Glass Art Society Cancels 2013 Boston Conference!

If you have not heard the news by now, you will soon. The Boston GAS conference for 2013 has been cancelled. There is no replacement site. There will be no conference in 2013.

From email:

The Glass Art Society (GAS) has held a continuous succession of conferences since its inauguration in 1971. In 2012, we celebrated glass and its history in an extremely successful event in Toledo. Today, after careful consideration and with deep regret, the Board of the Glass Art Society has decided unanimously to cancel the 2013 conference in Boston.

The Board and staff of GAS are committed to developing an excellent conference for our membership and we recognize that our members would accept nothing less. We understand the importance of your investment in the Glass Art Society each year as you travel to attend the conference and want to ensure that you have the best experience possible. Unfortunately, after nearly two years of planning and working hard alongside the Boston co-chairs, we were unable to secure suitable venues and indispensable funding necessary for the conference’s success this June. This decision is due largely to the internal complexity of the interdependent partnering agencies and the unpredictable time factor in which each independent decision had to be deliberated within each partnering entity. Essentially, the process and unforeseen problems exceeded the time frame required to launch and secure a fiscally responsible and logistically and professional successful conference.

This year, GAS will be providing numerous opportunities aside from a traditional annual conference. We have been working hard on new programs and strongly encourage you to keep watch for announcements of exciting events during the upcoming year. Members can look forward to webinars, regional events, tours and an improved web site with new functionalities, offering you a place to increase your knowledge and understanding of the developing field of creative work expressed in the medium of glass. Meanwhile, a strong and redesigned conference is in preparation for 2014, which will retain popular components but will also allow us to plan programs that reflect the expanded field. We will announce the GAS Conference location and dates in February. Also, ongoing investigations into securing an international conference venue continue.

There is much to look forward to in the coming year and we thank you for your continued support. The Glass Art Society is the largest and oldest organization for glass of its kind and the Board is always making their decisions with the organization and its members’ best interest at heart.

Sincerely,

Jutta-Annette Page, Ph.D.
Board President

The GAS website has no mention. Online rumors are that GAS 2013 is cancelled because of lack of funding and issues in appropriate venue acquisition.  Bummer. 

Jan 10, 2013: Update: Click HERE to jump to Urban Glass' blog online interview with GAS honchos on what happened to Boston.

April 26, 2013: Update: Click HERE to jump to information about GlassBoston - a 4day conference hosted by MIT Glass Lab, NOCA Glass School @ APG, The Society of Arts and Crafts and Strattman Design.

PhD In Glass at University of Sunderland

Kevin Petrie, professor of Glass and Ceramics at the UK's University of Sunderland will be coming to the Glass Art Society's (GAS) Conference at Toledo to talk with people interested in studies in glass at the University. 

The University of Sunderland has the largest glass and ceramics department in Europe. It is also one of world’s best equipped studios for creative glassmaking. Specialist areas include: glass and print, waterjet cutting, and hot, kiln and architectural glass. (this past year, I was at Sunderland for my Fulbright Scholarship, and found everything about place to be incredible).

The University of Sunderland Glass Facility

The University of Sunderland is based in the National Glass Centre, the center of excellence for glass in the UK, supporting the production and exhibition of contemporary glass within a research-rich learning environment. The Institute for International Research in Glass (IIRG) promotes and facilitates this research, developing the latest working methods and informing teaching at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. (The idea of a doctorate in glass is soo appealing to me!)

From the Sunderland student brochure:

Students will be taught by international award-winning staff, who are all recognized professional artists, designers, curators and writers. You will also be offered real-world opportunities, including the chance to show your work in public exhibitions, undertake internships, work on live commissions, and enter competitions – all of which will help you to build your career.

We are a supportive creative community and encourage our students to become nationally, and internationally, networked during their time on the course. Our students have been selected for distinguished exhibitions such as the British Glass Biennale, Bombay Sapphire Glass Prize and the European Glass Context. Many of our graduates become independent artists with their own studios. Others are successful educators. A substantial number of our students are professionals who undertake doctorates to reflect on their work, advance creative practice and contribute to knowledge in the field of glass art.

Interested in more info about studying glass in an incredible facility? Professor Petrie will be available for advisory interviews at GAS, Tech Display Booth #17

Getting GAS'd Up - Glass Art Society Conference Opens in Toledo

In recognition of the Toledo Museum of Art's role as the cradle of the American Studio Glass Movement, GAS will be holding its 2012 conference in Toledo, Ohio, June 13 - 17, 2012. 
Toledo is welcoming again artists from around the world to celebrate the achievements of the past and to explore the seemingly endless possibilities of glass. Professor Tim Tate will be on a panel with Matthew Szosz, Alexander Rosenberg and moderated by Andrew Page. The discussion is titled: Post Studio Glass    and will discuss how:
The work in glass being shown in galleries and art fairs still focuses on formalist object on a plinth. A new generation of glass artists is breaking with the existing glass art field to apply new strategies. Panelists speak with GLASS Quarterly editor Andrew Page about this generational shift and its implications.

POST STUDIO GLASS PANEL A Look at the New Parameters  for Work in Glass Saturday,June 16 at 1:45-3:15pm in the Seagate rooms 202-208

Click HERE for the conference program pdf.

If you are going to GAS, be sure to avail yourself of all the exhibitions that are part of the Studio Glass Movement's 50th Anniversary. One of the shows (just outside of Toledo in the suburb of Perrysburg, OH) is a great mix of art work by artists that work with narrative imagery. Artwork by leading glass artists April Surgent, Therman Statom, Tim Tate, Marc Petrovic, Susan Taylor Glasgow, and Michael Janis.

Images

June 11- Sept 14, 2012

Walter E. Terhune Gallery

Owens Community College

30335 Oregon Rd, Perrysburg, OH 43551

Hyperopia Projects' Salon des Glass Refusés Launch Fundraiser

Mentioned in an earlier blog posting, Hyperopia Projects is organizing a show of glass sculpture "Superpostion" in Seattle during the Glass Art Society Annual Conference to exhibit some of the most innovative and out-side mainstream glass and glass-related artwork. It will be held at the Center on Contemporary Art in June, 2011. The show’s jurors are Jack Wax, Jocelyne Prince, Jin Hongo and Michael Scheiner. Using the arts fundraising site of Kickstarter, the organization is seeking pledges to help get the show up and running. They have made a short video to help outline the purpose of the exhibition and how donations will be utilized.

Glass Art Society Seeks 2012 Proposals

Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art
Photo courtesy of floto + warner

The Glass Art Society Board of Directors is requesting proposals for lectures, lec-mo's, demonstrations and panels for the 2012 Toledo, Ohio conference relating to the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Studio Glass "Roots" in America.
You do not need to be a member of GAS to submit a presentation proposal.

Glass Art Society 42nd Annual Conference
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Studio Glass “Roots” in America
Toledo, Ohio June 13-16, 2012
DEADLINE FOR PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS:
OCTOBER 25, 2010

Click HERE to jump to GAS' submission requirements.

GAS Clarifies Arizona Conf Cancellation

An earlier post listed the Glass Art Society (GAS) cancellation of the planned 2011 GAS Conference in Tuscon Arizona.

The Board of Directors for GAS has issued a clarification, emailed out to the members of the glass artist organization on the reasons behind the decision to cancel the Arizona conference.

"Dear GAS Members:

The Board of Directors and the Executive Director would like to thank you for your many communications regarding the recent decision to cancel the 2011 Annual Conference in Tucson for financial reasons. It became evident from the many comments we received, both supporting and opposing the decision, that further explanation regarding our organization’s budgeting process would be helpful to all.

From the onset, the Board did not make this decision based on the new Arizona immigration law. Personal opinions of Board Members cannot be allowed to influence such an important decision, and the diversity of the Board ensures this. GAS depends financially on its Annual Conference to generate funds for operating the association. Our membership dues alone do not pay for all we do: staffing, office rental, communications, travel, website, GASnews, the GAS Journal, etc…we need to make money at the Conference not just to survive, but to thrive. A poorly attended Conference puts a serious strain on the finances, if not jeopardizing the organization financially.

Without getting into too much financial detail (a budget is provided and discussed at the annual business meeting): the Conference needs to have a surplus of about $175,000 to cover all associated costs. In addition, a financial “bolster” is needed to cover the International Conferences, which are part of our mission but are also much more costly. We do have a contingency account invested for the long term, but due to the economy and conference attendance, this reserve will be tapped into this year. GAS therefore finds itself in a particularly sensitive year financially, which affects all of its decisions.
How does the Conference support the organization? In several ways:
REGISTRATION FEES
HOTEL REBATES TO NON-PROFITS
TOURS
WEDNESDAY PRECONFERENCE RECEPTION/DINNER (Fundraiser)
THE GAS AUCTION
SITE CITY CONTRIBUTION ($100,000 MINIMUM)
Our finances become critical when attendance is poor. The following leads to losses for the organization:
LOSSES IN REGISTRATION FEES
HOTEL ATTRITION PAYMENTS INSTEAD OF REBATES
CANCELLATION OF TOURS
NO INCOME AT THE BENEFIT
LOWER INCOME AT THE AUCTION
DROP IN MEMBERSHIP INCOME DUE TO LACK OF RENEWALS (SOME MEMBERS TEND TO RENEW ONLY WHEN THEY COME TO THE CONFERENCE)

All of this adds up, sometimes in the hundreds of thousands, and goes against our Annual Budget. How did this affect our decision to cancel Tucson?

POOR ATTENDANCE AT ANY CONFERENCE, DESPITE A BEAUTIFULLY PLANNED PROGRAM, MEANS WE WILL BE DIPPING INTO OUR CONTINGENCY FUNDS.
THE TUCSON SITE COMMITTEE HAD YET TO SECURE ENOUGH FUNDS FROM THE CITY OR REGIONAL PROVIDERS TO MEET THE $100,000 COMMITMENT, DESPITE GOING THROUGH THEIR HIGH SEASON.
THE PROSPECT OF MEMBERS NOT ATTENDING BECAUSE OF THEIR OPPOSITION TO THE IMMIGRATION POLICY WOULD HAVE MEANT AN EVEN GREATER FINANCIAL BURDEN TO THE ORGANIZATION.
WE HAVE A SMALL WINDOW TO FIND ANOTHER LOCATION THAT WOULD NOT BE OBJECTIONABLE TO OUR MEMBERSHIP.

We, the Board of Directors of the Glass Art Society, have a difficult job ahead of us. Not only do we oversee the programming for the organization and the Conference, we also have the responsibility for its financial survival. We want to be able to pass the Board over to future members in sound shape, as we have so far. Let me assure you that we have struggled with the weighty decision of canceling a Conference site, we did so to guarantee Conferences in the future.
The Board will be meeting on Saturday, June 12, at 12 noon the Rose Room of the Marriott Hotel for the Annual Business Meeting. Anyone who has further questions about Tucson, the budget, or GAS in general, should attend this meeting, as it is open to all members.

Best regards,

Shane Fero
President
Glass Art Society "

Glass Art Society Cancels Arizona Conference

The Glass Art Society (GAS) has made a strong statement - they have cancelled the 2011 international conference scheduled to be held in Tuscon, Arizona, citing concerns about financial concerns and also concerns about the "political climate" (the immigration law SB1070). Below is an excerpt from a letter sent to members:

"On Wednesday of this week, the Glass Art Society Board of Directors, charged with the fiduciary responsibility of the organization, decided to cancel the 2011 GAS conference in Tucson, scheduled to be held, April 7-9, 2011.

The decision was not taken lightly by anyone. The Board clearly appreciates and understands the tremendous amount of work that has been put in to the 2011 conference by Tucson and GAS. Ultimately, a decision had to be made and had to be made quickly, based on the organization’s finances and the need to avoid a large deficit for the fiscal year had to take precedent over any other sentiments the Board members have.

The Glass Art Society is a 501 (c) 3 organization. As a not-for-profit, we are feeling the affects of the waning economy as well. GAS is not boycotting the state of Arizona but made the decision to cancel the conference because the economics did not support going forward in this political climate. With a Latin American focus for this conference, the controversial issues in the state are particularly poignant. Whether glass artists south of the US border would come; whether GAS would be liable for things that could happen in Arizona for the Latino members; whether GAS could weather the negative economic impact to the organization that this issue could cause; whether in this economic climate the local committee could raise the money needed for the conference; were all issues that the Board needed to consider.

Although an alternative site has not been selected, the date will definitely change. We propose that the conference will now be June 9-11, 2011. GAS has much to do now to find an alternative site and program the conference with changes that will be needed. We expect to announce a new location at the Louisville Conference in June."

The GAS 2010 conference is scheduled to take place this coming June 10 -12 in Louisville, KY. Click HERE to jump to the conference website.

UPDATE:

The Glass Art Society sent its members an email June 04, 2010 that included a clarification of its reasons for the cancellation of the 2011 conference. Click HERE to jump to text of the GAS letter.