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Richard Bryant AIA
Principal
Corvallis OR
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That was an interesting comparison between the dues structure of your realtor organizations and that of the AIA. Yes, it would be nice if AIA furnished contract docs as part of the dues structure. But that is not likely to happen.
In my humble opinion, the AIA is a great organization and can become even greater if more members take an active role in directing their local chapter, State organization, and National. Until the grass-roots members play an active role in the organization and policy-making, AIA-National will continue to favor the perceived needs of large firms. Unfortunately, the needs and expectations of large firms are not always parallel to the needs and expectations of smaller firms.
AIA-National continues to make terrible choices related to publications provided to our members. The most blatant recent mistake was the horrible selection of Architect magazine as the new official-voice publication for the AIA. The format of "Architect" magazine is terrible and I view it as an embarrassment to the AIA and the profession. Consider these critical observations - font size that is too small;too much wasted white space in articles and around photos; photos that look like they were taken with an Instamatic Camera; photos that have little or no artistic value and near-zero instructional value; entire pages wasted on idiot-quality graphics that could have been used to show plans, sections, details, photos, or instructional text.
Take a critical look at several recent-past issues of Architect, the premier issue of AIArchitect, and the recent follow-up editions. Do you share my observations and complaints about the "new" magazine?
While Architectural Record was not perfect, even at it's worst, Record was far superior to the recent and current devolution of Architect magazine.
Most AIA members were not aware that our dues included a $50 add-on to receive Record. That fact was hidden in the small print of your dues invoice.
What is especially appalling about the switch to Architect magazine is that now we have the pleasure of paying $29 a year to receive Architect magazine - a magazine that we used to get for free. And AIA has stiff-armed the publisher to require that every subscriber (AIA and non-AIA alike) to Architect must now pay for their subscription. So who was the winner in that change? Certainly not the non-AIA members and probably not the AIA members. Free junk is one thing, but forcing one to pay for junk that was once free seems like a lapse of ethics and common sense.
Hanley- Wood has some very good magazines in their stable. But if Architect magazine is so bad compared to their other offerings, then it seems like it is time to muck out the stable. Start the stall cleaning by terminating Ned Cramer, editor of Architect. And while they are cleaning house at Architect, fire the graphic artists, the photographers, and the writers. Find folks who are dedicated to quality architectural journalism and actually understand the art and profession of architecture rather than sensationalism and pandering to the "stararchitect" cult.
Bottom line - you only get out of your membership what you are personally prepared to put into the organization. If you have complaints about the AIA operations and policies, then contact your Regional Director and voice your concerns. The Regional Directors and your chapter Board are your immediate elected representatives and they direct AIA-policy when they are doing the job they were elected to perform. They need to know what your concerns are. The internet is a great tool to effect changes if one is prepared to raise issues and bring concerns into the forum.
Richard Bryant, AIA
Alta Vista Design Architecture & Planning LLC
Corvallis, OR