Hi everyone: This is to remind you of the upcoming deadline to send an abstract by April 15th. There are template forms to use. The abstract can be in English or French. The paper can be written in English, Spanish or French. Please send me your abstracts! Some people have asked about the 'themes' for the meeting and I include them below--but I also know that everyone would like to hear about your projects! What interests you, interests us! Sincerely yours, Mary Ballard, coordinator, Textile Working Group ICOM-CC

The next Triennial Meeting of the ICOM-Conservation Committee is scheduled for The Hague, the Netherlands, in the fall of 2005. For this meeting, there will be two major topics, parallel to those topics chosen by ICOM and by ICOM-CC: 
"Intangible Art" what is done by conservators that the public cannot see? From cleaning to repairs, to not cleaning or selective cleaning or unseen reconstruction, from mounting systems to storage systems, textile conservators have had many triumphs and we look forward to learning more about these successes, past and present!
"Our Cultural Past, Your future" has two implications: how can conservators promote public support and funding for preservation efforts? And how can conservators link treasures from past cultures to a public with a very different cultural background? For example, many rare objects and artifacts belong to cultures that no longer exist. 
Textiles are so susceptible to damage and decay; these topics are particularly important for our working group and we look forward to interesting contributions from our colleagues. In addition it is always a pleasure to accept presentations on major projects and studies in textile conservation.