Dear Fellows and Residents,
I write you on the Ides of March with this year’s appeal for SOF dues. More than ever, I would like to see our dues-paying ranks increase, so that we can fund more receptions, events and initiatives that keep us in touch. And now’s the time we come to you each year before the arriving spring speeds into summers devoted to studios, research and travel.
SOF Council members continue to organize SOF/AAR sponsored receptions at annual professional conferences and meetings. Coming up in San Diego on April 5, Stephanie Leone has put together a reception for those attending the Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, to be hosted by Alison Frazier and Brian Curran. Many of you were able to make it to the New York office for a reception organized by Patricia Cronin on the occasion of the College Art Association’s Annual Conference this past February. In Seattle in January, we held a reception during the Joint Meeting of the Archaeological Society of America and the American Philological Association, organized by Gary Farney. Michael Gruber hosted a reception in September for the American Society of Landscape Architects in Phoenix. And Blake Middleton and Christian Zapatka put together a reception at Christian’s home in Washington DC for the American Institute of Architects’ 2012 National Convention and Design Exposition last May.
We continue to sponsor other events around the country that keep SOF members in contact after the fellowship year. Notable this past fall were events in Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago. In October, architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, and Director of Conservation Barbara Buckley, brought us special insights into the new Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. In November, we arranged a visit to the Koch Gallery of 17th-Century European Paintings at the MFA in Boston with the senior curator of European art, Ronnie Baer. In December, Karen Manchester, the chair and curator of ancient art at the Art Institute of Chicago, led a special tour of the museum’s newly opened Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman and Byzantine Art. Thanks to SOF Council members Stephanie Leone, Seth Bernard, Elizabeth Walmsley, and Richard Rezac for all their work on those events. Any of you that would like to organize similar small scale but choice events in your field or in your part of the country, please let us know.
It was great to see so many of you at this year’s Cabaret in New York on November 29. Those of us who have worked on this event over the last few years feel that we’ve found the right mix of elements to recall the spirit of what goes on in Rome during the fellowship year. In all my conversations that night, I was reminded of how amazing the Academy is in bringing together such a diverse group of disciplines at such a high level of personal achievement. Here’s to that ongoing connection centered on what AAR signifies to all of us. It is so important, at whatever level on our sliding scale, that you join us as active dues-paying members of the Society of Fellows. We need your voices and your financial support to advance our mission of representing the Fellows after the Rome Prize year—to and for ourselves, to the prizewinners going over each year and returning, and to those who will be newly governing the future of the organization. We as Fellows, Affiliated Fellows, and Residents are the core of what AAR is. We carry its best effects forward into our lives and careers as so wisely forecasted by the founders. And we are the institution’s collective memory in times of change and transition.
The highest possible level of participation greatly helps the Academy’s pursuit of major grants. So pay whatever you want, supporting us at any amount by being counted officially among our active dues-paying ranks. You can pay your 2013 dues online. Or, if you prefer, you may send a check to the following address: Society of Fellows, American Academy in Rome , 7 East 60th Street , New York, NY 10022-1001.
Send us your news and your ideas, always so important for those of us on the Council to know and promote. We have an election coming up next fall, so please send nominations or suggestions to Shawn Miller at s.miller [at] aarome.org (s[dot]miller[at]aarome[dot]org). Let us know about your willingness to participate on the Council, or about anyone you think we should contact. Lastly, start planning now to join us for Rome 2014: Looking Forward Looking Back, a major reunion in Rome, May 26 through June 1, 2014, bringing together AAR Fellows, Residents, Affiliated Fellows, Friends, Staff, and Trustees for the annual Open Studios, Concerts, Readings, and Walks and Talks during Trustees’ Week. Stay tuned for details. As the website states: “The week of events will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Academy's residence in the McKim Mead and White building on the Janiculum, the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Library, and, finally, the 100th of the definitive joining—in theory and practice—of the fine arts and the humanities in one place. In short, this Rome Reunion will mark the moment when the Academy became the institution we know and love today: a place that supports artists, writers, and scholars living together and working innovatively in a dynamic, international community. Mark your calendars! We need your voice, your perspective, and your presence at the Academy to help propel us forward into the next hundred years.” Well said. It’s going to be great. See you here or there, and sooner than 2014 I hope.
Sincerely,
Drew Beattie
President of the Society of Fellows