WEEKLY STAFF NEWS | 5.18.2020
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Latest from LA County on COVID-19
Los Angeles County updated the Safer at Home order last week, and the orders make very clear that “indoor museums” such as those at the Getty Center and Getty Villa, still fall into a category they define as higher risk businesses that must remain closed for now. The order, issued May 13, does not have an end date. Safer at Home Revised Order (05.13.20)
In alignment with these orders, we may continue to allow staff on site to perform “necessary activities to maintain and protect the value of the business’s inventory and facilities; ensure security, safety and sanitation; and process payroll and employee benefits; and facilitate the ability to continue to work remotely.” As a result, certain additional designated staff members at Getty Center, Villa, and Annex, primarily related to maintaining the collections and science labs of the Museum, GCI, and GRI, will begin returning to our sites on a limited and scheduled basis in June. This may include some conservation staff, preps, registrars, scientists, etc. It may also include a small number of individuals from each business unit.
Please be in touch with your supervisor if you have questions about your own status or whether you are in a category needing to work on site. More detailed guidelines about working on our sites will be issued next week.
Training on Office Online and Google Apps
Getty Digital is sponsoring Tim Jones, from Accelerate Computer Training, to teach two workshops about Getty’s key cloud-based collaboration and storage tools via Zoom on Thursday, May 21. Office Online is offered at 11 a.m. and Google Apps at 1 p.m. Each one-hour session will include time for Q&A. See the course descriptions below, and contact Getty Digital Training to register for each class.
Office Online Training
Google Apps Training
Financial Wellness
Visit Getty’s Financial Wellness page for information about new webinars from My Secure Advantage (MSA). You can also watch recordings of previous webinars you might have missed. MSA makes a number of resources available, including free coaching, to help you manage your finances in a variety of ways. University Credit Union is currently offering a promotion regarding mortgage loans. If you’re shopping for a mortgage loan, scroll down the Financial Wellness page for more information.
Mental Health Awareness Workshops Schedule on May 27
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and HealthAdvocate will offer Mental Health Awareness workshops on Wednesday, May 27, via webinar, for all benefits-eligible Getty staff. See the flyer for schedule and registration links. Please be sure to register for the workshops in advance. The webinar will play through your computer/tablet/phone speakers, and you will be able to ask questions via chat. If you have any questions, please contact Human Resources at HR@getty.edu or 310-440-6523.
NEWS
Spring 2020 Getty Magazine
The latest issue of Getty magazine is now out. Learn about Emmett Williams, a Fluxus and concrete poetry pioneer; how Getty-funded fellows are exploring prints and drawings up close; and how GCI’s science department is investigating how plastic ages.
Zoom Use Skyrockets
To no one’s surprise, the use of Zoom Getty-wide has skyrocketed while many staff members have been working from home. These eye-popping stats reveal just how much our Zoom use has increased. In February, we had 509 Getty Zoom accounts, 46 active users, and 145 meetings conducted for a total of 27,802 minutes. In April, we had 872 accounts, 509 active users, and 3,923 meetings for a total of 898,200 minutes.
EVENTS
Transform Your Photos into Masterpieces
With the Google Arts & Culture app, you can see your own life through the eyes of an artist. Using the new Art Transfer feature, simply take or upload a photo within the app, choose from among dozens of featured artworks, and watch your photo take on the work’s colors, shapes, and artistic style. Paintings, decorative arts, antiquities, and drawings from Getty’s collections are among the artworks available. This blog post on the Iris reveals how to download the app and transfer artistic styles to your own photos.
Cocktails Inspired by the Villa
Mix up the post-work activities and bring a bit of ancient Greece into your modern-day lives with these delicious drinks. In celebration of #NationalCocktailDay (OK, it was last week, but it’s never too late), try these wines, cocktails, and alcohol-optional beverages inspired by the Getty Villa collection. Check out the recipes on the Iris.
The Lives of Caravaggio Podcast
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is one of the most admired painters of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He was among the most famous painters in Rome—but not only because of his skill as an artist. Caravaggio was also notorious for his wild life and shocking temper. After being sentenced to death for murder, he fled Rome and died in exile at age 38. Three biographies written in the decades after his death constitute nearly all that is known about the enigmatic artist. In the latest episode of the Art + Ideas podcast, Getty curator and expert on Italian painting Davide Gasparatto discusses Caravaggio and the role these early biographies played in defining Caravaggio’s legacy.
The Theater at Philippopolis Webinar
The theater at Philippopolis in central Thrace was built in the late 1st century AD as a monument to its city’s growth into a prominent urban center over several decades that framed Thrace’s establishment as a province of the Roman Empire in 46 AD. Guided by Actor-Network-Theory’s principles of relationality and object-agency, this talk explores how the theater promoted the proliferation of various ideas (e.g. moral values and status distinctions) and material forms (e.g. built spaces and honorific and funerary monuments) in its urban landscape by hosting cultural, political, religious, and economic interactions into the 4th century AD. Tune in to the webinar today at 10 a.m. on Zoom.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Creativity Begins at Home
We’ve continued to hear about the creative ways many of you are keeping busy at home. Let us know how you’ve been passing time at home by emailing internalcommunications@getty.edu.
- Jennifer de la Fuente, lead programming associate, GRI: “My husband and I are restoring a 1969 Northwest Little Dipper vintage travel trailer. At the onset of the stay at home, I made a collage painting inspired by the Florentine Codex for a colleague on the project team for FloCo (it was her birthday!). Within my community, I am very involved with the North Park Mom’s group. This past week, the group came together to donate cleaning supplies, gloves and handmade masks to various nursing homes within a few miles of our neighborhood. I also went through my house to find old fabric to donate to a mom and her mother, who are making masks for people in the community.”
- Thomas Roby, senior project specialist, GCI: “I participated in a fundraising activity for the Westside Food Bank with friends in my neighborhood. It involved camping out in one’s backyard on Saturday night a few weeks ago. Almost $46,500 has been raised, and there was a segment on local channel KABC TV station.”
- Jane Niles, senior IT educational specialist, Trust: “My family and I have been digitizing—family photos, movies, mixtapes, etc. Stuck-at-home 20-something IT majors make a great labor force!”
Anniversaries This Week
Five Years
- Kelly Davis, Collecting and Provenance, GRI
10 Years
- Sara Lardinois, GCI Building and Sites, GCI
15 Years
- Kristen Warren, Events, Facilities
Comings and Goings
See how the Getty community is changing—and welcome new co-workers.
From InternalCommunications | internalcommunications@getty.edu