RIdIM (Repertoire International d'Iconographie Musicale).

Baldassarre, Antonio

The Commission Mixte of the Repertoire International d'Iconographie Musicale (RIdIM) met four times in the business year of 2010-11. These meetings took place on 10 April 2010 in Paris and on 27 November 2010 in London as well as on 21 July 2011 in Salvador (Brazil) and on 28 July 2011 in Dublin. Most of the daily business during this year was processed through e-mail communication. In addition the RIdIM Database Sub-Committee met on 30 April and 1 May 2011 to determine the guidelines for the future database project and discuss necessary business in respect of this matter.

The International RIdIM Center

The international center of RIdIM was hosted by the Institut d'histoire de l'art (INHA) from 2006 to 2010. In September 2010 the agreement between INHA and RIdIM ended. Because of significant changes within the academic policy of INHA, RIdIM not only considered renewal of the contract with INHA but also evaluated alternative options. We are very grateful to the Institute for Musical Research (IMR) of London University for having offered not only a new space to RIdIM with great conditions but also for providing a wonderful space focusing on interdisciplinary research in which RIdIM fits perfectly.

I would like to express my gratitude to INHA for having given a warm home to RIdIM for over four years and to Florence Getreau and Jean-Michel Nectoux for having successfully negotiated this option for RIdIM. The warm hospitality RIdIM experienced during its time in Paris was also mirrored in the generous farewell party the institute organized in April 2010. I would also take this opportunity to thank Chloe Dalesme, our past Paris-based Administrator.

Our new address and contact details at IMR are posted on the website with the URL www.ridim.org. During this transitory period we have also appointed Debra Pring as new RIdIM Administrator and because of the greater responsibility of the Administrator's position we have changed the position's title to "Executive Director". I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Debra and John Irving who is serving as Director of IMR on the Commission Mixte of RIdIM, for their commitment for and support of RIdIM. Although we left Paris with tears in our eyes, the Commission Mixte is full of hope of the new opportunities the move may cause. One of these opportunities is a more active presence of RIdIM within the international community within which London University's School of Advanced Study (including such schools as The Warburg Institute) is well-established. On 7 November 2011 RIdIM is organizing by an invitation of IMR a study day focusing on iconography and musical performance.

The RIdIM website: www.ridim.org

As already mentioned, since the move to London, the RIdIM website has been significantly updated Please do not hesitate to contact it. Emails via the site or to RIdIM directly are answered within 48 hours.

The RIdIM database

As reported, RIdIM was able to present a testing database in 2009 at the IMAL meeting in Amsterdam. Further testing and evaluation unfortunately proved that this testing database has not fulfilled the requirements. The Commission Mixte therefore decided to apply for major grants to guarantee professional development. I am pleased to inform you that we were able to acquire such a major grant that put us in the comfortable situation to contract a professional database developer. Richard Brown, our contractee has extensive experience of musical documentation because of his involvement in RILM. I would like to thank Richard for having accepted our offer and to Zdravko Blazekovic and Laurent Pugin for having supported and advised me during the negotiation process. Richard has committed himself to a very strict work plan and time schedule so that we are confident to be able to substitute the old RIdIM database with a much more effective and professional version next year. I am very much looking forward to presenting our results at your next annual meeting in Montreal in 2012.

Whilst talking about the RIdIM database, I do not want to miss the chance to express in this context my sincere gratitude to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation for the generous grant and to Ohio State University at Columbus for continuing to support the RIdIM editorial staff. I particularly express my gratitude to Alan Green, RIdIM's Project Manager, and Sean Ferguson, RIdIM Chief Editor, for their incredible and precious commitment. This special thank you is extended to Dorothea Baumann, Zdravko and Laurent who are part of RIdIM's Database Working Group.

RIdIM centers and working groups

Due to the successful establishment of a RIdIM center in Brazil in 2008, RIdIM has organized its first international conference on music iconography outside of Europe and the U.S. I will report on that later. Because of the establishment of the Brazil Center and the success of the conference the Commission Mixte is hopeful that further efforts will be undertaken to establish a presence in Southern America. This hope is supported by different facts. I was informed that the Colombian scholars plan to establish a coordination group to found a RIdIM center in their country and that the still not yet materialized establishment of the Mexican RIdIM center is planned to happen this year.

We are also convinced that the outreach program that RIdIM is preparing under the supervision of our Commission Mixte member from Brazil, Pablo Sotuyo Blanco, will have a positive effect on the establishment of new centers. Furthermore we would like to re-establish connections among the already existing national centers and working groups by organizing a special day at next IAML meeting in Montreal in 2012. To this end, extensive work is being carried out to ensure an accurate contact list for centres, groups and other parties.

Publications

Since the re-establishment of the Commission Mixte, RIdIM has published the RIdIM Newsletter, which can be ordered through the International RIdIM Center in London. This year we are publishing our first E-Newsletter through the Open Journal System (OJS) to avoid high expenses for printing and mailing. The Newsletter will be available online on our website.

No news has been received from Imago Musicale up to the submission of this report.

It is planned to publish the papers of the Brazil conference in a volume by published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

RIdIM Symposia and Conferences

Because of significant cuts of promised funding the symposium Defining the Self: the role of Music Iconography in Creating Identities that was planned for 2010 in Mexico City had to be cancelled.

Last week RIdIM held its 13th international conference entitled Enhancing Music Iconography Research: Considering the Current, Setting New Trends in Salvador (Brazil). It was a successful and special experience and I would like to take the chance to express my warm gratitude to Pablo Sotuyo Blanco and his organizational team for their excellent logistical, personal and academic support throughout.

Incorporation

Due to increasing difficulties in receiving public and private financial support, the Commission Mixte decided at its London meeting to incorporate RIdIM as an association pursuant to the Swiss Civil Code with its seat in Zurich. This incorporation was successfully achieved in 2011.

Honorary Member

At its London meeting the Commission Mixte has elected Elena Ferrari Barassi honorary member because of her incredible and numerous achievements in music iconography. We are honored that she accepted our invitation and that she joins RIdIM's recently appointed honorary members, i.e., Florence Getreau and Veselmoy Heintz. These scholars not only made a significant contribution to music iconography but also played a significant role in the "revival" of RIdIM. I would like to mention in this respect that we had also the honor to appoint Dona Mercedes Reis Pequeno honorary president of this year's RIdIM conference in Brazil. She made invaluable input into Brazilian music research and documentation and is surely still remembered by the "older" members of IAML since she was appointed to IAML's board in 1955 on which she also served as Vice-President from 1965 to 1973.

Finances

The immediate positive effect of the aforementioned incorporation was the successful grant application that we have submitted to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and its approval to support our database development with a significant fund. Although this is a first positive experience we are still in need of financial support and generous donations to cover other expenditures that allow running and organizing business with a more long-term perspective. I am therefore particularly grateful to our new Executive Director who has expressly dedicated herself to work closely with me to achieve this goal in the fiscal year of 2011-12.

Antonio Baldassarre

President, RIdIM Commission Mixte