Donate Now
Join Now      Sign In
 

CAA News Today

2013 Call for ParticipationThe 2013 Call for Participation for the 101st Annual Conference, taking place February 13–16 in New York, describes many of next year’s programs sessions. CAA and the session chairs invite your participation: please follow the instructions in the booklet to submit a proposal for a paper or presentation. This publication also includes a call for Poster Session proposals and describes the eight Open Forms sessions.

Listing more than 120 panels, the 2013 Call for Participation was mailed to all individual and institutional members in late March; you can also download a PDF of the twenty-five-page document from the CAA website immediately.

The deadline for proposals of papers and presentations for the New York conference is May 4, 2012.

In addition to dozens of wide-ranging panels on art history, studio art, contemporary issues, and professional and educational practices, CAA conference attendees can expect participation from many area schools, museums, galleries, and other institutions. The Hilton New York in midtown Manhattan is the conference headquarters, holding most sessions, Career Services, the Book and Trade Fair, ARTspace, special events, and more. Deadline: May 4, 2012.

Contact

For more information about proposals of papers and presentations for the 2013 Annual Conference, please contact Lauren Stark, CAA manager of programs, at 212-392-4405.

CAA invites individual members to submit abstracts for Poster Sessions at the 101st Annual Conference in New York, taking place February 13–16, 2013. Poster Sessions—presentations displayed on bulletin boards by an individual for small groups—usually include a brief narrative paper mixed with illustrations, tables, graphs, and similar presentation formats. The poster display can intelligently and concisely communicate the essence of the presenter’s research, synthesizing its main ideas and directions. Colorado State University has published useful general information on Poster Sessions.

Poster Sessions offer excellent opportunities for extended informal discussion and conversation focused on topics of scholarly or pedagogical research. Posters are displayed for three days during the conference, so that attendees can view the work even when the authors are not physically present. Poster Sessions take place in a high-traffic area, in close proximity to the Book and Trade Fair and conference rooms.

Proposals for Poster Sessions must include the following:

  • Title of Poster Session
  • Summary of project, not to exceed 250 words
  • Name of presenter(s), affiliation(s), and CAA member number(s)
  • A two-page CV
  • Complete mailing address and telephone number
  • Email address

Proposals are due on May 4, 2012—the same deadline as the regular call for papers for the 2013 conference. Send all materials to Lauren Stark, CAA manager of programs. A working group of the Annual Conference Committee selects Poster Sessions based on individual merit and space availability. Accepted presenters must maintain their memberships through the conference.

Displays must be assembled by 10:00 AM on Thursday, February 14, and cleared by 2:00 PM on Saturday, February 16. Live presentations last ninety minutes and are scheduled during the lunch breaks on Thursday and Friday, 12:30–2:00 PM. During this time, presenters stand by their poster displays while others view the presentation and interact with the presenters.

CAA assigns presenters one freestanding bulletin board (about 4 x 8 feet of display space) onto which they can affix their poster display and other materials, as well as a table to place materials such as handouts or a sign-up sheet to record the names and addresses of attendees who want to receive more information. CAA also provides pushpins or thumbtacks to attach components to the bulletin board on the day of installation.

Printed materials must be easily read at a distance of four feet. Each display should include the title of the presentation (104-point size) and the name of the presenter(s) and his or her affiliation(s) (72-point size). CAA recommends a point size of 16–18 or larger for body text. No electrical support is available in the Poster Session area; you must have your own source of power (e.g., a battery).

Contact

For more information about proposals of Poster Sessions for the 2013 Annual Conference, please contact Lauren Stark, CAA manager of programs, at 212-392-4405.

At its February 2012 meeting, the CAA Board of Directors chose new officers—four vice presidents and a secretary—from among its members to serve one-year terms, from May 2012 to April 2013. Elected officers (other than the president) hold their positions for one year and may be reelected to a second term. For more information about the election process for officers, please read Article VII, Section 5 of the CAA By-laws.

Patricia McDonnell, Vice President for External Affairs

The board reelected Patricia McDonnell, director of the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University in Kansas, for a second term as vice president for external affairs. A member of the board since 2009, McDonnell will work closely with Linda Downs, CAA executive director, and Nia Page, CAA director of membership, development, and marketing, on fund-raising initiatives and advocacy matters.

 

DeWitt Godfrey, Vice President for Committees

DeWitt Godfrey, an artist and associate professor of art and art history at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, was elected vice president for committees. He will act as a liaison between the board and the nine Professional Interests, Practices, and Standards Committees and coordinate committee work that advances CAA’s goals. A board member since 2009, Godfrey succeeds Maria Ann Conelli, dean of the School of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, who served two terms as vice president for committees. (Conelli has been named secretary; see below.)

Jacqueline Francis, Vice President for Annual Conference

Jacqueline Francis, professor of art history at California College of the Arts in San Francisco, has been named vice president for Annual Conference. She will chair the Annual Conference Committee, which determines conference programming and content, and work with CAA staff to devise and implement flexible session scheduling and formats for the event. A board member since 2009, Francis succeeds Anne Collins Goodyear, assistant curator of prints and drawings at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, who served CAA in this position for one year. (Goodyear will become board president in May 2012; see below.)

Randall C. Griffin, Vice President for Publications

The board reelected Randall C. Griffin, professor of art history at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, to a second term as vice president for publications. A member of the board since 2008, Griffin will oversee CAA’s publications program, serve as chair of the Publications Committee, and be a resource for the editorial boards of the three scholarly journals, The Art Bulletin, Art Journal, and caa.reviews.

 

Maria Ann Conelli, Secretary

Maria Ann Conelli, dean of the School of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, has been elected secretary. This officer attends and records minutes for all board and Executive Committee meetings. In addition, the secretary notifies CAA members about the Annual Members’ Business Meeting, held every year at the Annual Conference, and attends and records minutes of this meeting. A board member since 2009, Conelli succeeds DeWitt Godfrey, an artist and associate professor of art and art history at Colgate University, who has become vice president for committees (see above).

Anne Collins Goodyear, President

In October 2011, the board chose Anne Collins Goodyear, assistant curator of prints and drawings at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington DC, to serve as the organization’s next president for a two-year term, beginning May 2012. A member of the board since 2006, Goodyear has served as vice president for external affairs (2007–9), vice president for publications (2009–11), and vice president for Annual Conference (2011–12). She succeeds Barbara Nesin, who has led the board since May 2010.

 

The results of CAA’s 2012 membership survey, sent to all active individual members, are now in. Over 1,600 members responded to the survey, which was open from January 25 to February 10, 2012, and the results are very enlightening. Several highlights include these findings:

  • Most CAA members (63 percent) joined when they were in graduate school
  • Almost half (48 percent) are faculty members at two- and four-year colleges or universities
  • The number-one reason why people initially joined CAA was to assist their job search
  • Job postings in the Online Career Center are the primary reason why people retain membership, followed by networking opportunities afforded by CAA
  • Most CAA members support a greater internet presence for the journals. About 72 percent would like an expanded online version of Art Journal, and 70 percent want to see The Art Bulletin on the web
  • Advocacy for the visual arts was voted the most important CAA function, with 67 percent of respondents rating it as “extremely important.” The Annual Conference and the Online Career Center tied for second place, with 58 percent each.
  • Only 17 percent of the CAA members who responded participate in CAA’s social networking on Twitter and Facebook
  • After CAA’s own publications, the most-read art periodicals by members are Art in America, ARTnews, and Artforum
  • The top-three advocacy issues for CAA members are government funding for the arts and humanities, freedom of expression and censorship, and intellectual-property rights (including the cost for image reproduction, fair use, and terms of copyright)
  • The majority of write-in comments addressed the costs of membership and the conference, but other recurring themes include the need to broaden CAA’s focus to embrace a wider range of disciplines and areas of interest, the need for further advocacy efforts, and the need for greater support for adjunct faculty

CAA greatly appreciates the feedback of its members.

As a service organization, CAA recognizes that knowing and responding to the professional needs of its constituents is vital to ensuring the effectiveness of the organization. In 2011, CAA contracted the services of an expert consultant, Raym Crow of the Chain Bridge Group, to help determine the future of its publications and membership program. The information gathered in the survey, and the resultant feedback from Crow, will be used by CAA leaders to help determine its priorities and potential directions.

Filed under: Membership, Research, Surveys

Each month, CAA’s Committee on Women in the Arts produces a curated list, called CWA Picks, of recommended exhibitions and events related to feminist art and scholarship in North Americn and around the world.

The CWA Picks for March 2012 go international with solo exhibitions of work by Rosemarie Trockel in Belgium, Eija-Liisa Ahtila in Sweden, and Kimsooja in France. In the United States, the Museum of Modern Art in New York is hosting a career survey of photographs by Cindy Sherman, arguably one of the most influential artists of the past fifty years. Close at her heels are the Guerrilla Girls, who have taken over two galleries at Columbia College Chicago for their own retrospective, which comprises their important works of art and activism since the 1980s. Rounding out the March picks are a special collaboration between the British artist Rachel Kneebone and the French sculptor Auguste Rodin at the Brooklyn Museum and the graphic production of Sister Mary Corita at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC.

Check the archive of CWA Picks at the bottom of the page, as several museum and gallery shows listed in previous months may still be on view or touring.

Image: Cindy Sherman, Untitled #463, 2007–8, chromogenic color print, 68⅝ x 72 in. (artwork © Cindy Sherman; photograph provided by the artist, Metro Pictures, and the Museum of Modern Art)

Filed under: Committees, Exhibitions

CAA wishes to thank the artists, art historians, curators, critics, educators, and other professionals in the visual arts who generously served as mentors in two Career Services programs at the 2012 Annual Conference in Los Angeles: the Artists’ Portfolio Review and Career Development Mentoring. The organization also thanks participants in the Mock Interview Sessions and the leaders of the Roundtable Discussions. Last, CAA acknowledges the efforts of Professional Development Workshops presenters and the speakers at Orientation.

Artists’ Portfolio Review

Michael Bzdak, Johnson & Johnson; Susan Canning, College of New Rochelle; Brian Curtis, University of Miami; Diane Edison, University of Georgia; Peter Kaniaris, Anderson University; Jason Lahr, University of Notre Dame; Suzanne F. W. Lemakis, Fine Arts Department, Citigroup; Craig Lloyd, College of Mount St. Joseph; Margaret Murphy, New Jersey City University; Judith Pratt, Judith Pratt Studio; Habibur Rahman, Claflin University; John Silvis, New York Center for Art and Media Studies; and Steve Teczar, Maryville University of Saint Louis.

Career Development Mentoring

Susan Altman, Middlesex County College; Michael Aurbach, Vanderbilt University; Jeff Downing, San Francisco State University; Ciara Ennis, Pitzer Art Galleries, Pitzer College; James Farmer, Virginia Commonwealth University; Reni Gower, Virginia Commonwealth University; Amy Hauft, Virginia Commonwealth University; Richard Heipp, University of Florida; Jim Hopfensperger, Western Michigan University; Dennis Y. Ichiyama, Purdue University; Sue Johnson, St. Mary’s College of Maryland; Bob Kaputof, Virginia Commonwealth University; Mitch Kern, Alberta College of Art and Design; John Kleinpeter, California State University, Long Beach; Heather McPherson, University of Alabama, Birmingham; Jo-Ann Morgan, Western Illinois University; Anna Novakov, St. Mary’s College of California; Morgan Paine, Florida Gulf Coast University; Pamela Patton, Southern Methodist University; Doralynn Pines, Metropolitan Museum of Art (retired); Andrea Polli, University of New Mexico; Judith Pratt, Judith Pratt Studio; David Raizman, Drexel University; David Sokol, University of Illinois, Chicago (emeritus); Katherine Taylor, Kennesaw State University; Joe A. Thomas, Kennesaw State University; Ann Tsubota, Raritan Valley Community College; Jenifer K. Ward, Cornish College of the Arts; John Watson, Webster University; and Charles Wright, Western Illinois University.

Mock Interview Sessions

Temma Balducci, Arkansas State University; Steven Bleicher, Coastal Carolina University; Susan Bowman, Rowan University; Scott Contreras-Koterbay, East Tennessee State University; Jessica Dandona, Dishman Art Museum, Lamar University; Sara Dismukes, Troy University; Randall C. Griffin, Southern Methodist University; Dottie Habel, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Carolyn Henne, Florida State University; Janet Hethorn, University of Delaware; Dennis Y. Ichiyama, Purdue University; Bob Kaputof, Virginia Commonwealth University; Deborah Karpman, University of Montevallo; Niku Kashef, California State University, Northridge; David LaPalombara, Ohio University; Beauvais Lyons, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Rebecca Nolan, Savannah College of Art and Design; Anna Novakov, St. Mary’s College of California; Kim Russo, Ringling College of Art and Design; Joe Seipel, Virginia Commonwealth University; Amelia Winger-Bearskin, Vanderbilt University; David Yager, University of California, Santa Cruz; and Sam Yates, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Roundtables

Michael Aurbach, Vanderbilt University; Diane Edison, University of Georgia; Suzanne F. W. Lemakis, Fine Arts Department, Citigroup; Leo Morrissey, Winston-Salem State University; Edward Shanken, University of Amsterdam; and John Silvis, New York Center for Art and Media Studies.

Professional Development Workshops

Susan Altman, Middlesex County College; Michael Aurbach, Vanderbilt University; Barbara Bernstein, Rhode Island School of Design and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts; Steven Bleicher, Coastal Carolina University; Mika Cho, California State University, Los Angeles; Craig Dietrich, University of Southern California; Tara McPherson, University of Southern California; Nicholas Mirzoeff, New York University; Joan Saab, University of Rochester; Susan Schear, ArtIsIn; David M. Sokol, University of Illinois, Chicago (emeritus); and Blaise Tobia, Drexel University.

Orientation

Michael Aurbach, Vanderbilt University; Margaret Lazzari, University of Southern California; and David M. Sokol, University of Illinois, Chicago (emeritus).

2012 Annual Conference

Art in Odd Places and Performance Exchange sponsored performances outside the Los Angeles Convention Center as part of ARTspace’s Art in the Public Realm, a daylong event at the 2012 Annual Conference (photograph by Bradley Marks)

The 100th CAA Annual Conference in Los Angeles, held February 22–25, 2012, was a great success with over five thousand attendees, two hundred sessions addressing topics from ancient art to contemporary criticism, a sold-out Book and Trade Fair with more than 120 exhibitors, and a plethora of exciting events throughout southern California. The timing of the conference happily coincided with Pacific Standard Time, a large group of exhibitions and programs focused on modern and contemporary art made in the region, sponsored by the Getty Foundation and involving sixty public institutions and many commercial galleries. California Design, 1930–1965: “Living in a Modern Way” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was an eye-opener to place so many familiar modern designs in their original West Coast context.

The atmosphere throughout the conference was collegial and extremely positive. Maybe it was the delicious LA sunshine, or perhaps it was due in part to the presence of over ten thousand new citizens who appeared on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Convention Center for a naturalization ceremony at the start of CAA’s conference. Citizenship, something many of us take for granted, was visibly cherished on their proud faces.

Graduate Public Practice from the Otis College of Art and Design presented “Re/Locating Learning: Public Practices as Art” (photograph by Christopher Howard)

Special Centennial Sessions were organized by a committee under the chairmanship of Ruth Weisberg, an artist and former CAA board president and former dean of the Roski School of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California. One of the highlights of these sessions was “Re/Locating Learning: Public Practices in Art,” presented by Suzanne Lacy, an artist and chair of public practice at Otis College of Art and Design, in which members discussed new approaches to academic teaching and ways to engage the public over the conference’s full four days.

A new presentation technique debuted in “Hot Problems/Cool Solutions in Arts Leadership,” a session organized by the National Council of Arts Administrators in which twelve panelists—in extremely short presentations—proposed solutions ranging from administrative issues such as how to write ninety letters of recommendation in one semester (don’t do it unless they are serious job candidates) or how to be kind in academic interactions for productive and cooperative faculty outcomes.

Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, spoke at the 2012 Centennial Convocation (photograph by Bradley Marks)

The conference featured two excellent keynote addresses. Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, spoke at Convocation. Stating that only two newspapers in the United States employ full-time art critics, Landesman presented a new grassroots initiative entitled Knight/NEA Community Arts Journalism Challenge that is fostering art criticism in four cities. This new program provides unique partnerships to expand arts journalism that both informs and engages audiences. April Greiman, a prominent international designer, presented her work at the Annual Members’ Business Meeting, including a gigantic mural in Koreatown in Los Angeles and the design of Miracle Manor Retreat, an intimate hot-springs motel on the edge of Joshua Tree National Park.

The Service to Artists Committee, chaired by Jackie Apple, professor of art at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, organized a vast number of programs through ARTspace, including the Media Lounge, ARTexchange, and performance pieces that engaged attendees and the general public alike.

Some of the most packed sessions included the Distinguished Scholar Session, in which Rosalind Krauss’s work was both lauded and critiqued; the Annual Artists’ Interviews with Mary Kelly and Martin Kersels; “‘Your Labels Make Me Feel Stupid’: Museum Labels as Art Historical Practice,” organized by the Association of Art Museum Curators; the performance works inside and outside the convention center; and sessions devoted to the fortieth anniversary of the beginning of feminism.

The art historian Benjamin H. D. Buchloh participated in the 2012 Distinguished Scholar Session honoring Rosalind Krauss (photograph by Bradley Marks)

CAA’s Committee on Intellectual Property presented critical information on copyright and fair use in its session. The group has also reviewed intellectual-property information on the CAA website and will soon publicly post the revised pages.

New publishing platforms and online resources were presented at a session organized by the artist Tara McPherson, called “Art History Meets the Digital Age,” in which new multimedia platforms for publishing were presented following a hands-on workshop that introduced thirty CAA members to the Scalar platform. CAA will use Scalar in demonstration projects in the coming months developed by The Art Bulletin and caa.reviews.

Celebrating the conclusion of CAA’s Centennial year, Susan Ball, former CAA executive director and interim director of programs at the New York Foundation for the Arts, led a panel of five of the fourteen authors who contributed to the recent book on CAA’s history, The Eye, The Hand, The Mind: 100 Years of the College Art Association (New York: College Art Association; New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2011). The group discussed their revelations about watershed moments and movements in the history of the organization, including characterizations of the differing cultures of the journals and the historical ups and downs of the association. In the former category, the development of visual resources for teaching, advocacy, and the influence of feminism on the structure of the conference were cited. The latter category includes the unfortunate split between CAA and the Society of Architectural Historians in 1940.

CAA gained insights into issues that are of critical importance to members at the two speak-out sessions organized by Anne Collins Goodyear, incoming president of the Board of Directors, and the town-hall meeting organized by Margaret Lazzari, a professor in the Roski School of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California. A separate article will be devoted to the topics raised at these sessions. A predominant theme was contingent faculty concerns—from course loads to the need to teach a wide breadth of courses.

Three recipients of the Getty Foundation International Travel Grant: Shao-Chien Tseng from National Central University in Taiwan; Didier Houenoude of the Université d’Abomey-Calavi in Benin; and Jean Celestin Ky from the University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso (photograph by Bradley Marks)

The Getty Foundation awarded CAA a generous grant to organize the CAA International Travel Grant Program, which supported the selection of twenty international art historians from eighteen countries to attend the conference. The grantees were hosted by experienced members of CAA’s International Committee and by representatives from the National Committee for the History of Art. For all but two recipients, the conference was their first introduction to CAA apart from reading the journals. The grant recipients attended sessions, were introduced to fellow CAA members by their hosts, explored the museums and collections in the Los Angeles area, and also carried out independent research. As a result, CAA’s membership now represents almost seventy countries. This program is part of an ongoing effort to provide a wider network of international members, to assess their needs and interests, and to provide an integrated network for the exchange of ideas, research, and creative projects.

Governance

The artist and designer April Greiman spoke at the Annual Members’ Business Meeting (photograph by Bradley Marks)

At the Annual Members’ Business Meeting, Barbara Nesin, the current board president, announced the new board members: Suzanne Preston Blier, Harvard University; Stephanie D’Alessandro, Art Institute of Chicago; Gail Feigenbaum, Getty Research Institute; and Charles A. Wright, Western Illinois University. Teresa López, CAA chief financial officer, then presented a balanced budget. Anyone interested in receiving a copy of CAA’s fiscal year 2011 audit may email López. Nesin reiterated her aspirations for the organization to have greater inclusivity and responsiveness to its members. She also mentioned her commitment to sustainability and communication.

The full Board of Directors met on Sunday, February 26. The most significant action items included the results of a review of three of the nine Professional Interests, Practices, and Standards Committees: the International Committee, the Services to Artists Committee, and the Committee on Women in the Arts. The board commended all three groups for their outstanding work this year.

The election of officers to the board included Patricia McDonnell for a second term as vice president for external affairs; Jacqueline Francis as vice president for Annual Conference; Randall C. Griffin for a second term as vice president for publications; DeWitt Godfrey as the new vice president for committees; and Maria Ann Conelli as secretary.

The board then passed a resolution to revise the Procedures for Task Forces. The revision added the step of the Executive Committee’s review and prioritization of all proposals for task forces before presentation and adoption by the board. Nesin extended thanks to two members who are rotating off the board after four years of dedicated service: Jay Coogan, president of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design; and Judith Thorpe, professor of art and head of the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Connecticut.

Chris Sundt, a former board member, the editor of the journal Visual Resources, and current cochair of the Committee on Intellectual Property, presented the newly drafted Visual Resources Association: Statement on the Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research, and Study. She presented the history of CAA’s involvement in fair-use issues and explained how the Visual Resources Association statement can clarify how best to use visual resources in the classroom. The board also reviewed the Association of Research Libraries’ newly drafted Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries, which addresses fair use of visual resources in libraries. The board unanimously adopted both statements.

Looking Forward

Three dedicated leaders who have served as president of the CAA Board of Directors: Paul B. Jaskot, Barbara Nesin, and Nicola M. Courtright (photograph by Bradley Marks)

This Centennial year was a time of reflection for CAA. Hundreds of members participated in delving into the organization’s history and evaluating its present state and possible future. Please see the Centennial Case Statement for the projects and publications that resulted from these investigations.

CAA has changed enormously since its founding in 1911, from a handful of art professors who saw the need to advocate for visual-arts curricula in higher education to its current 14,000 members from over seventy countries. CAA has held to its mission and focus of advocacy, providing a platform for new research and creative expression, job placement, best practices, standards and guidelines, and a place to network with like-minded and not-so-like-minded professionals in the field.

The future for CAA holds a greater use of technology for conferences, publications, and member networking. Under the leadership of Goodyear, incoming board president, the Task Force on Annual Conference Technology will explore ways of extending the conference and increasing member interaction. A consultant from Chain Bridge Group, Raym Crow, has been hired to work with the board, the Publications Committee, and CAA staff to analyze the risk and rewards of developing online versions of The Art Bulletin and Art Journal. Also under consideration is the challenge to find a business model for open access to caa.reviews and an investigation in developing a business model for practical publications. And various networking systems are being explored for future use.

CAA will also have a greater focus on advocacy for the visual arts in the academic and public spheres. As James Leach, chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities, stated in his Convocation address at the 2011 Annual Conference in New York, it is essential to address not only the intrinsic value of the visual arts, but also its importance to American business and national security. Knowledge and exchange of creative ideas, international cultures, languages, and history are essential to international understanding and security. He addressed the decades-long trend in higher education on the concept of profit-centers and focusing on only those majors that return profits by satisfying the “customer” (student). He warned us of the problems of using reasonable math to determine curriculum instead of emphasizing the intrinsic educational value of the subject. It is time to build defenses of the arts and humanities in universities as well as in the public sphere.

CAA’s Centennial year has deepened the knowledge of our field by reflecting on its history, the current status of the visual arts, and the need to put even more effort into advocating for art and art history in academia and in the public sector. Thank you to the hundreds of members who researched CAA’s history and analyzed its many facets, and who continue to lend their expertise to the future of the field.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags:

CAA invites nominations and self-nominations for individuals to serve on seven of the twelve juries for the annual Awards for Distinction for three years (2012–15). Terms begin in May 2012; award years are 2013–15. CAA’s twelve awards honor artists, art historians, authors, curators, critics, and teachers whose accomplishments transcend their individual disciplines and contribute to the profession as a whole and to the world at large.

Candidates must possess expertise appropriate to the jury’s work and be current CAA members. They should not be serving on another CAA committee or editorial board. CAA’s president and vice president for committees appoint jury members for service.

The following jury vacancies will be filled this spring:

Nominations and self-nominations should include a brief statement (no more than 150 words) outlining the individual’s qualifications and experience and an abbreviated CV (no more than two pages). Please send all materials by email to Lauren Stark, CAA manager of programs; submissions must be sent as Microsoft Word attachments. Deadline: April 20, 2012.

Filed under: Awards, Committees, Governance

US Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) is circulating a Dear Colleague letter that requests funding for the National Endowment for the Art and the National Endowment for the Humanities for fiscal year 2013, as requested in President Barack Obama’s federal budget. CAA encourages you to contact your senators, asking them to sign the letter.

NEA/NEH FY13 Letter to Appropriators

This letter requests funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) at the level requested in the President’s budget, which is $154 million for each endowment. This is the same level included in the Senate’s FY12 Interior Appropriations mark. More details below:

  • The FY12 President’s Request – $146.255 million for each endowment
  • The FY12 Enacted – $146.255 million
  • FY12 Senate mark – $154 million
  • The FY13 President’s Request – $154 million

Staff Contact: Jeanette Lukens, Jeanette_lukens@tomudall.senate.gov.

Deadline for Signatures is COB Monday March 26th.

Dear Colleague Letter

March 27, 2012

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye
Chairman
Senate Committee on Appropriations
Capitol, S-128
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Jack Reed
Chairman
Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies
SD-131
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Thad Cochran
Vice Chairman
Senate Committee on Appropriations
Capitol, S-128
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Lisa Murkowski
Ranking Member
Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies
SH-125
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Inouye, Vice Chairman Cochran, Chairman Reed, and Ranking Member Murkowski:

We write to express appreciation for your continued support of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and to urge you to support the President’s funding request for the endowments as outlined in his Fiscal Year 2013 budget proposal. As our nation grapples with economic uncertainty, federal support for the arts and humanities is a vital economic, educational, and cultural priority that impacts communities across the United States.

The NEH is the primary source of federal support for humanities research and related activities in the United States. It provides support for professional development to scholars, educators, curators, librarians, historians, filmmakers, and more. Through the endowment’s efforts, heritage is preserved, civic institutions are strengthened, and Americans are better prepared to address the challenges in a constantly changing world. In addition to appropriated funding, the NEH is able to leverage significant, non-federal contributions through competitive grant awards, with direct matching totaling more than $2 billion over the last few decades.

Federal funding for the NEH includes support for state humanities councils who work in partnership with the endowment to reach millions of Americans each year through teacher institutes, family literacy programs, and thousands of other programs. With this extensive network of state humanities councils and general NEH programming, the endowment reaches every state and territory across the nation.

For over 40 years, the NEA has provided strategic leadership and investment in the arts and has proudly expanded arts activity across the nation with the mission “to bring arts to every American.” For every one dollar spent on federal arts initiatives there are eight non-federal dollars leveraged while at the same time children and communities are enriched through access to the arts that they might not otherwise have.

Federal funding for the NEA acts as seed money that generates massive economic return with the non-profit arts industry generating $166.2 billion annually in economic activity and supporting 5.7 million full-time jobs. Additionally, the federal government enjoys a direct return of $12.6 billion in income taxes, as well as the indirect benefit of improved education, community development, and increased business activity across the country.

The President’s requested funding for FY13 for the NEA will help the endowment maintain its extremely successful programs, including The Big Read, Our Town, Challenge America, The Mayor’s Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative, Blue Star Museums, Shakespeare in American Communities, and Operation Homecoming. In FY11, the NEA awarded over $124 million in appropriated funds through just over 2,400 grants reaching all 435 congressional districts.

Thanks to your leadership, the NEH and NEA continue to play a vital role in every state. We urge you to continue to support federal funding of the arts and humanities in FY13 by adopting the President’s request level for both endowments in your final appropriations legislation. We appreciate your attention to this vital funding, and look forward to working with you on this and the other important issues facing our nation.

 

Earlier this month, CAA sent an email blast to 2012 Annual Conference attendees, asking for feedback on all aspects of last February’s event. Please complete the survey, which has several fields for open-ended answers, by Friday, March 23, 2012.

The survey asks you to identify yourself (artist, art historian, student, etc.) and your type of institutional affiliation and then to rate your experiences with various conference events and services—from online registration and the conference hotels to session content and Career Services activities. If you attended the Book and Trade Fair or used your conference badge for free museum admission, let CAA know. The survey also asks your thoughts about the conference website and how CAA can better deliver conference information.

Filed under: Annual Conference, Research, Surveys