In February, I was privileged to represent the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles and San Diego Society of Illustrators at a Summit concerning Illustrators and Reprographic Rights in New York at the Society of Illustrators.

I was in the company of amazing Illustrators and activists and am extremely honored to be included in the picture below:
An incredible picture…almost too large for the camera. This is a solid coalition, not a photo op. Let the caption tell the story:

(l to r) Cynthia Turner, Society of Illustrators; Tatiana El-Khouri, SI of Los Angeles and of San Diego; Don Kilpatrick, at large; Frank Costantino, American Society of Architectural Illustrators; David Labrozze, Illustrators Club of MD, DC and VA; Terry Brown, Executive Director of ASIP; Joe Azur, Also MD, Dc and VA; John Ritter, Pittsburgh, SI; Michael Belknap, Association of Medical Illustrators; Chris Peterson, SI San Francisco; Kristin Hill and Keith Ferris, American Society of Aviation Artists; Dolores Santoliquido, Guild of Natural Science Illustrators; Brad Holland and Glenda Stocco, Illustrators Partnership of America“

Towards the end of the link below, there are more pictures of the day long meetings.
http://stage.societyillustrators.org/publications/thisweek/495.cms

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FROM THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS PARTNERSHIP

Here’s the link to the web cast video of An Evening With Bruce Lehman:
http://www.unitedpgremote.com/society/soi_2008_02_21.html

The house was full for what turned out to be a dramatic evening event. Mr. Lehman’s presentation was eye-opening and forceful. The 12 major illustrators organizations came together in an unprecedented act of unity.

Although accountability of current artists’ reprographic royalties was not intended to be the evening’s topic, events made them so.
Watch the video and see for yourself why so many attendees have called this forum a long-overdue wake-up call.

The town hall capped a series of day-long meetings at which the 12 groups met with Mr. Lehman to discuss options and strategies. The groups voted unanimously to seek the first industry-wide mandate to represent illustrators rights.

To achieve that, the members of each group will be offered automatic joint membership in the American Society of Illustrators Partnership. Published artists who are not members of any group may join ASIP directly. We’ll notify you when and where membership forms are available for downloading.

The following 12 groups were represented:

The Society of Illustrators
The Illustrators’ Partnership of America
The Association of Medical Illustrators
The American Society of Architectural Illustrators
The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators
The San Francisco Society of Illustrators
The Los Angeles Society of Illustrators
The Pittsburg Society of Illustrators
The American Society of Aviation Artists
The San Diego Society of Illustrators
The Illustrators Club of Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia
The National Cartoonists Society
We invite other groups to join ASIP.