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Excellent organization and an enthusiastic turn-out marked
CAC's 30th annual conference in Quebec City. The conference,
which took place from May 28th to 30th 2004, attracted a
total of 127 participants. It was preceded by a two day
workshop on the subject of "Unusual Materials, Unconventional
Treatments" that was attended by 60 individuals.
Papers were presented on a wide variety of conservation
activities in areas as diverse as natural history, archaeology,
ethnology, paintings (miniatures, wood panel, canvas and
mural), polychrome sculpture, textiles, video, architectural
elements and public outreach.
This year's Per Guldbeck lecture was delivered by John Porter,
Director of the Musée national des beaux-arts du
Québec. He focused on the timely subject of the need
for conservation professionals to reinvent themselves from
time to time in order to respond to the changing needs of
the heritage community.
Wonderfully guided tours of the new collections storage
facility for Quebec City's Musée de la civilization
and to Parks Canada's regional conservation labs attracted
two full bus-loads of nosy and voluble conservators.
In an innovative move, the conference committee invited
the general public to attend the last morning of conference
sessions. They followed this up with a public outreach event
in the Musée de la civilisation (the conference venue)
on Sunday afternoon. Conservators from various institutions
and from private practice set up displays in the lobby and
discussed their work with visitors to the museum. What a
great opportunity to engage to showcase our profession!
CAC membership currently stands at 369. We have 222 regular
members, 17 student members, 126 institutional members and
4 honorary members. These numbers are slightly down from
the same time last year.
We hope you enjoy CAC's new look. At long last, we have
unveiled our new web site. Many thanks to Margarethe Vanderpas
of Vanderpas Design Inc. for her brilliant design and to
Sue Bigelow, Web Master, for her countless hours of work.
Please take some time to explore the new features and admire
the updated design. We welcome all comments and suggestions
- just click on the link to contact our Web Master.
Since the spring, our membership coordinator, Rebecca Bunch,
has been working with an AMSoft database recently purchased
by the Canadian Museums Association, a database considerably
more complex than the CAC needs. In response to this, the
CAC Board approved the purchase of a new, simpler membership
database. This database, MemberTies Professional, will better
meet the needs of our organization and will give us full
control of our membership management. It also permits more
flexible office arrangements, which will ensure more timely
service to CAC members and may even reduce expenditures.
As a result, the Board has decided to end the office agreement
with the CMA that has been part of CAC operations since
1997. In January 2005, the CAC will have a new office and
a new address. With these changes, we should be able to
provide better, more efficient membership services into
the coming years.
As of January 2005, contact the CAC at:
CAC
P.O Box 87028
332 Bank Street
Ottawa, ON K2P 1X0
E-Mail: coordinator@cac-accr.com
Telephone: 613-231-3977
Fax: 613-231-4406
Web Site:
www.cac-accr.ca
After months of hard work, the redesigned CAC website is
now open for viewing. Final touches are still in progress
so your patience and ideas are appreciated. Thanks to Fiona
Graham, Sue Bigelow, Shelagh Linklater, Cliff Cook and VanderPas
Design for this excellent contribution to CAC service and
outreach.
After seven years of valuable service, Sue Bigelow is stepping
down as the CAC webmaster. We want to thank Sue for the
unfailing effort she has made since the website was set
up in 1998. Shelagh Linklater of the Archives of Manitoba
has graciously offered to take on this most important job
for our organization. She will be assisted by Cliff Cook
on technical matters. For any web-related issue, please
contact Shelagh at slinklater@gov.mb.ca.
The Conservation department of the Art Gallery of Ontario
is offering the following item to not-for-profit organizations:
a Conservation hot table, measurements 2'11" x 11'6" x 7'11".
If interested, please contact Lorraine Underell-Mason at
416-979-6660 ext. 203 before December 3, 2004.
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