CAA News

Strategic planning may sound bureaucratic, but it’s an essential step in making CAA the organization that meets your needs in the future. There is no more appropriate time to take stock and set goals for our future than the present, with a dramatically changing economy, a new presidential administration, and the prospect of the next hundred years of CAA beginning in 2011.

On October 25, 2008, the Board of Directors, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, and senior CAA staff held a Strategic Planning Retreat to set goals for 2010–15. Members of the Planning Steering Committee are: Michael Ann Holly, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; Paul Jaskot, DePaul University and CAA President and CEO; Ken Gonzales-Day, Scripps College and CAA board; Jay Coogan, Rhode Island School of Design and CAA board; Anne Collins Goodyear, National Portrait Gallery and CAA Vice President for External Affairs; Mary-Ann Milford-Lutzker, Mills College and CAA Vice President for Committees; Barbara Nesin, Spelman College and CAA Secretary; and Linda Downs, CAA Executive Director.

James McNamara and Paul Melton, planning consultants from LaPlaca Cohen, a cultural arts marketing firm, have assisted CAA through the planning process, which will be completed with a final document at year-end 2009. Before the retreat, McNamara and Melton conducted interviews with board members, senior staff, and a selection of academic and association leaders outside the CAA membership to determine the key issues and implications that we must address in preparing for our future. Questions addressed the components of a mission, vision, and values statement, the future of CAA’s service to its members, and the visual-arts field.

In September 2008, over eight hundred members responded to an email survey on their most pressing professional concerns. The results also helped inform the planning process.

The planning retreat began with a presentation on digital publishing by Raym Crow, managing partner at the Chain Bridge Group. He presented the essential points of investigation needed to plan for digital publications. CAA staff presented current statistical information on programs and publications and presented comparative information for other national academic member associations. McNamara and Melton then presented the results of the interviews and members’ survey as a basis for the discussion of identifying goals for the future of CAA.

All CAA committees, including the Professional Interests, Practices and Standards Committees, the Publications Committee, the three journals’ editorial boards, and our affiliated societies, were requested to present their interests and concerns for CAA’s future. Their responses will be incorporated into the planning process.

I encourage you to attend an open forum for all members to discuss planning issues during the Annual Members’ Business Meeting at the Annual Conference in Los Angeles on Friday, February 27, 2009, at 5:00 PM in the West Hall Meeting Room, 502A Level 2, Los Angeles Convention Center. We would like to have your thoughts and ideas in order to make CAA responsive to all members’ needs. If you cannot attend the forum, please send your comments to nyoffice@collegeart.org. I look forward to hearing from you.

—Linda Downs, CAA executive director

CAA invites you to help shape our Board of Directors by serving on the 2009 Nominating Committee. Each year, the committee nominates and interviews candidates for the board and selects the final slate for the membership’s vote

The current Nominating Committee will select new members at its business meeting held at the 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles. All committee members nominate a minimum of five and a maximum of ten candidates for the board. Service on the committee also involves conducting telephone interviews with candidates during the summer and meeting at the CAA office in New York in September 2009 to select the final slate. Finally, all committee members must attend the Nominating Committee’s business meeting at the Annual Conference in Chicago to select the 2010 committee.

Nominations and self-nominations should include a brief statement of interest and a two-page CV. Please send all materials to: Mary-Ann Milford-Lutzker, Vice President for Committees c/o CAA Executive Assistant, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001. Materials may also be sent by email as Microsoft Word attachments to Vanessa Jalet, CAA executive assistant. Deadline: January 7, 2009.

The 2008 Nominating Committee submits its slate of six candidates to serve on the CAA Board of Directors from 2009 to 2013. Please read each candidate’s statement and biography—and watch their special video introductions—before casting your vote. Voting begins on January 5, 2009, and ends on February 27.

The candidates are:

• Carol Crown, University of Memphis
• Jacqueline Francis, California College of the Arts and San Francisco State University
• DeWitt Godfrey, Colgate University
• Patricia Mathews, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
• Patricia McDonnell, Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University
• Perri Lee Roberts, University of Miami

Voting begins on January 5. For full details about the election, visit the board-election webpage. Questions or comments? Please contact Vanessa Jalet, CAA executive assistant, at 212-691-1051, ext. 261.

Last month, the CAA Board of Directors approved revisions to the MFA Standards, one of the organization’s many Standards and Guidelines for visual-art professionals. The revised document, prepared by a subcommittee of the Professional Practices Committee (PPC), is now published to the CAA website.

During summer and fall 2008, Jean Miller, chair of the PPC-MFA Standards Review Committee, and Charles Wright, a PPC member who is also leading a discussion about the doctorate in studio art, worked on a draft of a revised MFA Standards. Last revised and approved in 1991, the document was submitted to the board by Maxine Payne, PPC chair.

The PPC-MFA Committee contacted art and design colleagues across the nation throughout the revision process to gather ideas for changes. The response was very good, with certain themes or points reoccurring. Many of those queried thought that the idea of the MFA as the terminal degree in art and design needed to be reinforced. Others found the language in the 1991 standards to be dated, so it was rewritten throughout to reflect present-day issues and concerns.

Contemporary and evolving studio practices, interpretation of ideas, and the role of art and design in innovation were all thought to be important concepts. Information about technology and experimental media, collaborative works, and interdisciplinary applications of art and design were also considered to be critical to current art practices for students in MFA programs.

Some respondents advocated for robust and comprehensive educational curricula that include critical studies, art history, and visual culture. The inclusion of statements about diversity and how curriculum must support non-Western and Western cultures was important to all.

The PPC thanks everyone who helped in the revision, in particular, Carmon Colangelo, Patricia Olynyk, Nora Sturges, Judith Thorpe, and Jim Hopfensperger.