Project Objectives
The primary goal of the Directors' Retreats project is the enhancement of conservation education by providing senior-level educators opportunities for strategic thinking, discussion, and renewal in a congenial and quiet setting away from the duties and strains of everyday work life. The retreats allow participants to address key issues for the future of conservation education, while forming or renewing contact with other national and international leaders in conservation education.

Project Summary
The Directors' Retreats reflect the GCI's long-standing commitment to the development of conservation education. Since 1987 the Institute has organized meetings, seminars, and related projects with the aim of supporting and advancing the teaching of conservation. In April 2000, an ad hoc meeting of conservation educators was convened in Los Angeles to consider current and emerging needs in conservation education internationally, both for movable and immovable heritage. Among the most pressing was the need for more opportunities for communication among directors of education programs, leading to a better exchange of ideas and information, as well as to strategic thinking across institutions. The GCI responded by initiating the Directors' Retreats, a series of meetings open to directors of academic programs in conservation or heads of conservation organizations whose missions include education.

In 2002 the Getty Conservation Institute launched the first in this ongoing series of meetings for directors of academic programs and professional organizations involved in conservation education.

Future Retreats

The GCI welcomes the involvement of academic program directors in identifying issues and ideas for conservation education that can be pursued in future Directors' Retreats. Educators or heads of professional bodies with an education mandate who are interested in partnering with the GCI in a future retreat should contact the Education section of the GCI to gain more information or to present ideas. Proposed themes should reflect the aim of the program, as stated above. The theme should also be one suitable for discussion within a two- to three-day period; examples of potential retreat themes include:

• how conservation education should respond to changes within the profession;
• comparative approaches to goals setting, curriculum design, teaching, and learning strategies, etc.;
• faculty development and enrichment;
• promoting change within conservation education;
• exploring new teaching media and technology.

The above themes are given as examples only. Directors are encouraged to submit their own ideas based on needs they have identified within the conservation field at large or within their own institutions or regions.

Each retreat is developed jointly by the GCI and one or more partner institutions. For information on past retreats, please see the Directors' Retreat 2002, Directors' Retreat 2004, Directors' Retreat 2006, and Directors' Retreat 2008.

For more information about the Directors' Retreats Program, please contact: gcieducation@getty.edu

Last updated: June 2008