Letter from Chairmen

 

2004 was a year of progress
for The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF).

We have significantly added to our noteworthy list of projects and programs, publications, activities and accomplishments. The first TCLF website report is in, with rave results. With definitive web statistics, we can now confirm the capabilities of our primary medium for communicating our mission, educational initiatives, ideas and activities.

Our Cultural Landscapes as Classrooms (CLC) series is growing. With Columbus Park: The Prairie Idealized circulating, and City Shaping: The Olmsteds & Louisville nearly completed, our Modern Garden Icons project is now fully funded, and is ready for the production stage. We are embarking on a major project to evaluate how the first CLC, Columbus Park, is being used by teachers and students, and how it is impacting its target audience.

TCLF launched its second Landslide list of endangered landscapes, this time dedicated to Working Landscapes. Our thematic list includes the California ranch of the race horse Sea Biscuit; the Village of Buckland, VA; and the oldest continuously inhabited community in America - Acoma Pueblo. Today, these special places are all threatened with development that could destroy irreplaceable cultural landscape heritage, and it is through our interactive, online resource that we are spotlighting the threats, and calling for local, state, and national action. The Landslide announcement has caught the attention of publications, including The Washington Post, The Almanac of Architecture and Design 2005, Garden Design and Landscape Architecture Magazine, among others-all available online.

In the publications department, we unveiled our second book on modern landscapes, Preserving Modern Landscape Architecture II. Our most recent volume Design with Culture: Claiming America's Landscape Heritage, was submitted to the University of Virginia Press for a spring 2005 release. We have continued to prepare over a hundred submissions for our second Pioneers of American Landscape volume.

The TCLF hosted events on both coasts this year to present the 2004 Stewardship Excellence Awards. The 2004 recipients include: the Greenacre Foundation, the Green Park Foundation, and the Friends of Gas Works Park, and Adele Chatfield-Taylor & The American Academy in Rome.

We are extremely encouraged by the record number of grants received in 2004. The TCLF received a surge of contributions from individuals, a promising giving trend this year, which culminated in our first major challenge grant of $100,000. With this gift, specifically dedicated to building the essential infrastructure of the foundation, the TCLF is making major strides as an organization. Additional grant support from federal, state, and local foundations has enabled us to broadcast our mission of "stewardship though education" to a more diverse national audience through our CLCs and publications. We received a second grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and were awarded grants from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources; The Heritage Fund of Columbus, Indiana; The Indiana Department of Environmental Management; The Graham Foundation for the Arts; The Hubbard Educational Trust; and Furthermore: a program of the JM Kaplan Fund.

We are grateful for all of the support we have received in the past year from our board, donors, and sponsors, without which, none of our work would be possible. This year, the TCLF added three new members to the remarkable group of people whom we call our Board of Directors. With great pleasure, we welcome the efforts and expertise of Carolyn Bennett, Paul Rookwood, and Alan Ward.

 

Shaun Duncan, Co-Chairman 
Kurt Culbertson, FASLA, Co-Chairman