Dear Getty Community,

Since we are unable to gather for our traditional meeting of all Getty employees, I am writing today with a summary of our most recent meeting of the Getty Board of Trustees. I am sorry to not be seeing you in person, particularly in this moment in our history.

Coronavirus response

On behalf of the entire Board, I want to begin by thanking all of you for your impressive endurance, cooperation and ongoing work in the face of incredibly difficult circumstances. The Trustees were kept apprised of every step being taken to first cease all events, and then to close the Getty Villa and Getty Center, and then to shift to a work-from-home protocol, all within a matter of a single week. We know this has been incredibly disrupting to your lives and we are grateful for your dedication, and for the manner in which you handled such an abrupt transition. We have seen the evidence that you are all actively engaged in support of the Getty mission, either remotely or in person for the teams still at Getty sites to assure that our grounds are well cared for, and to assure the safety and security of our collections.

The Board had a lengthy discussion about the many actions that Getty is taking today to assure that you will be able to eventually resume normal operations when the coronavirus crisis eases. The Board has great confidence in the organization’s resilience, both financially and within its workforce. We endorsed the Getty management recommendation for restrained spending and flat budgets, beginning now and going into the next fiscal year. We understand that this means no pay increases next year, but it does mean that Getty is able to maintain its commitment to all employees to keep your pay and benefits through this immediate crisis. Getty highly values all of its employees. You are the core of everything Getty accomplishes.

The Board has also asked Getty senior managers to begin planning for various scenarios related to eventually reopening both your work places and the museum sites, whenever that time may come. The Board wants to be certain that Getty remains prepared for every eventuality despite the many uncertainties, so that we can keep Getty viable, resume normal operations smoothly and continue to assure the safety and well-being of our community and visitors. There will need to be careful planning as to when staff return, exactly how the museums reopen to visitors, and when our treasured major events might be able to resume. Of course, everyone understands that will mean continuing to follow the direction of public health officials and Getty continuing to do its part for the community and beyond.

The Board also discussed how we can best help the greater Los Angeles region and arts organizations at this time. As you have likely read and seen, many are facing dire circumstances and will be challenged to recover from this crisis. More details about our intentions will be announced in the coming days, but we are acutely aware of Getty’s fortunate position relative to other cultural organizations within our own community. Helping them through this will be a Getty priority.

Ongoing initiatives

The Board was heartened to hear reports that, despite our dramatically changed circumstances, the major initiatives launched by the Getty this year are moving forward and that you all are staying the course.

We have all seen the critical importance of digital communication in the past several weeks, and by launching its “digital first” strategy Getty has been able to accelerate into this crisis and deploy more digital resources. We are happy to learn that there has been expanded use of Getty online resources, expanded use and engagement via social media, more use of video, and more proactive communication to the public by inviting them to engage online and through email. We also heard that the critical web redesign work continues into its next phase.

The Board also heard details of ongoing efforts related to the major tenets of the Ancient Worlds Now: A Future for the Past initiative. Conversations continue to develop educational offerings about ancient cultural heritage, to proceed with a book publication on approaches to protecting heritage at risk, to further developing site conservation plans, and to engage future partners at international museums. While we understand that the global pandemic has temporarily slowed some of this progress, we are pleased to know that there remains much international interest in the importance of the initiative and that Getty will be in a position to resume these efforts in earnest as the world recovers.

New trustees

In the midst of this all, I am pleased to announce the appointment of two new Trustees to our board. That both of them said “yes” and made a commitment to begin serving Getty right now is a testament to the importance of our work. Art historian Kavita Singh and entertainment executive Anne Sweeney have joined us. A professor of art history, Kavita Singh recently served as the Dean at the School of Arts and Aesthetics of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, India, and she is a former Getty Research Institute fellow. Anne Marie Sweeney was formerly president of the Disney-ABC Television Group. Sweeney has served on the Netflix Board of Directors since 2015 and has been a member of the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees since 2016. She also served for 10 years on the Board of Advisers for the UCLA Anderson School of Management, stepping down earlier this year. Read the full press release, which will be released today.

Let me close by again thanking you all for your dedication to Getty, and to our mission of sharing art and culture with the world. We, your Board, are very optimistic about the future. We believe that cultural organizations are critically vital to the world today, and that more than ever Getty and other art institutions can deliver a sense of commonality, a sense of shared humanity and the essence of what binds us through challenging times. We are grateful to have your contributions to this important mission.

David Lee
Chair
J. Paul Getty Board of Trustees