At the start of another year I would like to bring you up to date on recent developments at the Irish Architectural Archive.
At the end of 2013, David Griffin retired as Director after 28 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Archive. David’s encyclopaedic knowledge particularly of Georgian architecture has been made available to so many people over the years. We are sorry to lose him but are pleased that he has agreed to make his expertise available to the Archive and its members in a voluntary capacity.
The Board has decided to combine the roles of Director and Administrator in the Archive and replace them with a new role of General Manager. Colum O’Riordan, who started his twentieth year with the Archive on 2 January 2014, has been appointed to that post. His dedication and expertise will be invaluable in that role. We look forward to working with him in the years ahead to build and develop the work of the Archive.
Thanks to the closure of the Archive in July and August (or, more bluntly, to not having to pay our loyal staff for two months), together with the great success of our fund raising efforts particularly from our members, we finished 2013 with a small cash surplus. Our sincere thanks to all involved.
We have been informed that our grant for 2014 from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has been reduced by a further 6% or €15, 000. This will have to be replaced by fund raising before we can balance our budget for 2014.
We are very grateful to all those supporters who pledged financial support for 2014 and 2015 as well as last year. We would ask those who contributed for one year and those who were not able to support us last year to consider making a small commitment for 2014. Forms are available here.
Despite the lack of resources 2013 was a good year for exhibitions and lectures, with five shows in the Architecture Gallery and two in the first floor rooms. The number of readers and other visitors continued to increase. The number of visits to the Dictionary of Irish Architects website now stands at over 361,500 and more than 1.3 million pages have been viewed, as clear an example as any of the growing demand for access to the services only the Archive can provide.
We look forward to some exciting exhibitions and other events in the year ahead as we continue to grow and develop the Archive to serve all our members and users.
I would like to place on record my thanks to our members, supporters and Board members for their support in what was a very difficult year for the Archive. I would particularly like to thank our loyal staff who despite all the problems continues to serve our users in their usual friendly efficient and professional way.
Michael Webb,
Chairman,
Irish Architectural Archive.
January 2014