A New Year Letter from Serafina Miller, ADSC President

Dear ADSC Members, Friends, and Community,

My goodness, I’m taken aback that it is already the end of January 2022!

This past year moved at such a swift pace, marking just over one year in my role as interim President of the Board for the Art Deco Society of California. While my return to the Board was under difficult circumstances, I believed in the abilities of our preservation organization, of which I have been a member for 24 years, and I still believe.

In my first official message, I promised to work toward a welcoming, safe, and inclusive environment at our events for everyone, because it was clear that people didn’t always have that experience. As a Board, we made tremendous strides to make it right. Our work is not done because the work of growth, inclusion, equity, safety and change never is.

In reflecting on this past year, I thought it was important to review the work we have done as an organization.

With the assistance of our sister organization, the Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild, we developed a Harassment Policy, and an Anti-Racism and Inclusivity Action Plan. These policies were shared with our entire membership via our newsletter, as well as posted to our website, and announced on all our social media outlets.

We worked to further diversify our Board of Directors, as diversity extends far beyond race and ethnic identity. Diversity includes age, race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, gender expression, religion (creed), disability, marital status, national origin (ancestry), military status, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. We will continue to ensure a diverse representation when future members are added to our board.

Our board participated in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Workshop (“Fostering Inclusive Spaces”) led by The DEI Playground. The DEI Playground’s workshops were tailored to our specific community.

As a board we reviewed our bylaws, policies, and procedures, for improvement and clarity.

We hosted two dozen lectures and events, many in partnership with other Art Deco Societies and museums. Many were held via Zoom as we navigated the pandemic.

We all gladly saw the return of an in-person Gatsby Summer Afternoon, as well as the return of Deco Drinks. Did you participate in the online Charleston dance lessons? And how about that custom Spotify playlist from Nick Rossi? You can still find them on our Facebook page!

We supported two preservation efforts, and another that is in process which was quite hush-hush and are proud to now share: we filed a landmark application for the California Theatre with the City of Berkeley, and on January 12 it was accepted by the city for an eventual hearing with the Landmarks Preservation Commission, likely to occur in early May — so please keep your fingers and toes crossed! All thanks to the valiant efforts of our Preservation Director, Therese Poletti! She spearheaded our support of the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles in their efforts to secure cultural historic monument status of the 1936 Sontag Drugstore Building, as well as our support of the Art Deco Society of New York to save the irreplaceable Art Deco lobby of New York City's one-of-a-kind McGraw-Hill Building.

To kick off the New Year, we are hosting our annual membership party on February 27th at the Alameda Naval Air Museum, postponed from this month due to COVID. We are thrilled to announce that the Art Deco Preservation Ball is scheduled for March 19th at The City Club of San Francisco. Gatsby Summer Afternoon is scheduled for September 11th at the historic Dunsmuir Hellman Estate in Oakland. We've planned a fabulous new event, Daisy's Dinner Dance, scheduled for June in Marin. Our Program Committee is planning a lecture or gathering each month.

In the face of COVID, and in the planning of each one of our events and activities, please know we will always put everyone’s safety first. If you would like to volunteer for the Gatsby Summer Afternoon, Art Deco Preservation Ball, Daisy’s Dinner, or the Programs Committee, please let us know and we will pass your name on to the respective Chairs.

I am very excited about the year ahead of us, the possibilities, and the chance to see more of you.

We wish you all the best in the New Year!