Cultural heritage institutions worldwide are increasingly under pressure to operate in a more sustainable manner in response to the global climate crisis, symptoms of which include rising energy costs and government mandates to reduce carbon footprints.

Recent environmental guidance in the heritage field has also signaled a shift away from prescriptive narrow ranges of temperature and relative humidity towards the adoption of broader environmental parameters suitable for many classes of objects. However, many heritage institutions have been reluctant to adopt these wider conditions due to a lack of evidence-based risk analysis for climate-induced damage and limited expertise on the sustainable management of the collection environment.

This workshop, presented as part of the Conservation Institute's Managing Collection Environments Initiative, will address obstacles in developing and implementing more adaptive environmental management strategies in museums.

• Preworkshop: Encompasses online activities, including lectures about risk assessment, and object and environmental monitoring, a brief description of your case study, access to essential readings, and a discussion forum (~15 hours).
• Day 1: Introduces the changing environmental and political contexts in which museums operate and includes discussion of environmental guidance, government regulation, sustainability, leadership, and participant case studies.
• Day 2: Examines the key roles of life and cost cycle assessments as tools to support decision making, the impact of loans processes on sustainability, mechanical and non-mechanical environmental management strategies, and a gallery tour addressing damage, change, and value.
• Day 3: Provides an introduction to material properties and responses and damage mechanisms, followed by discussion and demonstrations of select object monitoring techniques.
• Day 4: Includes discussion of data analysis tools, followed by exercises on risk assessment, life cycle analysis, and environmental assessment; presentation and discussion of sustainability case studies.
• Day 5: Features presentation and discussion of sustainability case studies, followed by participant discussion on the practical application of the workshop curriculum for a range of heritage contexts; optional speed mentoring sessions with workshop instructors.

The workshop will be delivered in person over five days at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Supplementary online components will be made available before and after the workshop to deepen participant engagement.

The teaching team of Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) staff and other esteemed heritage conservation professionals have extensive experience in environmental management and object monitoring. Workshop instructors include:

• Vincent Laudato Beltran, Scientist, GCI
• Ashley Freeman, Associate Scientist, GCI
• Naoki Fujisawa, Scientist, GCI
• Theofanis Karafotias, Senior Project Specialist, GCI
• Camille Kirk, Head of Sustainability, J. Paul Getty Trust
• Kelly McCauley, Preventive Conservator, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
• Michał Łukomski, Senior Scientist, GCI
• Kanoko Sasao, Head of Registration, J. Paul Getty Museum
• Cecilia Winter, Senior Project Specialist, GCI

July 7–11, 2025

The workshop is designed for a maximum of 40 participants. It is open to all stakeholders—conservators, registrars, curators, directors, facilities staff, engineers, architects—who:

• are involved in the decision-making process on environmental management in museums
• can directly apply lessons learned into practice, and/or
• will disseminate the outcomes of the workshop (e.g., instructors and trainers)

The workshop organizers encourage applications from:

• practitioners from North, Central, and South America, and from Hawaii
• heritage professionals from small (1-5 staff members) and medium-sized (6-20 staff members) organizations
• emerging professionals and current/recent graduate students interested in management of the museum environment

Selection Process

The selection process is competitive. Prospective participants must submit an online application and curriculum vitae by the deadline, and the workshop organizer may contact applicants for further information.

The workshop organizers will preferentially target practitioners from North, Central, and South America, and from Hawaii to support the regional heritage community. Organizers will seek diverse participation in terms of applicant’s organizational size and professional role, including emerging professionals and current/recent graduate students.

The workshop will be conducted in English. Candidates must have good technical knowledge and command of the English language.

The workshop fee is USD $800 (eight hundred US dollars), and includes tuition, workshop materials, an opening reception, daily morning and afternoon tea/coffee, daily lunches, and a group dinner.

Participants are responsible for round-trip transportation costs to Los Angeles, lodging, any applicable visa fees, and all other travel and incidental expenses.

• December 18, 2024: Applicants will receive email notifying if they have been selected to participate in the workshop and, if applicable, receive financial assistance. A waiting list will be established for those not selected.

• January 15, 2025: Deadline for participants to submit payment of the workshop tuition fee

Applicants who do not submit payment by the deadline will have their registration canceled. Available spaces will then be offered to those on the waiting list.

For further information or questions, please contact MCE@getty.edu.

"Changing Climate Management Strategies: Sustainable Collection Environments and Monitoring Object Response" is presented as part of the Conservation Institute's Managing Collection Environment's initiative (MCE). Versions of this workshop were previously co-organized with the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne (2023) and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (2024). In each workshop, forty professionals from the wider region participated in a week of lectures, panel discussions, learning exercises, demonstrations, and case studies.

A related MCE course, “Preserving Collections in the Age of Sustainability,” was held in 2017 and 2019. As part of the course curriculum, a suite of technical notes, Managing Collection Environments: Technical Notes and Guidance, were developed presenting a holistic perspective on environmental management in museums, galleries, archives, and libraries.