Keeping It Modern

Keeping It Modern improves the care of modern architecture internationally through research, conservation plans, and training that build best practices for a still-emerging field.

• 77 grant projects of outstanding architectural significance that contribute to advancing conservation practice
• In-depth technical research, testing, and analysis of modern architecture’s experimental materials to better understand their preservation
• The Keeping It Modern Report Library: a free online repository of conservation management plans and research reports for projects funded by the initiative. These plans have the potential to serve as models for the conservation of other 20th-century buildings.
• Development of a global network of conservation professionals through annual grantee workshops, led by the Getty Conservation Institute (as part of its Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative) and hosted by the 20th Century Society in London, to discuss approaches, issues, and components of conservation planning
• Increased local capacity and expertise among international practitioners through training and professional development efforts, including four international workshops in Southeast Asia, North Africa, East Central Europe and Latin America

Grants were awarded annually on a competitive basis from 2014 – 2020. We are no longer offering grants to support individual projects, so the information below is provided for reference only.

Applications that received past support were evaluated by Getty Foundation staff and an international advisory committee based on criteria that included the significance of the building, the strength of the project proposal and its potential to have an impact, the qualifications of the team members, and the potential of the project to serve as a model for the conservation of other 20th-century buildings.

In 2022, the Getty Foundation expanded Keeping It Modern by launching Conserving Black Modernism, a related project that supports the conservation of US buildings by Black architects. The program is a partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and will offer three cycles of funding, beginning in 2023 and concluding in 2025.