25th May 2010, 09:44 PM
Hi David, I saw this proposal in the last AAI&S newsletter and it had been gnawing away at the back of my mind, but I've been seriously busy and the voting/decision date was way off... so...
I'm a recently joined licentiate member of the AAI&S, have my portfolio ready for submission, but just haven't got round to biting the bullet and sending off to get the date for Assessment. Like you I will be not a little worried at the prospect of a peer-reviewed, no short-cuts, admission grilling, and once I do get time to arrange a submission then I will be bricking it until the Big Day arrives. This is, to me, how admission to such a grouping should be.
So is it any different to applying to be a similar grade at the IFA? Well as a fairly recent new MIFA I have to say that I felt exactly the same about my application to the ifa for MIFA as I currently do for the application to AAI&S! So it aint like applying to be Mifa (or whatever grade) is a soft option by comparison.
So why did I apply to join each of these organisations? Well the reasons for the application to iFA were a bit complex, but the application to join AAI&S was specifically in order to aim at being accepted as an MAAI&S. Not the newsletter, not the website, not the AGM. Purely to get them letters to support my work as a freelance illustrator. Selfish? Well maybe, but those who know me will know that I will always do what I can do help any group I am a member of. But as a freelance illustrator those letters, and the peer review that they involve, are what you need to demonstrate that you have what it takes and get that immediate ‘trust’ to expand your client base beyond word of mouth clients.
But what about the proposal to merge the two organisations? Well the AAI&S have been ‘twinned’ with the Illustrators SIG at the IFA for a while, and share interests and priorities, and probably (unpaid) committee members, but personally I see the two as having different but complementary roles. The AAI&S should continue as being a peer-reviewed group, with two tiers of membership, where full membership means you have passed a rigorous and SPECIFICALLY illustrator/survey based assessment. And to be honest the idea that the IFA has unlimited staffers to take over the running of any merged group is laughable, the SIGs are run by unpaid members, same as at the AAI&S. There will be little change in workload for committee members. Unless of course the unbelievable happens and more volunteers come forward.
I would say to Liz that I really don’t see why you can’t get to be accepted as MIFA as a specialist illustrator in the same way as any other type of specialist can? Have you checked with the IFA admissions group? I know at least one of them should be keen to get illustrator specialists up there. Maybe this is another possible route for this? Can anyone from Ifa comment?
Yes licentiate should maybe = Pifa (on receipt of proof of basic equivalent competence), and MAAI&S definitely =MIFA, but lets keep MAAI&S as well! It does MEAN something. Or as a MIFA can I get to be a MAAI&S just because I am in the Illustration SIG? Surely reciprocal rights! I fully understand the issues with running a small organisation, and the fact that it is tempting to merge, but lets not throw the baby out with the bath water?
I'm a recently joined licentiate member of the AAI&S, have my portfolio ready for submission, but just haven't got round to biting the bullet and sending off to get the date for Assessment. Like you I will be not a little worried at the prospect of a peer-reviewed, no short-cuts, admission grilling, and once I do get time to arrange a submission then I will be bricking it until the Big Day arrives. This is, to me, how admission to such a grouping should be.
So is it any different to applying to be a similar grade at the IFA? Well as a fairly recent new MIFA I have to say that I felt exactly the same about my application to the ifa for MIFA as I currently do for the application to AAI&S! So it aint like applying to be Mifa (or whatever grade) is a soft option by comparison.
So why did I apply to join each of these organisations? Well the reasons for the application to iFA were a bit complex, but the application to join AAI&S was specifically in order to aim at being accepted as an MAAI&S. Not the newsletter, not the website, not the AGM. Purely to get them letters to support my work as a freelance illustrator. Selfish? Well maybe, but those who know me will know that I will always do what I can do help any group I am a member of. But as a freelance illustrator those letters, and the peer review that they involve, are what you need to demonstrate that you have what it takes and get that immediate ‘trust’ to expand your client base beyond word of mouth clients.
But what about the proposal to merge the two organisations? Well the AAI&S have been ‘twinned’ with the Illustrators SIG at the IFA for a while, and share interests and priorities, and probably (unpaid) committee members, but personally I see the two as having different but complementary roles. The AAI&S should continue as being a peer-reviewed group, with two tiers of membership, where full membership means you have passed a rigorous and SPECIFICALLY illustrator/survey based assessment. And to be honest the idea that the IFA has unlimited staffers to take over the running of any merged group is laughable, the SIGs are run by unpaid members, same as at the AAI&S. There will be little change in workload for committee members. Unless of course the unbelievable happens and more volunteers come forward.
I would say to Liz that I really don’t see why you can’t get to be accepted as MIFA as a specialist illustrator in the same way as any other type of specialist can? Have you checked with the IFA admissions group? I know at least one of them should be keen to get illustrator specialists up there. Maybe this is another possible route for this? Can anyone from Ifa comment?
Yes licentiate should maybe = Pifa (on receipt of proof of basic equivalent competence), and MAAI&S definitely =MIFA, but lets keep MAAI&S as well! It does MEAN something. Or as a MIFA can I get to be a MAAI&S just because I am in the Illustration SIG? Surely reciprocal rights! I fully understand the issues with running a small organisation, and the fact that it is tempting to merge, but lets not throw the baby out with the bath water?