Annual Report 2008-9 - The British School at Rome

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D IRECTOR’ S R EPORT For a director who has served the School for fourteen years, it is no easy thing to bid this institution farewell, nor to put into words what he owes it. My colleague David Forgacs, in his report below, his last after a three-year stint as the inaugural Research Professor in Modern Studies, says that he ‘considers his three years based at BSR to have been without doubt the best research opportunity he has had in his career since he finished his doctorate in 1978, as well as an uniquely rewarding social and intellectual experience’. Scarcely a scholar or fellow or award-winner leaves the School without this sense of regret and indebtedness. The School may set about justifying its existence in the modern world in a variety of ways. Recently the British Academy has been encouraging us to think in terms of what we bring back to the British economy and national welfare. But in the end, the litmus test is this: do those who pass through the institution bring back lasting profit from it? A director is no different from a research professor or a scholar. The telling question is not what you have done for the institution, but what it has done for you. My latest, longest and hardest book, Rome’s Cultural Revolution, finally came out in November 2008. I dedicated it to the British School at Rome because I could only have written it here. The opportunity the School has given me to widen my horizons, to immerse myself in the archaeology and material culture of Italy, and to meet and make friends with a range of Italian and other international scholars and draw stimulus and inspiration from them, is unthinkable without having this base for British scholars in Rome. And this is only an example of the debt I owe. Running such an institution makes great demands, not just on time. But if the cause is a good one, the effort brings its own reward. The British School at Rome is extraordinarily rewarding cause to work for, because it repays your efforts and flourishes, something impossible if the institution had not been set up right in the first place, and if it did not have a valid place in the contemporary world. 4 The past year, like those before it, has been one of vigorous and varied activity, but now in the face of real financial hardship. The collapse of sterling since September 2007 has been catastrophic, from a purchasing power of nearly 1.5 euros to the pound to something very close to parity at its lowest point in March 2009. The drop may be advantageous for the British economy, but for a British institution operating in the euro-zone (the British School at Athens being equally affected), with an income stream almost wholly in sterling, and expenditures largely in euros, the impact is very severe. We have had to rein in spending on many fronts. One of the first to be hit was the Contemporary Arts Programme. For ten years, Cristiana Perrella has run an exceptionally lively programme of contemporary art shows, in recent years being able to make use of our new Gallery space. The programme has enjoyed the highest respect within the Roman art world. On the basis of minimal funding, she has pulled off a programme that has been the envy of far betterfunded institutions in Rome. For the last year, the funding situation has forced us to abandon the programme. Yet the School is determined to reaffirm its commitment to contemporary art. Over the last year, one of our Trustees, Tim Llewellyn, now free from his responsibilities as Director of the Henry Moore Foundation, has drawn up, in consultation with numerous parties inside and outside the institution, a document on the future of the fine arts at BSR. The commitment is there, and the conclusion is that we should aim higher, attracting artists of the highest calibre, and making a ‘Rome prize’ as sought after as an award like the Turner Prize. In the debate on the future of the fine arts, a key role is played by the British Academy. By happy chance, this year was the BSR’s turn for a periodic review. We now absorb over one million pounds a year of public finance (though our accounts show how, on the back of that, we generate at least double, or including the Herculaneum project, four times the amount of non-public finance). We are a heavy
Andrew and Jo Wallace-Hadrill and School staff and residents, June 2009 — a photograph by Photoworks Fellow David Spero commitment for a national academy with stretched resources, and it is healthy that there be an open dialogue, with each side understanding the other’s difficulties and priorities. The committee which provides our funding benefits from a high-calibre team, including the CEO, Robin Jackson, the Chairman of the committee, Professor Michael Fulford, and the head of the programme, Margot Jackson. These three, together with our assessors from the committee, Professors Tony Allan and Leslie Brubaker, spent the best part of a week looking at every aspect of our operations, and produced a report that was complimentary, realistic, and constructive. It will be an important starting point in thinking about future directions for the BSR. One of the issues raised by their report is the role of the fine arts within the institution. The British Academy is the national body responsible for the promotion of the humanities and social sciences. It has no remit for the visual arts and architecture, and the fellowship has no representation in those disciplines. The question therefore is of the extent to which the Academy can take responsibility 5
Page 1 and 2: T HE B RITISH S CHOOL AT R OME Patr
Page 3: C HAIRMAN’ S F OREWORD It is not
Page 7 and 8: lectures represent no diminution of
Page 9 and 10: in its social context. And needless
Page 11 and 12: H ERCULANEUM C ONSERVATION P ROJECT
Page 13 and 14: Left: Mimmo Camardo inspects marble
Page 15 and 16: H UMANITIES AWARDS Balsdon Fellow M
Page 17 and 18: BSR residents visiting the Meeting
Page 19 and 20: M ODERN S TUDIES Icompleted my last
Page 21 and 22: Trevelyan’s Garibaldi Trilogy: hi
Page 23 and 24: Above: White marble head from excav
Page 25 and 26: Salzare at Fosso dell’Incastro ne
Page 27 and 28: FACULTY OF A RCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY AN
Page 29 and 30: Above: Studio 7, Via Antonio Gramsc
Page 31 and 32: Pound, 2009, by Penelope Cain (Aust
Page 33 and 34: A RCHITECTURE P ROGRAMME This year
Page 35 and 36: L IBRARY AND A RCHIVE There has bee
Page 37 and 38: P UBLICATIONS AND E XHIBITIONS BY S
Page 39 and 40: Core Staff S TAFF Director Professo
Page 41 and 42: (f) To award scholarships, Exhibiti
Page 43 and 44: F INANCIAL S TATEMENTS for the year
Page 45 and 46: B ALANCE SHEET as at 31 March 2009
Page 47 and 48: 2. OTHER GRANTS, DONATIONS AND LEGA
Page 49 and 50: N OTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Page 51 and 52: S UBCOMMITTEES AND H ONORARY F ELLO
Page 53 and 54: of Suburban Rome. Disegni dei Conto
Page 55 and 56:
Hayes; Mr T.M. Hayes; Miss A.E. Hea
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Annual Report 2008-9 - The British School at Rome

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