Dear Robert:

Without digging in the various architectural, engineering, construction, and
interior design trade publications it is hard to document.  However, the facts
aren't hard to find.  If your interested you will find the changes in status
of interior designers most interesting.  As a professional group, they made
major gains on the architects in the last 10 years.  Many clients now require
interior designers on major projects.  For nearly all major projects, this
work used to be done by architects.

However, the engineers and contractors joined forces and took the biggest bite
out of architects.  Every year more and more major buildings are being
constructed under design-build contracts.  Most of these design build teams
are made up of engineer and general contractor teams.

In any case, as a young architect I watched the AIA up the standards year
after year.  As they did, architects were forced to spend more and more time
and money to earn very expensive continuing education credits, etc.  They
continue to promote this kind of activity even now.   The AIA has its hands
deep in these "so called" continuing education activities.

While the AIA was spending its money making it more and more difficult for
architects to stay in business,  the IFMA and ASID increased their public
relations spending to levels about 3 times that of the AIA.  Together they
were spending about 6 times the amount the AIA was each year.  It worked
wonders for them.

The IFMA is a relatively new group, but its membership grew very fast in the
late 1980's / early 1990's.  The reason was simple, it did things for the
professional members it served.

Does this relate to museum professionals?  Maybe, maybe not.  But then what
has the AAM actually accomplished for its professional members?  Do we make
more because they did something?  Are U.S. museums better because they did
something?  Are young museum professionals better prepared today?

When are we, as a profession group going to come to grips with the need to
promote museums and museum professionals as a whole.  We need to find ways to
bring improvements to ALL of the profession and to ALL museums.  It is not
enough to point to a few museums or individuals that have managed to improve
if their experience is not shared.  As with all professions, we are all as bad
as the bad in the publics eye.