Annual Meeting Wrap-Up
By Abed Hadded, AIC Vice President, and other contributors
This past May, we were welcomed to Minneapolis with a drizzle that gave way to sunny skies and a successful gathering of colleagues and friends, old and new. To be honest, I had never traveled this far into the Midwest, and I have a bad habit, perhaps a tradition at this point, of not researching places before I go. But one thing I did know to expect was cheese curds, and I had more than my fair share! And embarrassingly—to my partner’s chagrin—I didn’t realize Minnesota was so close to the Great Lakes. So, if nothing else, AIC’s Annual Meetings have considerably expanded my knowledge of North American geography, as an immigrant myself (Montreal next year, anyone?).
This year’s theme, What’s Your Story? The Power of Collaborations and Connections, felt especially resonant amid the ongoing challenges facing our field. Colleagues are navigating trauma of war and loss, withdrawal of critical funding, and erosion of hard-won progress toward equity and racial justice. The annual meeting officially commenced with two powerful keynotes that explored this year’s theme through a shared emphasis on collaboration to preserve place, culture, and collective impact. Shelley Buck began with a land acknowledgment in Dakota and spoke about her community’s work to restore the sacred falls at the heart of Minneapolis. Jeanelle Austin, founder of Rise and Remember, delivered a passionate talk about how cultural heritage preservation can drive meaningful change, particularly in how communities engage with public art and preservation efforts. These themes resonated throughout the ceremony that followed, threading though the remarks of many awardees, who reflected on inclusion, preservation as an act of sharing and cultural memory, and the importance of collaboration within our AIC community.
Similarly, the Opening General Session offered renewed hope, demonstrating the resilience of our partnerships when we center community, voice, and care. Bianca Garcia opened with a reflection on the Balboa Art Conservation Center’s transformation into a radically inclusive, community-centered regional center. She called on the field to move beyond transactional models of conservation and to reimagine it as a practice grounded in justice, shared stewardship, and collective leadership. Similarly, Kelly McHugh explored the evolving principles of collaboration, underscoring the role of humility and tension between institutional and community priorities; insights that laid the foundation for the concurrent session “NMAI Collaborative Relationships: A Focused and Critical Look,” held the next day.
read the full Annual Meeting article here >>