CAA News Today
Report from the October 2013 Meeting of the Board of Directors
posted by Anne Collins Goodyear — Nov 19, 2013
From October 24-27, the College Art Association Board of Directors, Editorial Boards, and Annual Conference Committee held their fall meetings to discuss current and future programming.
During a retreat held on Saturday, October 26, the Board met to discuss the development of the 2015-2020 strategic plan and the transition from an income-based membership model to one oriented to benefits. At the upcoming February 2014 meeting, CAA’s membership will have a chance to learn more about the proposed strategic plan and to provide feedback as well as to vote to amend the bylaws of the Association to permit the new membership structure. This will also us to maintain lower rates for students and retired members, provide discounted fees for part-time and contingent faculty, and allow all members greater flexibility in determining what benefits they would like to receive. Likewise, the new strategic plan prioritizes cultivating and serving the membership, placing a strong emphasis on the use of new technologies for enhancing communications from social media to publications to expanding the reach of the Annual conference virtually.
During its meeting on Sunday, October 27, the Board of Directors elected a new director: Debra Riley Parr, who replaces Saul Ostrow, whose term she will complete. It approved a balanced budget for the second half of the FY 2014 and adopted several new resolutions. These include the creation of a new Web Editor position for the Art Journal to support the ongoing development of its website as well as the adoption of several new guidelines developed by its Professional Practices Committees. These comprise: Guidelines for CAA Interviews, Guidelines for Part-Time Professional Employment, Guidelines for Presenting Works in a Digital Format, Standards for Professional Placement, and a Statement Concerning the Deaccession of Works of Art. At the request of the Committee on Women in the Arts, it approved a revision to the committee’s charge, which now designates:
“The Committee on Women in the Arts (CWA) promotes the scholarly study and recognition of women’s contributions to the visual arts and to critical and art historical studies; advocates for feminist scholarship and activism in art; develops partnerships with organizations with compatible missions; monitors the status of women in the visual arts professions; provides historical and current resources on feminist issues; and supports emerging artists and scholars in their careers.”
The Board heard updates on two signature projects: the ongoing development of its Best Practices Code for Fair Use in the Creation and Curation of Artworks and Scholarly Publishing in the Visual Arts and the digitization of its publications. With respect to CAA’s Fair Use Code, the first phase of the project is close to completion, with an Issues Report distilling the results of interviews with 100 thought leaders in the field, a survey of CAA membership, and a literature review, due to be released in early 2014. CAA’s Committee on Intellectual Property will devote its annual session at the Annual Conference to this topic, at noon on Saturday, February 15th.
The Board also learned that CAA’s negotiations with Taylor and Francis to serve as a copublisher for its journals were close to conclusion. Thanks to this agreement, which is now complete, as recently reported, CAA will be able to digitize its print journals, Art Journal and The Art Bulletin and to offer caa.reviews open access. Both The Art Bulletin and Art Journal will also continue in printed form.
It also turned its attention toward the future. To this end, the Board heard from Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Director of Scholarly Communications at the Modern Language Association about the MLA’s new Humanities Commons. CAA will consider whether it might make sense to partner with MLA as this new virtual space of scholarly discussion and exchange continues to grow.
The Board also entertained discussion about the status of the Ph.D. in art practice and its relationship to the terminal Master of Fine Arts. CAA’s Professional Practices Committee is currently engaged in researching and developing a statement regarding these degrees and the expertise they represent.
Finally, the Board selected its new President-Elect, DeWitt Godfrey, Associate Professor at Colgate University. A talented sculptor and CAA Board Member since 2009, Professor Godfrey will assume office in May 2014, and current President, Anne Collins Goodyear, will serve as past-President until May 2015.
The Board looks forward to meeting with CAA’s membership at the Annual Business meeting on Friday, February 14th at 5:30 pm.