Academy of American Cue Art
It amazes me that the general cue related public does not recognize the distinction between the ICCS - International Cue Collectors Show and the Academy of American Cue Art.
The ICCS is a private entity started by and run by Bill Stroud. Its only function in life is to have an annual cue show with selected invited cuemakers and selected invited collectors and/or dealers displaying their wares to the invited guests and public.
No mistake, for the past several years the ICCS has had on display and for sale the finest collection of high end cues anywhere anytime. Unfortunately the general public and potential cue collectors have not been properly advised of the show keeping attendance to a minimum and in my opinion not encouraging new people into our great 'hobby'.
As an example the show held at the Marina Del Rey in Beverly Hills. CA (one of the premier hotels in America with at least a billion dollars worth of yachts in its back yard) on a rainy Saturday afternoon, with a million dollars or more of cues on display, no one showed up that I did not know. Wouldn't you expect at least one or two celebrities in film or sports to attend just out of curiosity and come by to see what we had on display? Poor local advertising.
The Academy of American Cue Art, a 501C3 corporation (not for profit - tax deductible) was formed many years ago by Dick Black, Jim Stadum, Thomas Wayne, Jerry McWorter and others to promote the art of the cue.
In October 2007 Bill Stroud was offered the vacant presidency position, Will Prout, Tony Martino and myself (Dick Abbott) were added to fill vacant positions on the board of directors. Mike Shamos, Lynn Castle and Tom Watters are the other board members.
A cue museum is a concept of the Academy of American Cue Art, whether it be permanent or traveling. Without the approval of the board of directors the museum will not be created anywhere.
To obtain cues for the museum we must rely on donations, these can be people benevolent enough to donate to our cause or heirs of deceased collectors. All donations and membership fees are tax deductible.
For donations to be tax deductible they must be appraised by a qualified appraiser, you can't claim a donated cue to be worth X amount and expect the IRS to accept your deduction. Judith Godfrey, an approved fine arts appraiser was brought on board an has for the past two years been educated in artistic cues, her cue education is ongoing. Her qualifications can be seen here -
http://www.judithgodfreyassociates.com/.
Again, please do not confuse the ICCS and the Academy of American Cue Art, they are two separate entities, the common bond is Bill Stroud and common people on both boards, that does not constitute an alliance of the two organizations.
This said, I am in total support of both organizations as they both have much to offer in propagating and perpetuating our goals.
