WEEKLY STAFF NEWS | 5.11.2020
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Re-Opening Road Map & Beginning to Return to Work
A draft of the detailed re-opening road map, which outlines Getty’s overall response to the COVID-19 crisis and preparing for a return to “normal,” is now available for staff to view on GO. The road map is an outline for possible future action; it is not a prediction, and considerable uncertainty remains regarding the future spread of the coronavirus. While possible dates are suggested, these will be subject to change and will be shaped largely by public health orders.
In line with the County’s guidance and this plan, we are working to bring a very limited number of additional staff to our work sites beginning Monday, June 1. Your supervisors and managers will be getting in touch with you regarding which staff and on-site duties will be part of this first wave.
Getty is also working on a detailed guide regarding what you can expect at our work locations and what is expected of everyone working on site, to help keep everyone safe. That will be shared as soon as possible and before June 1.
All-Staff Meeting June 16, 2020
Getty staff, docents, and volunteers are invited to join the quarterly all-staff meeting on Tuesday, June 16, at 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. An agenda and Zoom link will be provided at a later date.
AQMD Rideshare Days
Employees are now able to view their balance of AQMD Rideshare Days in the Benefits section of Employee Self Service (ESS). Expiration dates will not be extended due to the current closure, so staff should be sure to use their remaining AQMD Rideshare Days before their expiration dates.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council Update
The DEI Council is composed of employees from across the various programs and departments of the Getty and is working collaboratively to identify Getty-wide DEI priorities. Over the course of the Council’s February and April meetings, the Council made important progress in two critical areas: defining the purpose and goals of the Council. Visit the DEI website to view the Council’s statement of purpose and five key priorities of its work (available in both English and Spanish).
Save the Date: Mental Health Awareness Workshops on May 27
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and, in recognition of this, Human Resources has invited Health Advocate to conduct three workshops on various topics relating to mental health on Wednesday, May 27. For our second annual event, the workshops will be held via webinar and participants may ask questions via chat. Look for additional information in the coming weeks about the workshop schedule, topics, and webinar registration.
NEWS
#GettyMuseumChallenge in the News
In late March, Social Media Lead Sarah Waldorf posted a challenge to people to find a work of art in Getty’s Open Content Program and recreate it using items from around their home. It became known as the #gettymuseumchallenge and went viral around the world, resulting in well over 100,000 entries, with more coming every day. As a result, hundreds of news outlets featured the challenge in articles and TV segments. Watch this video reel created by Creative Producer Sergio Torres to see highlights from some prominent news stories. Both Sarah and Sergio are members of the Digital Content Strategy team in Trust Communications.
GRI Productivity Growth
Two months of working from home has generated some astonishing productivity metrics across the GRI. Here is just a small sample: Users of the Getty Research Portal have increased by 94%; access to the GRI's Digital Collections in Rosetta is up by 40%; GRI webpage views increased by 51%, with a 39% increase in users; and reference librarians have fielded more than 125 requests since the closure, ranging from granting usage permissions for use of Getty materials to providing remote access to digitized audio-visual materials.
Crowdsourcing Projects for Crowd-Avoiding Times
Social distancing and working from home have allowed the GRI to test-drive approaches to research such as crowdsourcing. Four GRI projects have recently launched using the crowdsourcing platform Zooniverse: transcription of handwritten Letters and Papers of British artists; transcription of French artists' letters in the Cornelius ver Heyden de Lancey collection; identification of artists and artworks documented in the Shunk/Shunk-Kender photographs of the 1970 group exhibition Software; and identification of stamps and labels on Photo Archive materials. Current participants are limited to Getty staff, with opportunities especially for people who have content expertise, language skills, or special interest in the subject matter. Interested? Contact Lyndsey Godwin-Kresge in Special Collections Management and Melissa Gill in Digital Initiatives.
EVENTS
How COVID-19 Has Affected Museums
James Cuno gathered six museum directors from around the country for a candid discussion about how they’re coping with the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis. Listen to the Art + Ideas podcast to discover how leaders of iconic museums are contending with the financial implications of closing their doors, their re-opening strategies, unexpected digital growth, and the important role they believe museums can play in a post-COVID-19 world.
Art Inspires DJs at the Getty Villa
Music often proves the best tool during tough times; and so we revisit a special day two years ago when 10 local DJs met up at the Getty Villa. Inspired by the newly reimagined galleries and exhibitions, each talented DJ created a custom Spotify playlist. Check out their 222 diverse song choices—from Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" to Sampa the Great's "FEMALE" to the B-52's "Mesopotamia."
The 3D Paper Sculpture Challenge
Creative "at home" challenges abound on the internet each day, but how many are 100 years old? Bauhaus master Josef Albers challenged his students to think deeply about the art of construction by using a single sheet of paper to create a 3D design. Try building your own 3D paper sculpture from this exercise designed to inspire students of the Bauhaus so many years ago. Watch this video created by the GRI to find out how to take the challenge.
Languages of Ecology: Ancient and Early Modern Approaches to Nature
Join this online colloquium organized by Jesús Muñoz Morcillo, GRI Volkswagen Foundation Fellow, 1-3:30 p.m., Thursday, May 14, 2020. In addition to Jesús, the colloquium features Alex Purves, University of California, Los Angeles; Alan Braddock, Getty Research Institute Scholar; Courtney Ann Roby, Cornell University, New York; Bronwen Wilson, University of California, Los Angeles; and Mónica Domínguez Torres, Getty Research Institute Scholar, with opening remarks by Alexa Sekyra, head of GRI Scholars Program. To join the online colloquium, contact Getty Digital Training for more information. No RSVP necessary, but attendance is limited.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Creativity Begins at Home
Last week we asked you to share how you’ve been passing the time and helping out the community. So many of you told us about wonderfully inventive things you’ve been doing—we’ll be sharing a few of them each week. Let us know what you’ve been up to at home by emailing internalcommunications@getty.edu.
- Steve Olsen, VP, CFO and COO, Trust: “I conceived a project to perform cello concerts on my porch shortly after we closed in mid-March. The concerts were over three weekends in April, six performances in all. I performed the six Suites for Solo Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach, each Saturday and Sunday at 6:30 p.m. The suites are very challenging, and are great music. The audiences were very small—a few friends, curious neighbors, my wife and cat, local dogs, and a few birds. My goal was simply to project works of great beauty into the universe, which seems to need it right now.”
- Idurre Alonso, associate curator, GRI: “My husband is the owner of Cafe Bolivar in Santa Monica. We have been open for 19 years. When our kids’ school, Edison Language Academy, told us about 10 families in need as they had lost their jobs, we teamed up with another family and put together baskets of food for each of them.”
- Marie Svoboda, antiquities conservator, Villa: “As I have always been very interested in ancient pigments, including dyes (made into pigments or for coloring textiles), I am taking advantage of the ‘stay-at-home’ order to experiment with natural colors. While I do not have all the ancient materials at home, my son and I have been testing natural and available products, found in our yard or fridge (avocado pits and skins, onion skins, sage leaves). We have discovered a range of achievable colors for dying textiles, and how they are affected by pH (vinegar) or the addition of metals (iron water). We have also been working with the ancient dye indigo (purchased online) to experience how colored textiles would have been produced in antiquity.”
Anniversaries This Week
Five Years
- Joseph Sabbague, Accounting and Finance, Finance
- Eric Sokoloff, Villa Engineering, Facilities
- Chandler McCoy, Building and Sites, GCI
20 Years
- McKenzie Lowry, Antiquities Conservation, Museum
- Ann Harrison, Collections Management, GRI
- Ruben Bustamante, Security Operations, Security
- Janak Shamji, Security Operations, Security
- Joy Mazurek, GCI Science
Comings and Goings
See how the Getty community is changing—and welcome new co-workers.
From InternalCommunications | internalcommunications@getty.edu