Fall Conference Season

Each year, leaders in art stewardship, museum practice, logistics, and collections care gather to exchange ideas, strengthen relationships, and set the tone for the year ahead. At Atthowe Fine Art Services, we see these conferences as an essential part of our responsibility to the fine arts community. This fall, our team participated in three such gatherings: WMA 2025, ICEFAT 2025, and the ARCS 2025 Conference.

Western Museums Association (WMA) — Reno, Nevada

At WMA’s Annual Meeting Elevate, our team was reminded—once again—that strong relationships are the most rewarding aspect of our work. Conversations in sessions, hallways, and evening gatherings were a meaningful reminder of the trust, creativity, and long-term collaboration that define the arts community. Our staff attendees this year, Bryan Cain (CEO) and Michelle Nye (Head of Co-op Development), especially loved sessions on leadership, succession planning, strategic planning, and round tables on the important work carrying forward the work of DEI in challenging times.

In addition to being a sponsor, our contribution to this year’s WMA conference included facilitating a panel on how co-op governance practices—such as stakeholder board seats and increased participation in strategy—might inspire fresh thinking in museums. The session sparked meaningful conversations with attendees interested in these models, and we’re excited to keep that exchange of ideas going.

You can read the full panel recap here:

“Reimagining Museum Governance: Lessons from Cooperative Models”

International Convention of Exhibition and Fine Art Transporters (ICEFAT) — Budapest, Hungary

For the international art logistics community, ICEFAT is one of the most important annual gatherings. This year’s meeting in Budapest brought together fine art agents from around the world to discuss global standards and best practices across packing, storage, transport, installation, international logistics, and risk management.

Our attendees this year, Bryan Cain (CEO) and Sarah Tedder (Head of Logistics) left the conference inspired by in-depth exchanges with peers centered on supporting ongoing improvement of the systems that engender safe, ethical art transport worldwide. ICEFAT’s structured sessions, 1:1 meetings, collaborative dialogues, and audit-verified standards help set the professional benchmarks that so many arts institutions rely on.

Association of Registrars and Collection Specialists (ARCS)  — St Louis, Missouri

The ARCS Conference remains a cornerstone gathering for registrars and collections specialists which is why we were glad to sponsor a scholarship for those who needed financial support to attend. This year’s program included workshops, panels, and discussions on everything from hazard mitigation and emergency planning to sustainability in collections care and the evolving role of digital tools in artwork registration.

For Atthowe, ARCS is always a welcome opportunity to stay connected with the professionals whose careful stewardship guides every stage of artwork handling—long before a shipment leaves an institution, private collection, gallery or the like, and long after it arrives at its destination. Our attendees this year, Sarah Tedder (Head of Logistics) and Jenn Doyle Crane (Head of Special Projects), returned with insights that will continue shaping our approaches to communication, care, and collaboration with partners and clients, museums, conservators, and collectors across the region, nationally and internationally.

Looking Ahead: Continuing the Conversation

Across these conferences, a consistent theme rings true: our shared community thrives when we learn from one another. Whether discussing logistics, collections care, cooperative governance, or the daily challenges of art stewardship across the globe, these face-to-face gatherings strengthen the networks that uphold our shared work.

We’re grateful to the organizers of WMA, ICEFAT, and ARCS for creating spaces where these ongoing conversations can happen—and to everyone we connected with at the events. Continue the dialogue with us anytime by reaching out to our staff with your ideas, suggestions, or partnership opportunities. Thank you for being part of this community and we look forward to building shared projects and furthering collaborations in the coming year.