Museum Associates (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
$75,000 awarded July 2001

Henry R. Huntington Art Library and Museum, San Marino, California
$157,300 awarded April 2002

Training Programs for South American Conservators

Both the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Huntington Museum received funding for midcareer internships for South American conservators. The year-long internships at each institution are designed to help visiting conservators to refine their conservation skills and broaden their experience. The program was jointly designed by the two museums in partnership with the Lampadia Foundation, a philanthropic organization active in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. The program's aim is to facilitate dialogue between North American conservators and their South American counterparts, and to encourage the exchange of ideas within the field of conservation. Both LACMA and the Huntington are tailoring their training programs to meet the individual the needs of each intern, allowing them to work closely with senior curators and conservators in their fields of interest. Hands-on training and independent conservation treatment projects are being undertaken in the museums' conservation labs. The visiting conservators are also encouraged to attend conferences and meet with colleagues at other museums during their stay. Getty funds are supporting one intern per year at LACMA and two interns per year at the Huntington, over a three-year period. The grants are building on the success of two previous pilot grants to LACMA and the Huntington. Getty funds are covering the interns' stipends and assisting with their travel expenses.

Northeast Documentation Conservation Center, Andover, Massachusetts
Training Program for Russian Paper Conservators
$150,000 awarded December 1999

The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) received a Conservation Training grant for a three-year training program for midcareer paper conservators from St. Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1973 and located in Andover, Massachusetts, NEDCC is one of the nation's largest nonprofit regional conservation centers, providing paper conservation services to museums and other institutions that lack in-house facilities. This grant builds on the success of two previous Getty-funded training exchanges formulated in response to the urgent conservation needs of works on paper in St. Petersburg collections. The earlier programs brought a total of 22 Russian conservators to the U.S. to receive in-depth training from NEDCC conservators and to exchange ideas about conservation methods and needs with colleagues in the U.S. NEDCC staff in turn made several visits to Russia to solidify ties and identify future training opportunities. The recent grant addressed the preservation needs of an important group of avant garde Russian drawings from the State Russian Museum, including works by Kandinsky, Malevich, Rodchenko, and others. During the first year, six Russian conservators visited the U.S., together with sample drawings, to work with NEDCC conservators. Two NEDCC conservators then visited the State Russian Museum to assist their Russian counterparts in surveying the full collection and identifying future conservation priorities. The second and third years continued the exchanges. Getty funds supported training stipends, travel costs, translation fees, and conservation training materials.

See a complete listing of grants awarded.