For Immediate Release

                DIRECTORS FORUM 2000

                The American Federation of Arts' seventh annual Directors
Forum, a program for directors of small and medium-sized art museums, takes
place in New York City on November 5-7, 2000.  This year the program is
titled "Tried and True/Unknown and New: Forging a Dialogue," and features
four sessions led by eminent guest speakers exploring a variety of timely
subjects, as well as gallery tours and receptions.  
                  
                The Directors Forum provides a singular occasion for
colleagues from across the country and abroad to meet formally and
informally with one another and with representatives from the art, business,
academic, and museum communities.  Past participants have lauded the AFA for
providing this opportunity to network and reflect on issues of common
concern.   
                 
                Sunday, November 5
                National Arts Club
                Registration and Opening Reception 5:00-6:30 p.m.

                Opening Dinner 6:30-8:30 p.m.
                Welcome: Gilbert H. Kinney, President, AFA
                Guest speaker:  Lowery Stokes Sims, Director, The Studio
Museum in Harlem

                Monday, November 6
                National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian
Institution
                Session 9:30-11:00 a.m.
                Common Ground: Building Effective Collaborations
                Frances Hesselbein, President and Board Chairman, Peter F.
Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management; Elizabeth Wright Millard,
Executive Director, The Forum for Contemporary Art; Laura Willumsen,
Executive Director, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts

                Gallery Tour 11:00-11:45 a.m.

                Session 2:00-3:30 p.m.
                Infatuation, Apprehension, and Misconception: Museums and
the Media
                Michael Brenson, freelance critic and curator; Jeanne
Collins, President, Jeanne Collins & Associates; David D'Arcy,
Correspondent, The Art Newspaper; András Szántó, Ph.D., Deputy Director,
National Arts Journalism Program; Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism; Susan Lubowsky Talbott, Director, Des Moines Art Center

                Gallery Tour 3:30-5:00 p.m.

                Reception at the home of Peter Norton, art collector
6:00-8:00 p.m.


                Tuesday, November 7
                Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
                Session
                9:00-11:15 a.m.
                Getty Leadership Institute Workshop: The Productive Uses of
Conflict in Teams
                David Bradford, faculty member, MMI, and senior lecturer,
Graduate School of Business, Stanford University

                Gallery Tour 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

                National Academy of Design Museum
                Luncheon/ Take 5: The Exhibitions Marketplace 12:30 - 2:15

                Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian
Institution
                Session 2:30-4:00 p.m.
                "Fear of Art: Creating a Confident Audience"
                Philip Yenawine, Co-Director, Visual Understanding in
Education (VUE)

                Gallery Tour 4:00-5:00 p.m.

                Closing Reception at Hirschl & Adler Galleries 5:30 - 7:30
p.m.

                A special feature, "Take 5: The Exhibitions Marketplace,"
has been added to the Forum this year.  On Tuesday, during luncheon at the
National Academy of Design, Forum participants are invited to make a
five-minute presentation describing a traveling exhibition organized by
their institution that is available for booking.  

                Directors Forum is supported in part by The Liman
Foundation.  Additional sponsors include Fortress FAE Worldwide, Philip
Morris Companies Inc., TIAA-CREF, Christie's, Art Loss Register, Economic
Stewardship, Inc., and Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

                The Directors Forum is open to all full-time directors of
not-for-profit art institutions who are not members of the Association of
Art Museum Directors (AAMD).  The registration fee is $325 for AFA members
and $375 for nonmembers and includes all conference materials, sessions,
special events, and selected meals.  A block of rooms is reserved at a
special rate at the Shelburne Murray Hill Hotel, 303 Lexington Avenue, New
York City.

                The 2000 Program Committee includes: Arthur R.  Blumenthal,
Ph.D., Director, Cornell Fine Arts Museum; Katherine B. Crum, Director,
Mills College Art Museum; Joan Davidow, Director, Arlington Museum of Art;
Gregory F. Harper, Executive Director, Cape Museum of Fine Arts; and Lesley
Wright, Ph.D., Director, Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell College.

                For more information about the Directors Forum and
registration (open until 
                October 23), please call John W. Nichols, Director of Museum
Services, AFA, at 
                212/988-7700, ext. 41.  The Directors Forum accommodates up
to 100 participants and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.
                *          *          *
                For more information, members of the press may call:
                Lisbeth Mark or Stephanie Ruggiero
                Communications Department
                American Federation of Arts
                tel:  212/988-7700  fax:  212/861-2487   email:
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> 

                Please visit our Web site at www.afaweb.org
<http://www.afaweb.org> 
        	

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