It may be over a year away, but already the AILA 2016 International Festival of Landscape Architecture is exciting landscape architects across the world.Last week I was in Lombok Indonesia attending the 2015 IFLA Asia Pacific Region Congress. While at the Congress I had the opportunity to attend a day of meetings with delegates from across the region to discuss issues and activities. The Congress also provided the chance for me to meet with IFLA President Prof Kathryn Moore. Delegates were very interested in the major changes AILA have made in recent years and the response from our membership, and the broader profession. The meeting reinforced the role AILA and Australian landscape architects can play in progressing landscape architecture within the region and beyond.
Congratulations to Greg Grabasch FAILA on his appointment to the position of IFLA APR Treasurer and to fellow executive appointments, Damian Tang as President (from Singapore - he also has a local connection having studied landscape architecture at University of Melbourne) and Renee Davies as Secretary (New Zealand). Thanks also to the outgoing president Dato Ismail Ngah for his energy and the contribution he has made to IFLA.
Also announced at the Congress was the 2016 International Festival of Landscape Architecture’s creative director: Richard Weller. Australian-born Weller is the Professor and Chair of landscape architecture at The University of Pennsylvania and is a prime example of an Australian doing incredible things on the international-front. Keep up-to-date with the plans for next year’s Festival at www.aila.org.au/50
Finally, one of the important activities AILA has undertaken over a long period of time is the Salary Benchmarking Survey. The 2016 survey recently closed and unfortunately the response was well below previous years. The data collected in this survey hugely benefits employees and employers so we have decided to relaunch the survey. I encourage you to take a few minutes out of your day to complete the survey, which is open until 30 September. Get started here.
Mark Frisby FAILA
National President
Australian Institute of Landscape Architects