000, and a catalogue of TMA’s Indian miniatures in 2003. Ms. Putney
holds an M.A. in art history from Florida State University and has taught art history
courses for the University of Toledo since 1979.
LAURIE WINTERS
MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM
Laurie Winters is the Director of Exhibitions and Publications and the Senior
Curator of European Art at the Milwaukee Art Museum, a joint position which she
has held since 2009. Winters joined the staff of the Milwaukee Art Museum in 1997
as an associate curator of earlier European art and rose to the position of full
curator in 1999. Prior to joining the museum, she was an assistant professor of art
history at Rhode Island College in Providence.
Winters has curated numerous exhibitions, including A Renaissance Treasury
(1998); Leonardo da Vinci and the Splendor of Poland: A History of Collecting and
Patronage (2002), which was named one of the top five exhibitions of the year by
Apollo magazine; and Rembrandt and His Time: Masterworks from the Albertina
(2005). Biedermeier: The Invention of Simplicity (2006) received exceptional critical
press and traveled to the Albertina in Vienna, the Deutsches Historisches Museum in
Berlin, and the Musée du Louvre; the catalogue for the exhibition was named Book
of the Year in Europe (2007) at the Vienna Art Fair. This fall, Winters will open
Impressionism on Paper: Drawings from Manet to Van Gogh, an exhibition organized
in collaboration with the Albertina.
Winters has also been the recipient of a number of prestigious awards and
fellowships. In 2003, she was bestowed the Cavalier’s Cross of the Order of Merit by
the Polish government for the Leonardo exhibition. In 2008, she was one of ten
fellows selected nationally to participate in the inaugural year of the Center for
Curatorial Leadership, and in the summer of 2009, she participated in the Getty’s
Museum Leadership Program. She has a B.A. in Art History and French from the
University of Toledo and an M.A. (ABD) in Art History from the University of
Michigan. She is also currently completing an MBA at Alverno College.
ATTACHMENT B
AAMC Committee Reports 2011
Report of the Conference Committee
About the Conference Committee
The prime vehicle allowing the AAMC to communicate with its membership is its
annual convention held every spring. The Conference Committee is charged with
presenting to the Board of Trustees the recommendation of topics and speakers that
will make the conference an inspiration for all who attend.
Committee Members
2010 – 2011 Conference Committee (* denotes new member)
Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, Chief Curator, Peabody Essex Museum, co-chair
Marina Pacini, Chief Curator, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, co-chair
Elizabeth Easton, Director, Center for Curatorial Leadership
Rita Freed, John F. Cogan, Jr. and Mary L. Cornille Chair of the Department of Art of
the Ancient World, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston*
Linda Komaroff, Curator and Department Head, Islamic Art Los Angeles County
Museum of Art
Jack Hinton, Assistant Curator of European Decorative Arts & Sculpture,
Philadelphia Museum of Art*
David S. Rubin, The Brown Foundation Curator of Contemporary Art, San Antonio
Museum of Art*
Jonathan Stuhlman, Curator of American Art, Mint Museum of Art
Jennifer Tonkovich, Curator, Drawings and Prints, Morgan Library & Museum*
Matthew Welch, Curator of Japanese and Korean Art, Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Margaret Young-Sanchez, Chief Curator; Frederick and Jan Mayer Curator of preColumbian Art Denver Art Museum
Sylvia Yount, Cochrane Curator of American Art and Department Head, Virginia
Museum of Fine Arts*
Ex-officio Members Sally Block, Director, AAMC
Helen C. Evans, VP, Programs, AAMC and Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator for
Byzantine Art, The Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art
John Ravenal, President, AAMC and The Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator
of Modern and Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The 2010-2011 Conference Committee was charged with developing a special
program to commemorate AAMC’s tenth anniversary. The session topics were
developed through several different channels. At the Committee Meeting at the 2010
conference in Chicago, suggested topics were solicited from the membership. These
were then presented to the Program Committee and served as the spring board for
discussions. The committee worked to develop a schedule that would interest the
widest range of members, taking into account the varying sizes of institutions and
areas of specialization of the membership. The goal was also to consider topics that
reflected areas of present day concern and potential future growth for the field,
while building on previous sessions.
A list of topics was forwarded to the full board for their input, and the final session
topics that were deemed most relevant were selected. These include collaborative
curating which is being addressed through sessions with conservator/curator teams
in the conservation labs at Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as in the panel
discussion “Collaborative Curating.” The other sessions--“Innovative Conservation,”
“Cultural Property: Where Are We Now,” “Developing Donor Cultivation Confidence,”
and “Publishing in the Digital Age” – were designed to cover issues that relate to all
the membership both today and in the future.
The committee meeting in Chicago during the 2010 conference provided immediate
feedback from the membership. The process will be followed again in 2011 with the
goal of continuing to respond to the needs of the members.
Report of the Membership Committee, 2010-2011
Submitted by Christa Clarke
The Membership Committee is concerned with assuring that the body of AAMC
members is inclusive, fair and representative of the broad and diverse specialties of
curators from museums of all sizes from across the nation. It is the goal of the
Committee to attain the widest possible representation of fields and the largest
possible number of members.
Christa Clarke, Senior Curator, Arts of Africa and the Americas, Newark Museum,
Chair
Ian Berry, Susan Rabinowitz Malloy '45 Curator, Frances Young Tang Teaching
Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College
Douglas Bradley, Curator, Arts of the Americas, Africa, and Oceania, Snite Museum
of Art, University of Notre Dame
Sara Cochran, Curator of Modern and Contemporary, Phoenix Art Museum
Catherine Evans, Chief Curator, Columbus Museum of Art
Mike Hearn, Douglas Dillon Curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Rebecca Morse, Associate Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art
Mark Scala, Chief Curator, Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Karen Sherry, Curator of American Art, Brooklyn Museum
Ann Yonemura, Senior Associate Curator of Japanese Art, Freer & Sackler, Freer
Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Summary of Activities
Adjunct Membership
A new Adjunct Membership category was created in response to interest in the
AAMC on the part of independent and out-of-work curators. The Membership
Committee developed criteria for eligibility and an application process for adjunct
members, submitted to and approved by the AAMC Board last year. Annual dues are
$150 and applications are reviewed on a twice-yearly cycle by a subcommittee,
composed of Ian Berry, Doug Bradley, Christa Clarke, Sara Cochran, and Mark Scala,
in addition to Sally Block and Hannah Howe.
The Adjunct Membership category was launched in the fall, and we had two rounds
of applications to vet this year. In November, the sub-committee reviewed 18
applications, with 14 acceptances and 4 rejections. In April, we reviewed 5
applications, with 2 acceptances, 2 rejections, and 1 applicant pending. Total
adjunct members for the first year: 16.
Based on the two cycles of applications, we have revised the description of adjunct
membership to emphasize that a candidate may not be employed by or affiliated
with a commercial entity. We also stress the importance of letters of reference,
which are optional.
Emeritus Membership
Karen Sherry and Doug Bradley took on the task of drafting language for a new
emeritus category of membership for retired curators. After research into similar
membership categories in other arts-related professional organizations, they
developed a description of eligibility and criteria of membership, adopting AAMD as
a model.
Recruitment
In our December conference call, the Membership Committee discussed a strategy
for recruiting new members. A list of approximately 320 member institutions was
divided and assigned to each committee member. “Talking points” for our outreach
efforts were drafted and circulated. Our approach acknowledged the 10th
anniversary of the AAMC, highlighted the benefits of membership, and referenced
the program for the 2011 Annual Meeting. Our goal was to expand our membership
base and work toward 100% curatorial participation for institutions that are
currently part of the AAMC.
Recruitment has been successful, with a steady stream of new memberships and
membership renewals since we began in January 2011. From the beginning of May
2010 till now, we have had 134 new members. Half of these have joined in the last
four months, when recruitment began in earnest. As of May 2011, we have a total of
1,114 members of the AAMC, an increase of over 10% during the past year.
Membership Survey
The Membership Committee also collaborated with the Website Committee in
compiling a survey, coordinated by Sally Block. The data compiled in this survey is
not only important information about our profession but also useful for advocacy
efforts. The survey has a two-pronged approach: the first will be to gather more
demographic information about curators. Following this, members will be asked
some larger, open-ended questions.
Priorities for 2011-12:
continue to review adjunct membership applications on a twice-yearly basis,
refining criteria for eligibility in the process
continue recruitment efforts
analyze and assess recruitment efforts, and identify areas where AAMC can
better serve its members
use results of membership survey to guide future recruitment efforts to achieve
broadest representation in AAMC
Report of the Nominating & Governance Committee
2010-11 was the inaugural year of the Governance and Nominations Committee.
This committee grew out of the former Governance Committee to take on the
responsibility of nominating candidates for officers as well as the Board of Trustees.
Since the Governance Committee had been responsible for the considerable
overhaul of the AAMC by-laws in 2009-10, approved at last year’s annual meeting,
the committee’s responsibilities were relatively light this year.
The committee largely focused on the first presidential election conducted under
the new rules. We reviewed an unprecedented four nominations, winnowed the
candidates down to two (the committee has the option of presenting up to two
candidates, and given the extremely strong slate, we opted to hold a competitive
election). Carol Eliel won this election to succeed John Ravanel, and took on the new
post of President-Elect.
In May the committee moved to nominations for open positions on the Board and
Executive Committee. We nominated Emily Neff to succeed Carol Eliel as Vice
President, Communications (as incoming President, that post is vacating), and
Cynthia Burlingham as Vice President, Programs, to succeed Helen Evans (whose 2year term has concluded).
We also nominated Deborah Cullen, Judith Dolkart, and Jordana Pomeroy to second
terms as at-large members of the Board of Trustees. We also proposed
expanding the board with five additional candidates, to 22 voting members,
nominating Lynda Hartigan, Mary Morton, Emily Neff, Carolyn Putney, and Laurie
Winters.
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Priorities for the Year
Recruitment of new members for the committee (Summer 2011)
Evaluating the changes in governance (Fall 2011)
Evaluation of the committee itself (Fall 2011)
Proposing next year’s Board of Trustees nominations (Spring 2012)
Jon L. Seydl
Gary Tinterow
Co-Chairs, Governance and Nominating Committee
AAMC Prize Committee Report
Submitted May 15, 2011
Emily Ballew Neff, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Chair
Susan Goodman, The Jewish Museum
Randall Griffey, Mead Art Museum
William Rudolph, Worcester Art Museum
Marisa Sanchez, Seattle Art Museum
Timothy Standring, Denver Art Museum
Cindi Strauss, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Georgiana Uhlyarik, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Sally Block, Executive Director, AAMC
Summary of Activities
The major activity of the Prize Committee in 2010-2011 was the implementation of
the Prize Committee restructuring proposal approved by the AAMC Board of
Trustees in May 2010. The restructuring of the Outstanding Exhibition/Installation
award consisted of dividing the award into five areas: Outstanding Monographic or
Retrospective Exhibition; Outstanding Thematic Exhibition; Outstanding Exhibition
in a University Museum; Outstanding Permanent Collection New Installation (or Reinstallation); and Outstanding Small Exhibition (based on square footage: no more
than 2,000 square feet).
In fall 2010, a FAQ sheet explaining the reasons for the change and the description
of the new process was added to the AAMC website for members to consult. Prize
Committee members canvassed AAMC members in their field and/or in their
geographic region in two email blasts prior and during the Call for Nominations sent
to AAMC members. Prize Committee members, with the help of Sally Block and
Hannah Howe, followed up with the elimination of unqualified nominations, and
began to form an initial slate. In most categories, the number of nominations far
exceeded the five stipulated for the final slate and thus necessitated a Prize
Committee preliminary vote to reduce the number to five. In the category of
university museum exhibition, however, much more research and reaching out was
required to secure nominations. Qualified AAMC nominations from the membership
were added to the preliminary slate, and Prize Committee members reviewed the
full slate, researched the exhibitions based on materials sent (and in most instances
needed to do additional research), and sent their vote to directly to the AAMC office.
Hannah Howe and Sally Block tabulated the votes and a final slate was submitted to
the AAMC membership for the popular vote.
The jury system for determining the awards for Outstanding Exhibition Catalogue;
Outstanding Permanent Collection Catalogue; and Outstanding Article, Essay or
Extended Catalogue Entry; remained in place. Jury members were recruited and the
process of determining winners was conducted through reports/reviews and
discussions monitored by Sally Block.
Areas of Improvement (for Awards that are determined by the Prize
Committee and AAMC Membership)
In general, the Prize Committee slate was well-rounded and diverse in terms of field
specialty and geography. For the first time, for example, nominations from Canadian
institutions appeared on the initial and in the final slate. Several issues that need
attention or improvement are:
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Solicit nominations from Mexico and cultivate the momentum gained for
securing nominations for Canadian exhibitions.
Colleague response to email blasts in some cases was low.
Nominators did not send adequate materials (especially visuals and in
particular installation shots) and committee members and, presumably,
AAMC members needed to conduct independent research in order to make
an informed decision. The discrepancy between those exhibitions seen in
person and those judged through on-line images and written descriptions
should be narrowed.
Nominations from the membership should not appear on the AAMC website
until a final slate is determined. The main reason for this is that if a
nominated project is already listed on the AAMC website, someone else
might not nominate it because he/she sees that the nomination has already
been made. The Prize Committee depends in part on the number of
nominations submitted by the membership to determine the slate (any
nomination made by more than two individuals is automatically added to the
slate).
There are currently 1100 AAMC members and roughly 130 of them voted.
Why the low voter turnout?
Parity is the most frequently mentioned concern among members of the Prize
Committee and jury members. Understandably, well-funded projects from
larger institutions (and especially those in New York, where the majority of
curators make frequent visits) have an edge. Some of this could be explained
by such statistics as: 45% of AAMC members work in cities larger than
2,000,000 (thus larger cities have an advantage); the largest percentage
(27%) of AAMC members work in the area of Modern and Contemporary Art
(thus the higher number of nominations and winners in this area). The
primary role of the Prize Committee is to attend to matters of diversity in
geography and discipline, and level the playing field by identifying worthy
projects from smaller institutions and from institutions of more limited
budgets without ignoring great projects that do not fit that description. This
mandate needs to be stressed to the future Chair and Prize Committee
members in order for the slate to be well-rounded and well-presented.
Areas of Improvement (for Awards that are determined by the Jury System)
This aspect of the Prize Committee generally works well and runs smoothly in
largest part because of the organization and leadership of Sally Block and Hannah
Howe. Jury Chairs, too, take strong leadership positions and the response to the jury
system has been positive. Some areas that need attention or improvement are:
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Exhibition catalogues and permanent collection catalogues continue to be
sent to the wrong jury member or are not sent at all.
Many of the submissions continue to be “apples and oranges.” Jurors have
commented on the difficulty of weighing the strengths and weaknesses of
projects with different mandates: for example popular publications,
scholarly publications, and gallery guides that are judged in the same pool of
nominations. One jury member suggested that the “rules for nominating
could be tightened up, limiting nominations to scholarly articles and essays
only and not accepting nominations for more ephemeral kinds of text [in the
category of Outstanding Article, Essay or Extended Catalogue Entry].”
The future Chair of the Prize Committee may wish to consider designating a
Co-Chair responsible for assisting the awards determined by juries so that
the Chair may focus on the newer process of focusing on the slate for awards
determined by popular vote.
Parity continues to be an issue (see above). Well-funded institutions with
larger budgets and staff for publications will likely be better than those of a
smaller institution with a smaller staff and limited budget. If, however, this
category is divided by budget or endowment (i.e. placing a monetary figure
on a museum’s overall budget or endowment), we run into the problem of
rich museum/poor museum or first place and also-rans. This is an issue that
has not gone away since the inception of the AAMC awards program.
Priorities
The current Chair will rotate off the Prize Committee and a new Chair will need to
be recruited. Four members will need to be recruited for the Prize Committee to
replace those who are rotating off (Susan Goodman, Timothy Standring, Marisa
Sanchez, and Cindi Strauss).
Professional Development Committee Report
Submitted by Brooke Anderson and Simon Kelly
Report on Mentoring Subcommittee:
Our committee is developing an online networking and mentoring resource for
undergraduate and graduate students who are considering a career in museums.
We plan to reach out to professors and seek their assistance with marketing the
online discussions. Each committee member will volunteer to monitor the resource
for a month.
After one year, we will evaluate, and determine if we should continue.
Report on Programming subcommittee:
Over the course of the year, the subcommittee for Programming has explored the
possibility of organizing a webinar. This will be the first time that AAMC has
developed a webinar. The group has focused on the broad theme of technology as a
webinar topic and more specifically the impact of handheld technology on curatorial
practice. The committee is researching possible presenters and plans to hold this
webinar in the first week of November.
AAMC Website Committee
Report of Activities, 2010–2011 Submitted by Annemarie Sawkins, Website co-chair
The website committee had as its principal goal this last year formulating a set of
survey questions for AAMC members. Late summer, I asked committee members to
submit a list of 10-12 questions that they would like answered by the larger
membership. The resulting 24 questions were then grouped into three categories.
Once organized thematically, the complete list of questions were submitted to Sally
Block, AAMC Executive Director and Christa Clarke, Chair of the Membership
Committee. The experiences and results of the recent survey designed by the
Curators Committee of AAM provided a template in part for the website committee
and AAMC. Armed with this information, the decision was made to streamline the
process and to create, in essence, two surveys: an initial set of questions that would
provide demographic information on the AAMC membership, and then a more indepth survey that would deal with more specific curatorial issues. The membership
stats collected from the first survey proved not only interesting to individual
curators but very practical for grants application and appeals generated by AAMC
for foundation support.
The survey has netted some interesting data about our group. This is summarized in
large part on pages 8 and 9 of this year’s annual report but it is worthy to mention a
few of the more striking details. Our membership is over 93% Caucasian and 75%
female. Over 60% of us work for a private, non-profit museum. 43% of members
have been working in the field for 15 years or more than and 45% of the group is
age 46 or older. And finally, a quarter of us teach outside of our institutions.
In the coming year, the website committee will be working on phase two of our
survey project. We will also continue working to improve and increase member use
of our website. Ideas include encouraging members to use on-line forums for
posting exhibitions available for tour, to share recent acquisitions or post standard
information used in the field, such as templates for loan forms and facility reports,
rights and reproductions agreements or external curator contracts along with more
about the collections in our care.
ATTACHMENT C
PART II