Newsletter Issue Number:
AICCM National Newsletter No 144 December 2018
Author:
Jennifer O’Connell

AICCM Awards

In a lovely wrap up to the year, the annual AICCM awards ceremony was recently held at the Book, Paper and Photographic Materials Symposium. I would like to extend a big congratulations to the 2018 AICCM award winners. To find out who the winners were and to look at photographs from the ceremony, please read the dedicated E-News article.

Thank you to members who put in nominations and also to members who applied for the ADFAS Mid-Career Scholarship. The nominations and applications were excellent and diverse, and the committee deliberated over the final decisions. The applications showcased the range of work conservators do and also how much is done above and beyond the workplace for conservation education, advocacy and training opportunities.

Another ADFAS scholarship!!!

On behalf of AICCM National Council I would like to thank The Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society (ADFAS) for their continued support through the Patricia Robertson Fund (PRF). The PRF is currently funding the two Student Conservator of the Year awards, and the Mid-Career Scholarship.

Julia Gamble, Chair of the PRF, was a guest at the recent awards ceremony and met with award recipients and AICCM members to discuss future collaborations. In very exciting news, Julia has informed me that ADFAS are donating an additional $2000 in 2019 as they would like to offer two ADFAS Mid-Career Scholarships to AICCM members. This is very generous and takes the total ADFAS funding to $6000 for 2019. This is for one year only, so please, if you are a mid-career member, start thinking about your potential projects and funding applications!

AGM

We had a successful National AGM in October where we met quorum and received nominations for all positions on National Council. Positions are as follows:

President: Jennifer O’Connell
Vice-President: Alice Cannon
Secretary: Nick Flood
Treasurer: Detlev Lueth
Ordinary Member SIG & Event Co-ordinator: Didee Knight
Ordinary Member Professional Membership Officer: Sandi Mitchell
Ordinary Member Publications Officer: Cobus van Breda
Ordinary Member Membership Services Officer: Katie Wood

We welcome Sandi Mitchell, our new Professional Membership Officer to the Council. Thank you to Charlotte Walker for filling in as Public Officer for the night while Ian Batterham is overseas.

A big thank you to Victoria Division who hosted the event – they chose a wonderful venue, put on some lovely snacks and it was very well attended. Members of the Executive volunteered to speak on different topics. We had the opportunity to listen to Nick speak about the Australian National Maritime Museum, Alice presented a proposal for AICCM study guides, and Detlev shared his experiences at the National Archives of Australia. In addition, PhD students, Julianne Bell, Ainslee Meredith and Eliza O’Donnell, from the Grimwade Centre spoke about their project Con/servare: a space for collaborative research.

Skills Summit Update

In 2017 a motion was passed at the AGM for AICCM to host a 2-days skills summit.

Motion: That the AICCM National Council host a 2-day summit between employers, students, training institutions and the profession and other professional bodies to discuss the future of conservation skills, knowledge and employment. In support of this a wiki page be established to collect relevant content.

The proposal has been costed and amended to ensure it is financially viable. National Council is looking at addressing the issues over the next 12 months by collecting data and information, and then hosting a discussion at the 2019 National Conference. If you are interested in being involved, or have any questions or comments, please email me at president@aicccm.org.au.

End of Year Shutdown

Our contractors and volunteers on National Council and State Divisions will have a well-earned break from their AICCM duties over the holiday period. The office will be shut from Friday 21 December until Monday 7 January.

Thank you to all the volunteers and also to Michelle Berry (Secretariat), Zora Sanders (Web Editor), Rose Maurice (Newsletter Editor), and Hilary Milsome (bookkeeper) who have done an amazing job this year for the AICCM.

I wish everyone a safe and happy new year and look forward to an action packed 2019!