The letter from Geneva brought joy: the city of Gmunden was recently accepted into the “International Academy Of Ceramics” (IAC).
A jury of 14 members thoroughly examined the 150 applications from around the world in a two-stage process and finally found our city, with its diverse activities and facilities, worthy of being an IAC ceramics center.
The certificate of accession will be presented next year at the 51st IAC Congress in Portugal.
The IAC admission is the greatest success to date in Gmunden’s efforts to network with the world’s most important ceramic artists and cities. The “Academy” is a global network in which around 1,000 artists – they represent the largest group – but also museums and ceramic centers from 81 countries are connected. To date, Austria has had seven IAC members, all of them well-known artists.
“The real advantage and value of this membership is the exchange with the world elite of ceramic creation,” explains cultural advisor Andreas Hecht. “We receive a lot of ideas, suggestions and invitations, are recommended as accommodation for artists in residence, can cooperate if we discover related activities, and we have a larger platform for advertising all of our ceramics events and therefore for the city in general couldn’t be.”
