AIC MEMBER BUSINESS MEETING MINUTES Albuquerque, NM 11 May 2012

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1 AIC MEMBER BUSINESS MEETING MINUTES Albuquerque, NM 11 May 2012 Minutes of the meeting submitted by outgoing AIC Board Secretary Lisa Bruno and incoming AIC Board Secretary Sanchita Balachandran Approved by the AIC Board of Directors on 19 June 2012 AIC President Meg Craft called the meeting to order at 7:45 a.m. and welcomed attendees to the Member Business Meeting. She commented on all the positive member feedback she had been receiving that indicated it has been a successful annual meeting. Craft also noted that the Climate Control Solutions: Fact or Fallacy meeting, held on May 8, was a continuation of the meeting that took place in Boston in This invitation-only event was funded by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and presented in partnership with AIC. A report is forthcoming. Craft also noted that although a great deal of work has been done by the Bylaws Committee and Executive Director on the proposed Bylaws revisions, they will not be brought forward for discussion during this meeting. When the member-wide online platform on the new AIC website is ready for use, an Excel spreadsheet will be posted that contains the current Bylaws compared to the proposed language, along with the rationale for each revision. Following a period of discussion, assessment, and, potentially, further revisions, the AIC Board of Directors will call for the vote. While all AIC members will be welcomed in the discussions, only Fellows and Professional Associates can vote for revisions to the AIC Bylaws. Secretary s Report Secretary Lisa Bruno asked for any comments on the 2011 Member Business Meeting Minutes, which had been posted on the AIC website prior to the meeting. With no comments forthcoming, Bruno made a motion to approve the minutes. Sarah Stauderman seconded the motion and the minutes of the 2011 Member Business Meeting were approved unanimously. Nominating Committee Report Committee Member Paul Messier thanked the outgoing board members Secretary Lisa Bruno, Treasurer Brian Howard, and Director of Committees & Task Forces Cathy Hawks for their outstanding service. He noted that the elections for all three of these open positions were contested and thanked those who agreed to run. The newly elected AIC Board members were then announced. Sanchita Balachandran is the new AIC Board Secretary, Jennifer Hain Teper is the AIC Board Treasurer, and Sarah Stauderman is the Director, Committees & Task Forces. Messier also recognized the Nominating Committee Chair Vicki Cassman, who could not attend, and Member Glenn Wharton. Each year, a new member of the committee is approved by a vote of Associate, Professional Associate, and Fellow members of AIC attending the Business Meeting. Prior to the Business Meeting, two members were asked and agreed to serve if elected. The two candidates are Ellen Pearlstein and Corina Page 1 of 7

2 Rogge. Messier then called for nominations from the floor. Lisa Bruno was nominated and agreed to serve. With no other nominations offered, a paper vote was taken and Ellen Pearlstein was duly elected to serve on the Nominating Committee for a three-year term. Treasurer s Report AIC and FAIC Treasurer Brian Howard began with a brief overview of AIC and FAIC as active, healthy organizations. The recent 2011 consolidated audit resulted in an unqualified opinion, which is considered the equivalent of a clean bill of health. The AIC 2012 budgeted income totals $1,201,031. Membership dues and meeting registrations continue to provide the most revenue to the organization. AIC 2012 budgeted expenses total $1,237,647. In 2012, the Specialty Groups, in total, are projecting a deficit of $48,512, which explains the overall projected deficit for AIC as a whole. Membership levels have increased from 3,064 in 2002 to 3,680 by the end of Dips in membership occurred in 2004 and 2009, but otherwise have trended upward. Dues make up 41% of AIC revenue. Annual meeting revenues and expenses vary from year to year, depending on the host city. Cities such as Philadelphia attract large attendance (1,211 in 2011), but expenses in Philadelphia are high. The meeting in Milwaukee in 2010 had 751 attendees, but correspondently low expense line ensured projected net revenues. Publication expenses continue to grow, leading a drive to move to online publications in the coming years. AIC s net assets slipped in FY2011, but remain higher than the two recession years of 2008 and Overall, AIC is in a strong financial position. Next, Howard turned to FAIC finances and showed total income and expenses without the Mellon Hermitage Project, which skews the numbers. Grants and investment allocations continue to account for the largest pockets of revenue, while Professional Development, rightly, dominates expenses. Accrual accounting requires that all grant funds are recorded as of the date of the grant commitment, regardless of when the funds are actually received. The full $3.46 million grant for the Hermitage initiative from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation was recorded in FY2010. In FY2012, expenses are projected at $1.083 million, which will be seen in 2012 financial reports as a net loss. This is covered by the net gain recorded in FY2010. The change in FAIC net assets, down by just over a million from a high of $7,752,190 in 2010, reflects use of the Andrew W. Mellon grant funds for the Hermitage Museum initiative. Fiscal oversight of AIC and FAIC is strong. Board leadership is supported by the Audit Committee, Financial Advisory Committee, and contracted CPA services, in addition to key staff. Page 2 of 7

3 Summaries of AIC and FAIC finances will be posted on the website, as will the audited statements when they are finalized. Members attending the Business Meeting requested that additional financial information be posted on the website prior to the business meeting and provided at the meeting. In addition to pie charts, AIC should post revenue and expense numbers online. Multi-year trends in AIC would be helpful, along with additional annual meeting information. It was also asked that FAIC grants be broken out to indicate indirect costs versus direct costs. Executive Director s Report Executive Director Eryl Wentworth began by commenting that a morning meeting, with breakfast, seems successful. Certainly, a greater number of members were in attendance [250 estimated]. She also asked that everyone encourage their colleagues to attend the Member Business Meeting next year. Wentworth briefly reviewed AIC s growing use of technology and the variety of platforms on which staff and members work. AIC makes use of multiple listservs, a website, blog, Basecamp, wikis, webinars, Go to Meeting, and social media sites, in addition to CoOL and its DistList. Each year, additional platforms are added, such as Dropbox and ScholarOne. Dropbox facilitates the exchange of large documents, including the newsletter as it goes through the editing process. ScholarOne is a management tool to facilitate the peer-review process for the Journal. All of these platforms and programs have changed how AIC operates. And, while they are incredibly helpful tools, they do demand care in monitoring and new skills to maintain them and use them well. They must be hosted somewhere and upgraded regularly. And, they all have fees attached. In light of that, Wentworth noted that she is beginning a period of assessment to be sure that these tools are used effectively and that a schedule and budget is in place for ongoing assessments and periodic upgrades. It means that how AIC staff members work and the expertise needed on staff is quite different than in the past. Wentworth stated that one consequence of expanded resources in staffing and tools is that AIC is now better able to publish books for the field and facilitate specialty groups in producing their publications in a variety of formats. In addition to print publications as sophisticated as the 2 nd edition of The AIC Guide to Digital Photography and Conservation Documentation, AIC staff members can assist with the production of CD- ROMs and are ready to incorporate print-on-demand capabilities. Producing e- publications is being explored. In addition, by using FileMaker to maintain a database on vendors and publications specs, among other things, AIC is now more efficient in getting quotes and pulling together the team of editors, graphic designers, and printers needed to support all of AIC and FAIC publication needs. Yet, AIC and its Foundation have so many initiatives in place beyond publications and communications most of which would not be possible without the support of federal agencies and private foundations. Wentworth briefly highlighted the variety of programs Page 3 of 7

4 and initiatives that have received grant support in recent years and do so with thanks to the funders. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, through major endowment grants, and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), through 2-year grants, have long supported the FAIC Professional Development Program. Grants for specific workshops are also sought. For instance, in 2010, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) provided funding for the TechFocus I: Caring for Video Art workshop. TechFocus II: Caring for Film and Slide Art, supported by the Smithsonian, was just held at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC. The Getty Foundation has made it possible for FAIC to bring Latin American and Caribbean scholars to our annual meetings every other year since 1991 including this year providing for international exchanges of information and networking that is critical to the field. Several funders have supported partnership programs. Just one example AIC partnered with the International Institute for Conservation (IIC) to present the 3 rd IIC Roundtable, The Plus/Minus Dilemma: The Way forward in Environmental Guidelines, which was presented at the 2010 AIC Annual Meeting. For this special event the Booth Heritage Foundation provided support for the printed program, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation provided international travel funds, and an Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant supported rental of A/V equipment, travel, evaluation, and transcription costs for the event. This year, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts supplied funds for AIC to host the Climate Control Solutions: Fact or Fallacy meeting that took place on Tuesday, May 8, The Kress Foundation generously supports a variety of programmatic areas important to AIC and FAIC, including international travel to AIC annual meetings and other meetings and conferences critical to conservators. This is the second year that FAIC has administered the highly valued Kress Conservation Fellowship Program. Referring back to publications, Wentworth noted that the Samuel H. Kress Foundation is FAIC s partner in many publishing activities. In recent years, Kress has provided support toward the publication of 2 nd edition of The AIC Guide to Digital Photography and Conservation Documentation and the electronic publication of the in-painting volume of the Paintings Specialty Group Catalog. The Kress Conservation Publication Fellowship Program has been active since 1994 and has resulted in the publication of 24 books in conservation with more on the way. Following the wake-up call of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, FAIC put a great deal of effort into creating and sustaining a specially trained group of cultural emergency responders. Essential to this program were the two training grants that IMLS has awarded to FAIC for AIC-CERT members helping to build and support the collections emergency response team. Page 4 of 7

5 Wentworth added that, with our teams having gained experience in domestic disaster responses, FAIC was able to accept funds from NEH, NEA, and IMLS that allowed us to respond in Haiti following its devastating earthquake in January Our response in Haiti was only made possible by forming partnerships with the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield and the Smithsonian. They provided expertise and contacts that we did not have. As deployments and supply purchases depleted our Federal funding, a contract was negotiated with the Smithsonian to continue our partnership in providing experts and supplies for the Haiti Cultural Recovery initiative. Over a year and a half period in 2010 and 2011, a total of 437 days of service were volunteered by 31 conservators making 35 trips to Port-au-Prince. A remarkable project! The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has provided FAIC with another opportunity to make an impact through an international initiative. The Hermitage Museum project is establishing a photograph conservation department at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Russian conservators are being trained in photographic conservation a new field in Russia. It rarely happens, but one foundation came to FAIC with an idea and an offer of support. From that exchange, FAIC was awarded a grant from the Inge Foundation to create a webinar focused on how museums can raise money for collections care by highlighting the conservation needs of their collections to their leadership, donors, and visitors. At the beginning of her presentation, Wentworth had mentioned AIC s use of wikis. She added that a number of new wikis have been created since the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) provided funds in 2008 to migrate the Specialty Group Conservation Catalogs to the wiki platform. She encouraged members to take a look at all the content being placed on our wiki. It s impressive. In another 2008 grant, the Getty Foundation provided important funding for FAIC strategic planning. A grant from IMLS has supplemented this work. This vital strategic planning initiative involved a great deal of research and outreach that resulted in the current FAIC strategic plan. This initiative is serving to raise the Foundation s profile and strengthen its board. In brief, Wentworth emphasized that AIC and FAIC are profoundly grateful to our funders. AIC and FAIC could not advance the field and support AIC members in so many ways without their ongoing support. Wentworth thanked all volunteer members who ensure that AIC remains vital and, finally, gave special thanks to both the AIC and FAIC Board of Directors for their invaluable guidance and support. Professional Development Report Education & Training Board Director Stephanie Lussier provided an update on professional development activities. In 2011, 30 events were held for 468 registrants. Since 2002, a total of 228 events have served 7,056 registrants. In 2011, participants came from 37 states and 11 countries. Page 5 of 7

6 Grant projects in include: National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Workshops Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) AIC-CERT training Samuel H. Kress Foundation International speakers, conservation fellowships, publication fellowships, publication, IIC emerging professionals The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Photograph workshops, Hermitage Initiative Getty Foundation Latin American Scholarship Program, Strategic Planning Inge Foundation Outreach programming In 2011, FAIC awarded 98 grants in 17 grant categories totaling $458,017. These important grants and scholarships were supported by funding from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, NEH, IMLS, and the Getty Foundation. Following the Professional Development update, Lussier took an opportunity to thank Eric Pourchot, Institutional Advancement Director, for all he does to advance and manage the program. Lussier also provided an update on the AIC-CERT training. 43 new responders, selected from 170 applicants, were trained as part of the recent IMLS grant award. Now, 107 curators, librarians, archivists, and conservators are on the team. Ongoing training is provided at AIC Annual Meetings. From May 2010 through September 2011, 31 AIC members provided 437 days of service to the Haiti Cultural Recovery Project. Our thanks go to the Smithsonian, U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, and Stephanie Hornbeck, chief conservator of the Haiti Cultural Recovery Project. In conclusion, Lussier asked members to please support the Stout Fund, enabling student AIC members to attend the 2013 Annual Meeting in Indianapolis and other professional meetings. Discussion Comments were made about the excellent work of the EPCN, particularly their development of the PR toolkit. EPCN was encouraged to develop and maintain the interest of pre-program people, the enthusiasts. It will serve to increase student memberships. The mentor program is having success and members were encouraged to become involved in this growing program. Consider creating pre-program internships, where appropriate. The training programs were thanked for their assistance to preprogram people and ECPN was also thanked. Members were again encouraged to support the Stout Fund. Concerns about overhead allowances for grants were expressed. While FAIC has a negotiated Federal rate, some granting agencies do not allow overhead to be included in grant budgets. FAIC operations must be funded, in part, with unrestricted funds, which are difficult to secure. Your unrestricted donations are critical to FAIC. Page 6 of 7

7 Minutes of prior business meetings are posted on the website well before the meeting during which the minutes are to be approved. Copies of minutes are not made for all meeting attendees, in order to save paper. It was requested that AAM be approached regarding securing an AIC session each year at the annual AAM conference. Professional Associates and Fellows were encouraged to apply for FAIC grants. The Cuba trip was excellent and AIC is encouraged to arrange additional special tours. This type of tour provides fine international networking opportunities and raises the visibility of AIC. Global initiatives, overall, are important and AIC and FAIC were encouraged to partner with international groups, such as ICOM. It was mentioned that AIC members receive a discount for ICOM membership. IIC, with a staff of only 1.5 FTE, works globally, with a strong network. An Arabic group is starting. AIC leadership was thanked for shaking up the meeting structure. Including more presenters has proven successful. Conservators have a lot to say. Cathy Hawks, outgoing board director for committees and task forces, gave a vote of thanks to the work of all AIC groups. Old Business There was no specified old business. New Business A motion was made for the AIC board to investigate creating a coalition to be called the Green Museum Coalition. Potential partners would include AAM, AAMD, AASLH, APT, IES, AIA, ASHRAE, the U.S. Green Building Council, the California Green Museum Initiative, and others to be determined. The shift to LED s from incandescent lamps would be the primary initiative. Technical Advisory, Media, Financial, and Outreach Committees might be created to do the work of the Coalition. Outreach is at the core of this initiative. The idea for the Coalition was inspired by Anne Radice s presentation. Board President Meg Craft responded that the AIC board will consider the request and discussions about this important topic will continue. The meeting was adjourned by Board President Meg Craft at 9:25 a.m. Page 7 of 7