In late April the new council of AIAC was elected, and less than a month later the Presidency nominated. As the newly elected President I will use this opportunity to thank for the faith that has been shown me and it is my intention to follow up the important steps taken by the previous Presidency in their efforts to shape up the Association. I will use this opportunity to extend my most heartful thanks to the outgoing Presidency, Javier Arce, Maria Floriani Squarciapino and Xavier Dupré Raventós, for the enormous work they have dedicated the Association, both in reactivating the Association and in making its offices livable.
AIACNews, the first result of this reactivating program, started its publication in 1993. Next month, in July, the second result will be seen when AIAC go on Internet with its own homepage. This will open the Association to the outside world in a way that hitherto has not been possible. We will be able to present ourselves to a wider public, and it is our intention that the homepage shall be an important reference point for Classical archaeologists and others working in the Classical field. The homepage will contain various kinds of useful information, as, for example, lists of adresses to institutions and museums working in the field of Classical archaeology, a "Who is who" in Classical archaeology, information about conferences, seminars, lectures given at various places around the world, and links to other important sites on Internet, to mention only a few of the issues that we for the time being have in mind. It will, of course, take time to load all this information into the computer and to make the homepage known to our many possible users, but within next year it is hoped that the wealth of information entered will be a useful tool for Classical students all over the world.
In order to obtain the hoped for results the Association will need stable incomes. To-day these come from the foreign institutes in Rome, and from the Italian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Culture, but the main base is provided by the membership fees. The more members, the more activities can be started and the more offers can also be obtained for the members. To-day members can apply through AIAC for free entrance card to Italian State museums and monuments, and they can get discounts on books bought in some bookshops and with some editors in Rome. Through Internet it is also our hope to get in closer contact with our members and we are very grateful for all suggestions that can be used to expand and improve the Association's services.
The flagship of the Association for many decades, Fasti Archeologici, is due to come out with its next volume covering the years 1983-86 in 1998, but because of the delays in its publication and the enormous financial burden it places on the Association's budget, the future of this important bibliographical reference work will in the near future be taken up and discussed in depth by members of the Council. The members of the Association will be informed in due time about the decisions taken, but already now we are grateful to receive opinions on the pubblication and suggestions for the future.
The President
J. Rasmus BRANDT