Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your support of the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation during this past year. I write to enlist your continued support of the Committee for the coming year, including your financial support.

It has been a busy year for the Committee. Following 2011’s successful conference, Keeping the Lid on Davy Jones' Locker: The Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage from Titanic to Today, 2012 was an equally active year, if not moreso.

Highlights of 2012 included:

Advocacy

•  We campaigned against the broadcasting of Spike TV’s American Diggers series and National Geographic Channel’s Diggers series.
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• We lobbied Congress against premature consideration of S. 2212, the United States Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, a bill that would allow foreign governments to immunize themselves from U.S. lawsuits when loaning art and antiquities to American museums, until it has addressed concerns with this bill through open hearings.
  

• We joined other amici in the successful filing of a motion to file an amicus brief on appeal to the New York Court of Appeals in Matter of Flamenbaum, a case involving the “spoils of war” doctrine.

Education

• We held the Third Annual National Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition in February at DePaul University College of Law, in which student teams from across the country briefed and argued two issues concerning the Theft of Major Artwork Act, 18 U.S.C. §668.

• We judged a record 32 submissions from 22 law schools for the annual Student Writing Competition submission on any aspect of cultural heritage law, including art, cultural property, historic preservation, indigenous peoples, and intangible cultural heritage.

• We held another successful conference, From Plunder to Preservation: The Untold Story of Cultural Heritage, World War II, and the Pacific, in November 2012.

In the Media and Other Venues

• We continued to maintain a website, blog, and Facebook page with the latest developments in cultural heritage protection.
  

• Our Executive Director, Tess Davis, was interviewed by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Bangkok Post, Voice of America, ABC Radio, and other international and national media about the looting of Cambodian antiquities, and contributed op-eds to CNN and the Los Angeles Times on the subject.
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• Tess promoted the November LCCHP Conference on the widely-read blog, IntLawGrrls, which also featured her Cambodian research.
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• Board Member Ricardo St. Hilaire was interviewed by Public Radio International and ABC Radio on the U.S. v. 10th Century Cambodian Sandstone Statue case, quoted on ArtsHub Australia, and maintained an award winning blog on cultural heritage law.
  
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• Board Members Tom Kline and Lucille Roussin prominently appeared in the documentary Portrait of Wally, released in 2012, about the celebrated repatriation of Egon Schiele’s famous portrait that had been seized by the Nazis.
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• We promoted the protection of cultural heritage at national and international conferences and educational settings.

As you know, it takes a lot of effort, as well as funding, to support the Committee’s work. For the past two years, we have had the invaluable assistance of our part-time Executive Director, Tess Davis, who has tirelessly supported our efforts and activities. During the coming months, we will face the challenges of hiring Tess’s successor, and trying to grow that position into a full-time one. We cannot do so without having a prominent and successful fundraising campaign.

Toward this goal, I am writing to ask you to contribute to the Lawyers’ Committee in a variety of ways. 

Some of the ways that you can support the Committee include:

• Encouraging colleagues and friends with an interest in cultural heritage preservation to join the Committee, either individually or as part of an institution . . . or both!
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• Joining one of our Board committees:

o   Advocacy & Litigation
o   Budget & Finance
o   Conferences & Other Events
o   Education & Outreach
o   Membership & Development.

• Suggesting topics for Committee programs.
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• Donating “in kind” contributions to the Committee, such as video services or photography at Committee programs, offering venues for programs, printing programs or brochures, or other services or goods that you or your organization can offer.
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• Letting us know whether you, your institution, or others you know are capable of making a transformational donation to the Committee.

Whether you feel comfortable contributing $25 or $2500, every contribution makes a difference. 

Toward this end, I ask that you consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the Committee before the end of 2012 by clicking on “Donate” on the Committee’s webpage.

It’s as simple as that.

So, I thank you again for your support as we begin 2013.

Best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season,

Diane

Diane Penneys Edelman

President

Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation