Welcome to the first E-News of 2018. National Council has been busy preparing reports and brainstorming ideas for the Face to Face meeting held in Sydney at the National Maritime Museum in early March. It’s our chance to focus on our Business Plan, scrutinise the budget and share ideas and thoughts for improving and meeting the goals of our current Strategic Plan (2016-2020). There will be a focus on good governance, creative thinking around business practices, and ongoing projects. I’m excited to share the outcomes with you so stay tuned!
Congratulations to John Payne AM
On behalf of the AICCM, I would like to congratulate John Payne on being made a Member (AM) of the General Division of the Order of Australia at the recent Australia Day Honours Ceremony. John was awarded the medal, ‘For significant service to art conservation and restoration as a leading practitioner, scholar, teacher and mentor.’ Thank you for your contributions to the profession, through your role as Senior Conservator of Paintings at the National Gallery of Victoria and as the author of ‘Framing the Nineteenth Century’ (2007). As a profession we are lucky to have this publication available to us and I can say from personal experience that it is invaluable in the lab. Well done John on achieving this award!
Advocacy
The last two E-News have delivered excellent articles on advocacy and not only its importance but steps forward in achieving goals in this area. This has already been put to the test with AICCM Executive starting the new year providing a letter of support for the retention of financial assistance for students undertaking the Masters programme at the University of Melbourne in the face of government cuts to funding.
This letter of support was able to be produced because of previous work undertaken by the Education and Standing Committee and the Professional Membership Committee. The guidelines on conservator and conservation technician roles and the steps to becoming Professional Member were able to be used to support the argument that a higher education degree is necessary to gaining employment in conservation in Australia (and therefore meets government requirements for financial aid).
Thank you also to AICCM members who wrote letters of support at the request of the University.
Inevitably government submissions and responses to funding cuts need to be made quickly. Having clear documentation and examples of previous support is key to building sound arguments in support of the profession. Therefore, I wholeheartedly support MaryJo Lelyveld’s call for a Manifesto and the actions outlined in her article “On Advocacy – a Rejoinder” from the December E-News. Collating data for the AICCM Wiki is one area in which we can all begin to assist. Having a clearly defined understanding of the value of conservation and the data to support this will provide a strong foundation for future calls to advocate for the profession.
Events
2018 is going to be another great year for events with the Textiles SIG Symposium being held at the Jewish Museum in Sydney from 11 -13 July. The theme is ‘Fibre to Fabric: Fur, feather and finishes’. Remember to put in your proposals for papers, lightning talks and posters.
Later in the year we will have the Photon and Book & Paper SIG Symposium which is scheduled to be held at Melbourne Museum from 20 – 23 November 2018. Please note that the AICCM National AGM will also be held during this Symposium.
If other SIGS are interested in hosting events, please contact Didee Knight, Events and SIG Co-ordinator (didee.knight@me.com). Furthermore, we are interested in trialling an online event such as a webinar if any SIGs or State Divisions would like to give this a go please let us know.
Call for Volunteers
Have you ever wanted to be an editor of a magazine or sit on a selection panel? Well now is your chance. We are looking for members who would like to volunteer for the E-News editorial committee or the Professional Membership committee. Please do not hesitate to register your interest directly with Michelle Berry (secretariat@aiccm.org.au).
Enjoy the E-News!
Jenny O’Connell
AICCM National President
president@aiccm.org.au