Conserving Black Modernism

Conserving Black Modernism advances conservation planning, training, and storytelling for historic Modern Movement sites across America by Black architects and designers.

From 2014 – 2020, the Getty Foundation’s Keeping It Modern initiative awarded 77 grants totaling $11.8 million to support the conservation of modern buildings in the United States and around the world, however none of the sites in the US were designed by Black architects.

To address this omission, the Getty Foundation has partnered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to create Conserving Black Modernism, a two-year $3.1 million grant program to preserve 16 modern sites across America by Black architects and designers.

Grant applications are managed by the National Trust. The first application round opened in November 2022 and recipients were announced in June 2023.

For more than a century, the achievements of African American architects and designers have been overlooked and undervalued. Their contributions helped shape the US’s modern architecture movement by fueling innovation and experimentation, pushing the limits on how individuals lived within their built environments.

Long-term funding and conservation management planning for these sites are ongoing challenges, and Conserving Black Modernism addresses both issues. Over two years, the program is building the field’s expertise by supporting convenings for project participants, consultants, and preservationists that foster peer-to-peer learning and professional connections. It is also developing lasting partnerships between the Action Fund, Getty, Black heritage networks, grantees, and national stakeholders working to preserve sites of Black creativity. The grants will also mitigate the erasure of modern architectural sites by Black architects and designers by telling their stories in more lasting, robust, and creative ways.