AAH Strategic Plan 2022-2024

STRATEGIC PLAN 2022 – 2024

ASSOCIATION FOR ART HISTORY STRATEGIC PLAN 2022 – 2024

The Association’s strategic plan for the years 2022-2024 builds on our work of the past few years in which we introduced a number of new initiatives to advance the study and practice of art history and serve those within our various communities.

It outlines ways in which the Association will contribute to and promote art history, deepen engagement with our subject and ensure that we are positioned to support our discipline effectively into the future.

Reflected in our work in the near term is our commitment to reducing barriers to studying and pursuing careers in art history and encouraging scholarship on the intersection of our subject and decoloniality, the ecology and social justice. These areas of focus will also underpin the planning for our 50th Anniversary in 2024 and our visioning for an organisation moving into its next half century.

VISION & MISSION

Our Vision

Our vision is for a world in which art history thrives and through which we gain a deeper understanding of art and human cultures.

Our Mission

The Association for Art History leads the collective effort in the UK to advance the study and practice of art history. Through our programmes, publications and resources we connect those engaged with art history, aid scholarly research and develop professional practice. We advocate on behalf of a broad and inclusive subject, stressing its importance in a wellrounded education and in influencing relevant policy.

WHAT WE VALUE

Inclusivity

We invite participation from those in the field to help create an organisation that is responsive, and is most beneficial to the subject and its practitioners. We strive to reach broad audiences within the UK and those from areas beyond our traditional spheres of scholarship, readership and involvement. We work to reduce barriers to engagement with art history that may exist as a result of economic or social strata, location, age, capacity, race or ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.

Excellence

The highest standards of excellence and academic rigour underpin all of our work be it in our journal, our annual conference or in our programmes for professionals, educators and for the interested public.

Advocacy

We keep a watchful eye over issues, legislation and social, cultural and pedagogical trends that effect our subject. We seek opportunities to promote the subject, increase participation and support practitioners.

Respect

The ability to recognise and respectfully engage with differing viewpoints and perspectives is essential in our professional interactions. We encourage ways of viewing, doing and being which help to ensure that our organisation is welcoming to all.

OUR COMMUNITIES

The Association has reaffirmed its commitment to its core audiences of those teaching, researching and learning in the higher education sector. We also serve those at the pre-university level to help ensure that students are introduced to our subject and that opportunities to study it are increased. We are making a concerted effort to support those in the professions within our field, especially in the curatorial and art market areas. More broadly, the Association will continue to raise the profile of our subject among life-long learners and those who have an interest in art, visual and material culture who may wish to further those interests through art history.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES CONTRIBUTE TO AND PROMOTE THE SUBJECT OF ART HISTORY

art history?

Over the next three years we will focus on Advocacy, Scholarship and Professional Development.

Advocacy

We will coordinate efforts on decolonising the art history curriculum and diversifying the undergraduate cohort in our subject. We will continue to be vigilant regarding the ongoing threat to arts and humanities subjects at all levels of education and on managing the impact of open access publishing on art history.

We will work with other cognate subject associations and learned societies to advance and share EDI best practice, relevant content, and resourcing. We will further develop our Resource Portal on Anti-Racism and Decolonial Approaches to Art History and Visual Culture, creating an interactive version for our website to facilitate participation and contributions. We will increase efforts to apprise those at university and at preuniversity education levels on the career options in our field.

How are we going to contribute to and promote the subject of

Scholarship

While continuing to publish content in our journal which engages with critical race theory, queer and feminist histories and methodologies, and the imperatives of decoloniality, we will feature research that addresses climate and ecological crises, economic and social justice, and gender. We will take an active role in encouraging and mentoring early career scholars and will develop frameworks for supporting first time Art History contributors. We will explore publishing in English translation work that has first appeared in other languages, as a valuable means of amplifying authors and publications from historically marginalised constituencies and geographies.

We will explore ways in which all of our grants and prizes can further our EDI objectives by reducing barriers to engaging with our subject.

Professional Development

Skills and professional development for doctoral students and early career researchers in the higher education sector will remain a priority for the Association. Alongside this effort, we will further our curatorial initiative to include mentoring and prizes to help nurture and recognise curatorial talent and we will begin a new initiative to highlight career opportunities in the art trade.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES INCREASE ENGAGEMENT WITH ART HISTORY AND WITH THE ASSOCIATION

How are we going to increase engagement with the subject and with us?

Our focus will be on teaching and learning, our public profile and access to the Association and membership.

Teaching and Learning

We will publish a second edition of the book, Thinking About Art. We will develop partnerships with key pre-university groups to assess how art history can be more effectively woven into initial teacher training courses. We will work with cognate humanities subjects to introduce art history CPD for secondary school teachers.

Public Profile of and Access to Art History

We will pursue strategic regional partnerships through Arts Council England’s Bridge Organisations, and selected museums and galleries, to ensure that art history is accessible to audiences from diverse geographies and socio-economic backgrounds.

We will forge links with cultural organisations and further education providers to develop socially inclusive projects, focusing on gender and ethnic participation. Our Art History Festival will have a nationwide presence, reach and engagement.

Membership

We will conduct new research on our membership and our target audiences to inform and create new membership offers for our various constituents. We will establish procedures for monitoring our membership population on an ongoing basis to assess progress against our EDI objectives.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

ENSURE LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY

How are we going to achieve long-term financial and environmental sustainability?

Implement strategies for income generation, communications and marketing, and optimal governance and staff structures to achieve our goals.

Raised and earned income

With the decrease in revenue from our journal in the era of Open Access publishing, we will diversify our income stream, increasing support for initiatives including research grants, learning opportunities and professional development. We will protect and maximise earned income through new publishing contracts and from service provision to strategic partners.

Communications

We will create a communications strategy which highlights the Association’s brand, specific initiatives and flagship events, and implements regular, increased communications to our members and other constituents. We will create guidelines for

communications to members and other audiences that make our digital and print information as accessible as possible.

Staff, board and committees

We will provide refreshed EDI training for staff, board and committees as we continue to implement our EDI action plan. We will implement new financial systems to make processes more time efficient and assess the business case for other audits and services. We will provide additional opportunities for members of our committees and boards to learn about and benefit from their complementary work at the Association, enhancing their experience with us and their own development in the field.

IMAGE CREDITS

The images in this document are open access and copyright free.

Front & back cover: Studie met langwerpige bladeren [Study with elongated leaves], Charles Aubry (manner of), photograph, c.1875-1895, Rijksmuseum.

Page 3: Vilaval Ragini - Folio from a ragamala series (Garland of Musical Modes), painting, c.1680, India (Rajasthan, Sirohi), Gift of Cynthia Hazen Polsky, 1985, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Page 5: Quilt, Contained Crazy pattern, Nancy Doughty, cotton, 1872, American, Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Scheider Gift, 1989, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Page 7: Head of an Oba, Edo artist, metal sculpture, 16th century, The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979, [Looted Benin Bronze], The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Page 8: Vessel, Mythological Scene, Attributed to the Metropolitan Painter, ceramic and pigment, 7th–8th century, Mayan, The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift, 1968, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Page 11: Hikawa Park in Omiya, Kawase Hasui, woodcut print, 1930, Gift of J.J. van Ammers-Douwes, Ochten, Rijksmuseum

Page 13: Abstracte compositie [Abstract composition], Harrie A. Gerritz, print on paper, 1994, Piet Clement Collection, Rijksmuseum.

Page 15: Naakte zittende vrouw met opgetrokken knieën (schets) [Naked seated woman with bent knees (sketch)], Leo Gestel, drawing, in or before 1936, Transfer Instituut Collectie Nederland, Rijksmuseum.

Page 17: The Penitent Magdalen, Georges de La Tour, oil on canvas, c.1640, French, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1978, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Page 19: Socorro black-on-white storage jar, clay and pigment, c.1050–1100, Native American, The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker, 2019, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.