It has been a great source of pride that in the last year, the Art, Cultural Institutions and Heritage Law Committee of the International Bar Association has remained active and engaged with issues of art and cultural property law despite the pandemic. We had a very exciting in-person program organized and ready to go for June, 2020 at the Ecole du Louvre, where I snapped this picture in February 2020 expecting to be back just four months later. Fate intervened, of course, but with thanks to my co-chair last year Giuseppe Calabi, and my co-chair starting January 1 of this year Anne-Sophie Nardon, we have held a webinar in June, a panel at the IBA’s Virtually Together conference, and stayed active in our publications and newsletter. Cultural property and commercial art law certainly hasn’t taken a break for the pandemic, and while I very much miss our in-person gatherings, it has allowed us to reach new members and grow the ranks of our officer team. We are ever larger and more diverse, with officer representation from every continent except Australia (and Antarctica--so far!).
