 And now I have the great pleasure of introducing Anne Meldor-Riduche, Anne is a senior consultant for the Dillon Schneider Group. Anne has been, has a strong record of public service, including serving on all three federal cultural agencies, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Prior to joining the Dillon Schneider Group, Anne was the director of the IMLS from 2006 to 2010. Previously, acting assistant chairman for the programs at the NEH, she served as chief of staff to the secretary of the United States Department of Education. In the early 1990s, she was acting NEA chairman and senior deputy chairman. From 1989 to 1991, Anne was chief of the Creative Arts Division of the United States Information Agency, and also served as the first director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts from 1983 to 89. Before that, she worked as a curator, an architectural historian for the architect of the capital, and as an assistant curator at the National Gallery of Art. Anne Riduche is on the College Art Association Board of Directors. Anne earned her PhD in architectural history from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, an MBA from American University in Washington, D.C., and a BA in art history from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. She also holds an MA from the Villa Skifanoia in Florence, Italy. Anne will be speaking next, and I thank you in praise of conservators and conservation, and with that, I would like to turn the podium over to her. Thank you so much, Anne. Thank you, President Kraft and AIC, and also Madam Director, for honoring me with this opportunity to have a chat among friends. This really means the world to me. What do I have in my hand here? The first thing I looked at when I arrived at this important meeting, it's the list of everyone who's here. The first thing I did was not to look at the titles and the organizations, but just look at the names, because it's impressive to see not only the number, but also have a feeling that each individual on this list has an amazing and important story. Of course, then I did allow my eyes to gaze over to the right side of the papers to see the various titles. Of course, that is beyond impressive. You all should be extremely proud of your membership. My badge that I've been wearing for the past couple of days said speaker on it, but one of the things I found about this organization is that there's no badge called only listeners. You are active participants, and that is something that I have not witnessed at most meetings. But my objective today is to shake things up a little bit. I never do that, so this is a first. And also to provide some suggestions, not just about connecting to collections or connecting to conservation or to ourselves or to the world, but connecting your hard work to personal and institutional successes. Let us agree that what you do is very important, and then its history goes back to those ancient staples we saw on the dishes the other day. You often speak through your work, and you even speak through your invisibility with the beautiful results that we see after conservation and stabilization. But my esteemed friends, the time is overdue to think about yourselves. Think about your well-being. Think in terms that show you respect yourselves and that your goals have a great deal of importance. You did not take a vow of poverty, and yet I've noticed that the amount of self-sacrifice you all practice not only hurts yourselves, but also does not help with the public perception of what you do and the potential advancement of the profession as a whole. Over half of your memberships are individuals in private practice. In many ways, my institutional friends, we have a lot to learn from these colleagues. Personally, every single one of you is a hero to me, and I know I'm an outsider, but I'm keenly aware that I feel, well, I feel you've had significant injustice. I am not knocking the hard work, programs, corporate foundation, and government support that has occurred for your work, but of course I believe there should be a lot more of it. But right now, and practically speaking, we are not using some of the resources that we already have that can achieve what we need and excuse me for saying this what you deserve. So what I'm talking about is a campaign. A campaign that can be won and will be won through using existing support organizations, new ideas, ourselves, and harnessing perception and creating a climate where your work will be the tail that wags the dog. Campaigns are one person at a time, and I have to say I'll never forget that lesson when I was part of a post-defeat meeting when President George Herbert Walker Bush lost to President Clinton. We all sort of sat there, you know, a little bit stunned, and he said, he got up and he said he took full responsibility for not, you know, winning, but he said, I lost because people didn't believe me, because people didn't get my message, and because I forgot that campaigns are won one person at a time, and President-elect Clinton did not forget that. Marketing, communication, public affairs are your friends. Strategic plans, business, communication, outreach all have great value. This isn't fluff and feathers. These are resources we need to harness. Look at the stories and the meetings we have shared over these past few days. There have been many reports about best practices, new techniques. However, I'm still in my head questioning, where are the real strategic partnerships? I feel like so many of us have gone into the bunkers because of economic challenges, but I've found through business and through work for a long time, that my friends' challenges mean opportunities, opportunities to regroup, hone message, make a plan, and go for it. A great deal of work I'm doing now is pulling people up onto their feet, dusting them off, letting them blow off a little steam, and helping them get a new plan in action. And my friends' plans depend on communication. And of course I don't mean just article placement, because indeed that train left the station a long time ago. As you have seen, and as you are utilizing for informational purposes, social media is no longer something that's interesting to do. It's essential. Not to say that good article placement services do not exist, because they do. One is PR Newswire. But friends, we can all get events and information listed in the Associated Press Daybook. And we should all plan that any public event has an online component, a webcast. Recently, I was involved with a major exhibition that's touring the country. The opening venue was magnificent, but not convenient to a number of press, international or national. And we all heard, and it is indeed true, that coverage and travel funds have been cut back. But what we did was a blast email press announcement with info about the webcast. And hundreds of people throughout the world saw it. And we know it from the kinds of response we got. The coverage was beyond amazing, and the costs were minimal. So it can be done, and I think we need to keep that in the front of our heads. As we roll up our sleeves, and I'm asking us all to roll up our sleeves, let's not become more precious than the objects and the cultural pieces that you care for. Let's become down to earth. Let's state it the way it is. It's time for a new paradigm, and we must not be afraid. We need to take a deep breath and deal. First of all, we all need to learn from each other, and AIC and other professional groups provide information sharing. However, locally, do you ever do presentations at schools? Do you talk about your work as a career? You have consortia and regional centers. However, have you ever visited your elected officials, the school board, the state representatives, and of course those great folks in Washington? But visiting them as a united group, not as part of a support group for culture in general. It's very important. Have you demanded a place at the table in fantastic groups like the Americans for the Arts, for the library association? Have you pushed to be part of agendas? Have you sought out board members if you're in an institution? People who could be your champions, and I know that could be a little dicey and we have to be a little nuanced because we don't want directors to get hysterical. However, in many ways you offer directors, boards, and the institutions in general a very neutral way of raising money, which of course is something that's very much on their minds. And what you do has positive visual measurement. Do you appear on local shows, have you ever thought of establishing a national day celebrating collection conservation? And using that as a rallying point for awareness. You push for local TV shows, obviously you want to do YouTube, and believe it or not, I'm still begging people to approach QVC. And perhaps through vendors we can do that. But what I'm suggesting of course is a national approach that starts from the ground up. You can imagine I just about flipped when I heard that a beloved federal agency is lumping conservation grant opportunities into a museum category. We are told, no problem, you can make as many applications as you want. Well good morning, the self elimination will happen at the institutional level because the director will decide which push will be made. And it's likely you might be told, no you can't apply this year, so sorry. We don't need any competition for fill in the blank. Well compete we must and here are some thoughts. Let's turn to our private members to take the strategic lead on some of this. Because if we can make a plan using some of their life lessons I believe the boats will rise. I suggest AIC and other groups pull together a task force and pull together some leaders who will first of all find heroes for this cause. Just like big donors are identified in capital campaigns, make a list, evaluate, go for these folks and think of course national, regional, local and international. Public awareness is successful when the messaging is clear and repeated over and over. People remember product ads, it's the same principle. Bring together a group to help develop messages. Get Ann Radiche to volunteer to help hone the messages and then start using them. They will not wear out, they will add the flesh to the structure we're going to build. Develop a new financial model to attract investors to this field. I'll come back to that in a moment. So those of you who have traditionally only worn the not-for-profit hat, you need a second one as well. Develop partnerships, real partnerships with directors and curators and the PR department of people. Keep people informed, pair off, be at the table when discussions start. Don't get called to the table. And some of that I believe will change with our hero development project. You are not just the people who say no, but the people who have ideas on how to share the work safely. Also, it's time to demand that every exhibition, every project have a component that deals with conservation. People would be interested to know about it. I'm not saying you blow the whistle on pieces that are in the show, but I'm saying that it's important to have information about similar types of pieces or what conservators do. It adds a dimension to an exhibition that most people wouldn't even think about. Also large projects, exhibitions, whatever, they're always lecture series, they're online chat sessions. Well, the conservators need to be part of that as well. Okay, our private practice experts, if you don't already know them, get to know the auction house people. Provide expertise for their programs. I'm sure most of you have been some kind of opening for a sale, and you know that there are talks and events that are factored into the opening celebration. Well, let's factor ourselves into those events. Let's make sure we have an auction house hero as well. In my work, I've been astonished by the new crop of collectors that's emerging. In some cases, I'm asked for advice, and I always talk about the importance of learning about conservation and going to experts. Yes, money is always there somewhere, but care for objects must be made an intrinsic component of the entire collecting ethos. Collectors are stewards. Let us make sure they understand that. Let's educate them. But collectors are not all rich. Some are driven by a passion for a particular interest. They often view their collection as having a legacy, but most have no idea about what you all do in the local sense. Conservators to them are often people who work for big institutions, saving the Mona Lisa, whatever, and they are fascinated, but slightly intimidated by these big stories. We need to make sure their stories are told as well. And my friends, do not continue to undervalue your work. Yes, there's a market in supply and demand, but as you construct prices, remember that free or almost free, unfortunately becomes expected, and then your own value decreases. Perhaps there is a local regional consortium or start one so that hard luck stories can be evaluated, sorted out, and pro bono or discounted policies can be established. You need to put a little distance between your heart and the always worthy causes. Perception, perception, perception. You are experts, and experts must be paid accordingly. And if an organized approach is used regarding pro bono, use the stories. Use the stories to talk about your heart and your caring for heritage and the fact that they're as a group you're dealing with these particular issues. Use best practices stories to your own advantage, especially when it comes to partnerships or institutional budget requests. In fact, if you are a part of an institution, really get to know the administrator who fleshes out the budget. Be ready to explain why some conservation front loading can add efficiencies and save the institution money in the long run. You're all nice people, you're social, get in the mix, don't be remote. Get to know especially the administrative support staff, because believe me, they always know what's going on and they can sure give you heads up when even the director is wondering what's going on. Use YouTube in an organized way. AIC leadership, heritage preservation, and other groups, please work together on this. When one group succeeds, everybody benefits. Let us get a strategy going to help establish a conservation TED program. Let us work to get into the Clinton Global Network and let us aim for the World Economic Forum. Let's show them that conservation is more than water, rainforest, and endangered species. Conservators work to enrich the soul, save the world's heritage. That's big picture. That deserves high-level audiences. And in knowing your audience, let me talk a little bit about audience development. Yes, we want to reach everybody, of course, but in reality, we need to reach the decision makers and the thought leaders. The founder of the firm, Dillon Schneider Group, used to say that there are about 3,000 people in the U.S. who really make the decisions that affect all of us. I sort of bristled when I first heard that, but I came to believe that he has a good point there. And in all of our work, we always took the time to reach for that moving target. Well, each one of you must have some ideas about whom we should reach locally, decision makers, thought leaders, regionally, locally, nationally. So let's put that list together and evaluate the list and then let us target these people through social media, but through personal contact and thought pieces they'll find intriguing. Now I heard about, I just was listening when you were talking about the use of the Internet. Well, perhaps AIC, you should think about an e-book that talks about conservation in general terms. Perhaps someone like Debra Hesnoris ought to do a book about what she's been doing in Iraq, not that I'm pointing the finger at her, or anyone else here who's been doing a very interesting project because the reality of publishing, we all know, is a whole other set of challenges, but e-books are much, much easier and people do download them and I believe you will get quite a few takers for this. Also I'm firmly believing, and perhaps you already do this, so I apologize if I don't know this, but people like Dr. Baker and Mr. Hummel and even old Larry Rieger there should be interviewed in an oral history project. We don't want to lose the information and the participation and the stories that are part of all of our heritage. Also let's chat about our favorite city Washington for a moment. You need a lobbyist that represents only you. No more sharing. Lobbyists have competitive rates. Yes, you can go to a high profile person and you can negotiate a rate, but I would suggest that you don't go to someone who's deeply involved in cultural lobbying. The reason being is that when that kind of person, as brilliant and wonderful as a person might be, makes an appointment with staffers, elected officials, etc., his or her message will already be anticipated. Oh, the arts person's coming again. And incorrectly that evaluation will hurt you. I'm thinking about anybody who has stature, who understands business, who is a community, who represents communities and large associations. I would think really seriously about someone like that. And of course, you never whine when you're on the hill. You always show strength, power in numbers, ability to elect or unelect. The fact that you take heritage responsibility seriously just like senator whoever or congressman whoever. There are stories from their districts. Make sure you know them. Make sure you can share how important their heritage, their local heritage is. One of the things about the hill is that when you go to the hill, just remember you've never had an original idea in your life. But those ideas only come from the congressional offices and unfortunately you'll have to listen to why they only come from those offices. But getting into the office is essential. And also, all congressmen, all senators have regional and local offices get to know the people who work there. Because many times the idea of, well I gotta go to Washington and you know I'm gonna sit outside that guy's office until I see him. It's easier just to go down the street because his office is like ten minutes from where you live. And these people come home for the weekend. So now you have an opportunity, if you're not in the Washington area, if you're not promoting a day of conservation, to actually make an appointment which they'll more likely honor in the district than they will in Washington, D.C. I would suggest that one of your leadership groups takes that on and be the voice of all of you. So that you don't have a million people and a million messages confusing the issue. You are winners and they need to understand they need you. And believe me, when it comes around election time that's one message they understand. I'm asking you to instead of being part of the chorus for culture, you step up and you become the lead singers. It's time. And it's time for the other cultural people to join your cause. We know the tax issue is under discussion again. The danger of not getting a deduction for gifts to nonprofits. It's very important. But don't let issues like that distract from your mission and your messaging. You've got other fish to fry and you need to look out for your interests as well. There are plenty of other people who are taking on some of these global issues. Hone in on what you need and what's important to your profession. Okay, what about the financial model for the private practice folks? I'd like to suggest that at AIC a small group we put together to investigate how to create a package that would be attractive to venture capital group. This has been very successful fundraising for profit schools, schools for profit, secondary high school, junior college and college. They measure success by enrollment, not graduation rate. However, we can take a slightly higher road here. We have tangible results. They can be counted. And I suspect that such an investment opportunity would be attractive. But let's investigate it. By the way, some of these for profit higher ed places are now introducing more art courses. And I know from working with a few of them, that some of these two year schools in particular are technical training schools. And none of them, none of them understand that there are some jobs in your field that are entry level, that are support staff, that maybe they could be training people for. So you wouldn't have to do all of the training. We're not talking about graduate work. We're not talking about post graduate work, which is something else that has to be dealt with. We're simply talking about job creation. But this is something to discuss and I think there's traction. Also, let us not forget our wonderful vendors. Of course they have a financial interest. But perhaps we can match this financial interest into an investment strategy that includes them in this venture capital mix. So what would venture capital provide in addition to profits and developing a larger market? Exactly that, profits and a larger market through developing market efficiency and better presentation of what your services provide. The more people we speak with outside of our circle of experts and cultural appreciators, the more we will succeed. Hope I haven't scared you, but please know that I've always been ready to take informed risks for what is right. And I think some of these things might take hold. And I wouldn't suggest them if I didn't really care. My own interest in conservation of collections, preservation, came from being sent to Florence as a slightly unwilling volunteer by my father during winter break following the Florence flood. I was profoundly affected watching, slogging through mud, being a gopher and marveling at the expertise, especially coming from the US, but from all over the world. Caring for even the smallest of items, books. I'd always hoped that I would be able to do more. So if you don't mind me volunteering, I hope you'll include me in your team. My mentor, Jay Carter Brown, said to me once when I was complaining and we were in a car and he was trapped. He said, Anne, don't edit your dreams. Others will do that for you. Well, I've never edited and I've had some success. And I hope you know, I'll always be here for you. Thanks so much. Is this like a congressional hearing? No. Okay. Thank you so much, Anne. It was wonderful and very inspirational. And if you have some questions, we have some time if you would like to ask some questions. Yes, ma'am. I'll be happy to give my remarks so that I have to correct the spelling and stuff. Thank you very much for giving us such practical help. I think we desperately have been needing that and you have provided some wise advice. Thank you. Thank you. Would you be our lobbyist? Well, I'll do it unofficially. You need a registered lobbyist. Of course I'll do it unofficially because I go to the Hill quite a bit. That's not a problem. Consider that done. But I do think you need a registered lobbyist just because of some of the advantages that registration happens. Also, if you have a registered lobbyist, they sort of all know each other and it's a little group and the various staff people all know them. I don't know every staff. I mean, I don't know as many people, but believe me, nobody escapes me. And I'm not afraid to go to offices where the word art is, or arts is a four letter word. So I'm happy to do it. I'm happy to do it. Julie Heath, thank you so much for doing this. I'm interested in hero messaging. Once we find our heroes or we go out and target our heroes, do you have best practice in mind? Maybe other fields have done a really good job of hero messaging. I would be happy to pull together some examples where I think it's worked in a positive way. And a couple of those examples, I'm not going to share them now. I mean, I'd like to flesh them out a little more, but they're all nonprofit examples and sort of pulling institutions out of morass. And then all of a sudden people, as long as people think, well, I'm the hero for something and I'm going to make a difference. That's one of the most important things about when you identify the hero. The hero wants to do something, not just, you know, be a spokesperson. You know, when you look at some of the, I was just thinking, you look at some of the medical, some of the disease issues like malaria and some of these people who've been involved with that and with Sudan and, you know, they really go over and they, they're heroes but they also do stuff. And we want to get some heroes who write checks too because I think that you need to think about establishing some sort of endowment for your group. Oh yeah, I'm so sorry I didn't see you. Hi. Hi, I very much welcome your remarks and I would like to elaborate on visiting the district offices for our colleagues who live away from the pressure centers because it's the grassroots and the congressman comes back repeatedly and wants to know what happened, who came by, who stopped by, and is much more receptive to recommendations coming from his district than he would or she would be in Washington D.C. where they're all overwhelmed. Yeah, I totally agree. I really feel that that's a fascinating and great idea. Yeah, well thank you. Hi, Ann. Hi. I agree with others who have said that this was incredibly inspiring for us and thank you for that. My question relates to that certain granting organization that you mentioned. And I wonder if you could elaborate on the, the damage that might have been done by this decision or ways that we might cope with this current change or what you see it will produce in the long term. Yeah, I think that lots of letters should be written, lots of emails. I think it is a huge mistake and I don't understand why it happened. I mean, it makes, to me it makes no sense. So I'm sort of trying to work behind the scenes a little bit but I think you have to make a public statement about it as well. And even in making the public statement, it puts, for those of you who are in institutions where it makes a difference how much time is put into writing out grant applications, it also sends a little bit of a message to your own directors to say, look, you know, we're here too. So just because the latest Picasso exhibit is coming, you know, we've got all these other things we need to do and in the past you never looked at us twice when we applied and you were thrilled when we got the money. So I think it has to be more publicly discussed and I'm also discussing this with some people who have even bigger mouths than I do who can maybe try to switch this around a little bit. You know, guidelines are written, probably Larry knows this better than I do. What have they written like twice a year or something? They were, they were always, once a year, okay. So what we need to work on is getting you in the room because they are public, there are public meetings about guidelines and that's when the changes can be made. Yes. I'm back. You're back. Okay. I just wanted to make a comment about the organization that we're not mentioning the name of. Right. It had such a, I've always had such respect and appreciation for that organization because I really felt personally the change that occurred in museums and in the choices that museums were making when this organization stepped forward and said you will get money only if you have done this and this and this which created a whole new way that museums did things because they were kind of being forced to. If they wanted to get the money, they had to show that they were doing right by their collections and doing their surveys and their general surveys, their individual surveys, et cetera, et cetera. And that really was a sea change in museums and it's such a shame that that same organization has now created this situation which is going to reverse that. Well, that's why I'm saying you got to get loud on this. Yes, I agree with you. Because it's, I'm not, I don't totally believe it's for eternity. I really don't. Also remember we have an election coming up and it just doesn't make sense because I remember I was introduced once by someone who said, and this is Enredice who runs the most non-federal federal agency and I took that to be a huge compliment and that's the way that agency should run. And I think that there have been a lot of pressures and probably the leadership just felt overwhelmed and looking for ways to adjust the budget I think made the wrong decision. And by the way, I've been vocal about it. It's not like this is the first time I've said it. Yes, ma'am? Hi. Thank you again for all your great ideas. It's really inspiring. I don't want to reopen a source subject but I'm just genuinely curious from your perspective what you think about the question of conservators being accredited of having a... I think that I'm not going to pass on that one because I'm running for office. I'll tell you why. I don't think I have a right to give an opinion on that because I'm not a member of the field. I don't know what it takes. I know that when I was at the US Capitol I worked with some wonderful people at the Library of Congress, Peter Waters and other folks and there were quite a few people who had been apprentices and I don't know if that's the right term who sort of learned along with the great masters and they were awesome. So I don't know... I just don't know what the... how you all feel about it now whether the amount of chemistry one has to know or whatever but I don't think the people who are in the field who... this is personal. This is not informed stuff but my reaction is somebody who's already a really great conservator who was trained as an apprentice and is doing a great job. I don't think you dump on them and make them get accredited. Certainly no. I'm just wondering from the perspective of the profession, if that makes a difference in terms of how we're... Obviously it's a huge difference. I hear what you're saying. When I was at the Department of Education everything was licensed and as Chief of Staff all this stuff would come across my desk. Hairdressing licenses went from the Department of Education. Undertaker licenses went through the Department of Education. I had no idea until I started seeing all this and it can also get a little out of hand. It can become a revenue stream of course but I'm suggesting maybe we look at other revenue streams as well but I wish I knew more to be able to really give a strong opinion on that. I should ask your opinion of it. No, don't go there. Okay. Okay. I want to be a good guest too. Thank you. You're entirely welcome.