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Transitions: how to stay involved

by Visual Resources Association on Apr 01, 2010

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Margaret N. Webster, Ithaca, NY presentation at VRA 28 Atlanta....

Margaret N. Webster, Ithaca, NY presentation at VRA 28 Atlanta.

Transitions: how to stay involved" as part of the "Staying Alive: Strategies for Dealing with Change and Increasing Professional Viability" session.

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Good afternoon. My remarks come a year after my staff and I discovered that the Knight Visual Resources Facility at Cornell would be closed as of the end of May, 2009. This decision was made by a very new dean, an architectural practitioner, who faced severe financial pressures and had a very different vision or mission about how images should be created, managed, and disseminated. He made this decision without consulting either with the faculty or with me. Protests from faculty, students, and professional colleagues all fell on deaf ears. In this case, the contents of the finely argued VRA White Paper: Advocating for Visual Resources Management did not fall on fertile ground. This event indeed happened; I have survived as has my former staff. In the process which in some respects parallels the grieving process we all learned many things including how to let go, and we have all sought out positive experiences in other arenas. This has not been easy, but we have found open doors. Our faculty and students patrons are coping either by providing their own instructional images or by using one of several distributed services that the Cornell University provides.
Change Change is natural; as we all know, it can be either orderly or chaotic; easy or difficult; positive or negative; it always includes an element of tension. Mentally contrast the changes that occur in the deliberations and decisions of the executive board of VRA with the political machinations in Washington. It occurs to people as well as institutions or organizations. Our educational and cultural institutions have been forced into change thanks to the “Great Recession” which continues to have a huge impact on their endowments. In the visual resources field it includes the fundamental switch in platform and delivery from analog to digital and the changes in services and the way they are delivered that this transformation requires. Some things will never be the same as our previous panelists have amply demonstrated. Giuseppe Arcimboldi (c.1527-1593) Allegory of Spring, 1573 Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain
Transition Transition is a product of change. One need only think about the Labors of the Months; Ages of Man; the Passage of the Seasons; the Phases of the Moon; the transitions during one’s professional life from student through early to mid and late career phases and finally into retirement to get the idea. In fact, the speakers on our panel represent several of these career stages. We know that visual resources as a profession is fundamentally involved with transition. Of course, transitions are always easier if those involved have some control over the process. They benefit from solid planning as well as a positive attitude. The levels of stress and uncertainty are reduced if one can plan for an orderly transition from here to somewhere else. Giuseppe Arcimboldi (c.1527-1593) Allegory of Summer, 1573 Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
Transitions: The Visual Resources Profession We have known for a long time that many of our colleagues have served in the profession for a many years. I think it might be interesting to take a look at one aspect of the Visual Resources Profession as captured in the 2007 Professional Status Survey and compare it with corresponding figures from 1999. [Note the Bell Curve.] In 2007, 59% of us were younger than 51; this contrasts with 65.5% in 1999. Conversely, in 2007, almost 31% of us were 51 years old or older as opposed to 35.5% in 1999. It is this latter group of experienced colleagues that is being targeted in this round of cut backs. If one considers that about 60% of the budget in our academic and cultural institutions is allocated to salaries, wages, and benefits, it is no wonder that this is the case. Those of us who have held jobs for a long time and have been rewarded for our professional work are now during this recession too expensive to retain. This situation is exacerbated by the provisions of the current amended version of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 which prohibits mandatory retirement on the basis of age for all workers. We have an advocate for the elderly, Claude Pepper a deceased member of the House of Representatives from Florida, to thank for this legislation which while helping to eliminate age discrimination makes it difficult to maintain the orderly transition of the employment cycle from beginning to end. It means that it is nearly impossible for an institution to reduce their personnel budget except by attrition, lay-offs, and position elimination. Needless to say, it is almost impossible to eliminate tenured faculty positions. These are crude tools which tend to work outside of the planning process. So, given this situation, how can those in transition survive let alone stay involved? Giuseppe Arcimboldi (c.1527-1593) Allegory of Autumn, 1573 Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
How to stay involved: One of the most appealing aspects of the visual resources profession is that it is a profession-- “a vocation or career, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification”( Oxford English Dictionary). We are a dedicated, committed, talented, flexible, inventive, self-starting, and resourceful group of colleagues. This is also a young profession which was built by many colleagues who are current VRA members. In the early part of our careers, it is assumed that we will grow in our profession becoming more and more competent, but what happens when leave our positions—whether voluntarily or because they have been eliminated? Do we want to remain professionally active and engaged? What happens to our accumulated learning, experience, and management skills? How can the profession harness this talent? For VRA these are important issues because they will have an impact on the continuing development and viability of the association. To a great extent, the answers to these questions depend on one’s personal circumstances. The younger one is when confronting change, the more important it is to find or retain gainful employment even if it means leaving the profession. If an internal institutional or administrative restructuring or reassignment is possible, it will often lead to exciting new challenges and directions. At the other end of the spectrum, some of us are tired of the rat race and are thankful that we can enjoy our well deserved leisure and pursue other activities and interests. The challenge is to maintain a positive and receptive outlook while seeking opportunities where ever they might be. While there are lots of “doors” that one could walk through, I’m personally interested in using my professional skills to make visual resources collections—some of which are at risk—available to the educational community. Clearly remaining active in professional organizations provides an important professional structure while you are in transition. Other strategies include: Applying for jobs as they become available Creating a profile on professional social networking sites such as, LinkedIn; promoting yourself as a consultant Joining “the Transitions” Networking with colleagues Volunteering to work with organizations, institutions, or individuals that have visual collections in need of curatorial work Volunteering to be a reviewer for granting organizations such as NEH, NEA, IMLS Contributing to imaging projects such as SAHARA Publishing All job related transitions and especially those that separate you from your position are difficult—emotionally and physically. You need to spend time to recover and to discover. Be open to new experiences; try things—some will not work out for you, but others may well lead to interesting challenges or even employment. You won’t know what will work for you until you try. Leigh Gates, Maureen Burns, and I recently created a Google Group—The Transitions—to provide a safe place for “transitioners” of any age and circumstance to discuss issues, post documents of interest, and support each other. If you are interested in joining, please let one of us know. I’m sure that you will have many, many additional suggestions. I look forward to hearing your ideas. Giuseppe Arcimboldi (c.1527-1593) Allegory of Winter, 1563 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

Transitions: how to stay involved — Presentation Transcript

Staying Alive: Strategies for Dealing with Change and Increasing Professional Viability Transitions: how to stay involved Margaret N. Webster Ithaca, NY Atlanta, March 17, 2010
Change, verb or noun
- make or become different. • (of the moon) arrive at a fresh phase; become new.
- change one's attitude/plans alter, modify, transform, convert, vary, remodel, recast, restyle, reconstruct, reorder, reorganize, metamorphose, transmute, permutate, permute.
Transition, noun
- the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.
- a passing or change from one place, state, condition, etc., to another ( an age of transition ; a transition from plains to hills ).
The Visual Resources Profession
- http://groups.google.com/group/the-transitions
- Or
- http://www.linkedin.com/
The Transitions
- http://groups.google.com/group/the-transitions
- Or
- http://www.linkedin.com/

Transitions: how to stay involved

by Visual Resources Association on Apr 01, 2010

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Transitions: how to stay involved — Presentation Transcript