As of today, January 27, 2023, we still do not have an editor for the International Costumer, so as I intimated in my November column, we are for now switching to a simple series of occasional blog posts on the ICG website rather than attempting to hold a formal, scheduled newsletter together any longer with baling wire and chewing gum and toil by a massively overworked guest editor (thank you again, Phil Gust). This is the first of my President’s columns to be posted this way, and will not be the last. We expect to feature assorted articles here in the blogroll under the International Costumer category in lieu of the formal newsletter as material comes in and the Pubs committee has time to post them.

Having survived the holidays (photo is of me performing at a holiday fundraiser hosted by the Imperial Star Empire in Oakland) and the end-of-year deluge here in California, which actually shut down my worksite’s access roads for nearly 2 weeks, things are kicking off again. Andy and I attended Further Confusion two weeks ago (Rainbow Dash was a hit), will be at Gallifrey One in about 2 and a half weeks from now, and costume construction (and improvisation) is furiously underway for Costume-Con 39 in April.

That said, the remainder of this column is practical: board business, nominations for the ICG Lifetime Achievement Award, nominations for Officers of the Board, and notice of the General Meeting in April.

Board Business

The ICG Board of directors approved the budget for 2023. Thank you to officers and chapter reps for approving it well before the deadline!

As I mentioned last issue, assisting Silicon Web with review of their bylaws has revealed significant structural deficiencies in the ICG bylaws on which they are based. There is a logical hierarchy in how corporate bylaws are structured and organized, and ours are dramatically malformed by contemporary standards. This is not intended as a criticism of the original authors (I was one of them), but mostly an artifact of how they were developed forty-odd years ago and have accreted revisions since them. It is past time to fix them; we have had a committee authorized to do so for some time, but the public health situation delayed my appointing committee members. Armed with my notes from the SiWeb review process, i now feel better enabled to do so and we can get things moving this year.

Nominations for 2023 ICG Lifetime Achievement Award

2023 ICG Lifetime Achievement Award Nominations are due by February 20, 2023
It is that time of year again, so I remind our community that any ICG member, chapter, or SIG in good standing may submit nominations for the ICG Lifetime Achievement Award. Nominations may be submitted at any time (see below) to laa-nomination@costume.org.

The Lifetime Achievement Award, the ICG’s highest honor, recognizes a body of achievement in the costuming art and service to the costuming community. Candidates must have been active in the costuming community for at least 10 years, have achieved significant recognition for their costuming skills (which may be in the form of, but not restricted to, competitive awards, professional accomplishments, teaching of skills, and/or media recognition), and have made significant contributions in service to the costuming community.

Full nomination criteria are at http://costume.org/wp/icg-lifetime-achievement-award/

While nominations may be submitted at any time, the deadline to be considered for a given year is no later than 60 days before our annual members meeting. That is been scheduled for April 21, 2023 (at Costume-Con 39) which makes the 2023 nomination deadline Monday, February 23 at 11:59PM Pacific Time. I look forward to reviewing your nominations! The first ones have already arrived.

Nominations for Board Officer positions

Nominations for Officers of the Corporation shall be made in writing (that includes email) to the President of the Corporation at least 30 days in advance of the annual meeting.That means advance nominations are due by Wednesday March 22, 2023 at 11:59PM Pacific Time. Address nominations to president@costume.org Additional nominations may be accepted by writing or voice at the Annual Meeting.

do request that current Officers indicate to me whether they are willing to stand for re-election, preferably well before that March 22 deadline.

Notice of Annual Meeting, April 21, 2023

The annual General Meeting of the membership will be held at Costume-Con 39, in San Jose, California, the morning of Friday, April 21, 2023. At this time, I expect the Board of Directors meeting to be held at 9:00AM Pacific Time, recessed to hold the General Meeting at 10:00AM, and a brief re-convene of the Board to confirm and elect the members’ selected officers to Board, I hope at 11:00 AM. In conjunction with this, no new motion may be made on the Board of Director’s online meeting after Wednesday, March 22.

If you have items you wish placed in advance on the agenda for either the Board or the General Meeting please notify either your chapter board representative, the ICG Recording Secretary (rec-secretary@costume.org) or me (president@costume.org) by Wednesday, March 22. Please note that if your proposed business requires discovery (review of information), providing documents in advance that can be shared with the Board and/or membership will speed the discussion in the meeting.

At this time I am not aware of any major items of business being proposed for the General meeting.

That’s it for now. Still looking for an editor!

Kevin Roche
President, International Costumers’ Guild