Alumni network

Fourteen groups bring alumni together around a subject: tribal art, archaeology, graphic arts, online sales, insurance, restitution, law, customs, conservation, digital. Each group meets online every two months, shares documents and holds an open session once a year.

A volunteer facilitator, elected for two years, coordinates the group. The Academy provides the videoconferencing tools and archiving.

The board relays positions offered by museums, auction houses, administrations, NGOs and international organisations. Alumni can also post offers there. Each advertisement is checked by the Academy: it must respect ethics and labour law.

A career-advice service offers interviews, CV proofreading and mock interviews to young graduates.

Thirty-two ambassadors, spread across as many countries, run the network locally: they organise meetings, welcome new graduates and liaise with the Academy. Their term lasts two years.

They receive training and a small operating budget. They are alumni's first contacts in their region.

Everyone can contribute in their own way: answering a question, running a workshop, hosting a trainee, becoming a mentor. The Academy records contributions and highlights them in the network's annual report.

A mutual-aid fund, fed by donations from alumni, funds travel grants to attend meetings and supports alumni in difficulty.

The network is steered by a council of nine alumni elected for three years, which meets the Academy's management each quarter. This council carries alumni's voice in teaching decisions and organises the annual assembly.

Accounts and the activity report are published. Any member may submit a proposal for improvement to the council.

The Academy's reception service answers practical questions Monday to Friday, in French, English and Spanish, and can direct each visitor to the programme, scholarship or free resource that fits their situation. A guidance counsellor also offers a thirty-minute individual meeting, by appointment, to build a realistic training pathway.

Trainees' feedback is valuable: each session gives rise to a questionnaire, and the most useful suggestions are examined each quarter by the teaching committee. Do not hesitate to write to report a difficulty, propose a subject or tell us what the training has changed in your practice.