Trainees and instructors performing cleaning and stabilization treatments at the archaeological site of Utica in Tunisia. As part of the GCI's project on in situ mosaic conservation, the GCI and Tunisia's Institut National du Patrimoine (INP) have collaborated on a program to provide training for INP staff in order to help save this rich heritage from further deterioration. Photo: Richard Ross.

The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) has long been committed to education in the conservation of collections and the built environment. The Institute's current educational initiatives incorporate the various strands of the GCI's work, drawing upon new research and methodologies produced as a result of scientific and field project activities, as well as important advances by others in the field. The GCI forms strategic educational initiatives with other institutions, extending the scope of the Institute's training efforts while strengthening the existing educational infrastructure for conservation.

Educational Materials

As one of its initiatives, the GCI is producing a readings series that collects and critically analyzes important conservation texts. This series, specifically for use in conservation instruction, contributes to establishing a body of information representative of the collective knowledge that currently defines the conservation discipline and its related fields.

The GCI also supports the development of conservation education by providing senior-level educators opportunities to meet to discuss key issues for the future of conservation education. The Directors' Retreats for the Advancement of Conservation Education project aims to foster collegiality, and strategic thinking and action among conservation educators internationally.

In the Field and the Classroom

The GCI's field project work provides an important venue for professional training. Each field project includes a training component that constitutes an integral part of the project's activities. Training reinforces the sustainability of a project's work. It also serves to promote the practice of conservation in the project country.

	Nkisi Nkondi Power Figure (18th–19th century), Congo people, Democratic Republic of Congo. The Getty Trust—in collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles—has developed a masters program in the conservation of archaeological and ethnographic materials. Teaching and lab facilities for the program will be housed at the Getty Villa. Figure: courtesy UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. Photo: Don Cole.

While the GCI carries out much of its training work as part of its field projects, it is also undertaking more formal classroom-based teaching in collaboration with other educational institutions. As with its other activities, the Institute works with these outside organizations to increase the impact of its resources. These activities generally have the dual objectives of addressing immediate training needs for conservation professionals, while contributing to the longer-term development of the infrastructure for conservation education in the country or region where the work is taking place.

The GCI promotes opportunities for mid-career and senior professionals to pursue research that will advance thinking in the field through its Conservation Guest Scholar Program. This residential program allows senior professionals to utilize the resources of the Getty to engage in independent research for periods ranging from three to nine months. The Institute also hosts graduate interns, selected every year by individual GCI departments. Information and applications for these programs are available on the Web.

In conjunction with the Getty Trust's partnership with the University of California at Los Angeles, GCI and other Getty staff members are part of the teaching team of a master's degree program in the conservation of archaeological and ethnographic materials.

Last updated: December 2008