We have a chat amongst ourselves about the process of becoming an accredited conservator, as seen by two mid-career people staring at the application form in fear and distress. This episode contains snippets of both Jenny’s and Kloe’s thoughts on the very early stages of getting ready to even apply, being on the Pathway (PACR), and some of the notable barriers. Kloe also interviews Heather Doyle about how accreditation works and how it will be changing, and Dear Jane handles a question about how to pitch for more hours of work.
00:00:33 Jenny’s long road on the Pathway
00:05:38 Kloe’s speed-run
00:11:26 The murky history of accreditation
00:16:01 Evidence is everything
00:21:27 Reasons to go for it
00:23:41 Specialisms are made up
00:29:50 Jenny frets about things after a workshop
00:32:36 Kloe’s commitment
00:37:17 Kloe’s anxiety about specialisms and forms
00:40:49 Kloe’s confused about mentors
00:42:08 Kloe discovers the Pathway
00:43:35 Kloe’s funding issues
00:45:20 Interview with Heather Doyle
01:12:56 Postscript (sort of)
01:16:18 Dear Jane
01:23:59 Patreon shout out and appeal
Show Notes:
– All about Icon accreditation: https://www.icon.org.uk/accreditation.html
– The Conservation Register: https://www.conservationregister.com/
Hosted by Jenny Mathiasson and Kloe Rumsey.
Intro and outro music by DDmyzik, used under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
Made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license.
A Wooden Dice production, 2023.
I recently found your podcast and listened to the episode about accreditation, which is a particular interest of mine. Like both of you, I have many criticisms of the scheme and Icon’s administration of it so it was interesting to hear your views.
However, I was very surprised to hear your comments about the fast-track accreditation process. You don’t say where you received your information, but I hope it will put your minds at rest to know that nobody was simply awarded this status by their ‘friends’ and there is not a ‘generation of conservators’ who acquired accredited status without going through a rigorous assessment process.
I went through fast-track in 1999. It was open to those who had at least ten years post-qualification experience. […] I am sure the application form was less arduous than the one currently in use although I haven’t seen it so cannot speak to that. But I had to demonstrate that I met exactly the same standards that you describe, and I had to find two more senior conservators who were willing to come to my studio and interview me and assess my work. I had to organise this for myself, without the benefit of mentors or the kind of support Icon offers those on the pathway today. There were also no concessions for the neurodiverse, or for those who had just given birth, as I had in 1999. The cost from memory was £200, which is equivalent to about £360 today according to the Bank of England’s inflation calculator. So about half of what you might expect to pay going for accreditation now, but without any of the support, mentoring, workshops, advice etc that accompanies it now.
(This comment has been edited.)