April 27, 2020
Dear Getty Community,
I am writing with an update regarding Getty’s planning to resume our operations over the next weeks and months. This work has been led by our COVID-19 Task Force, with representatives from every Getty Program and Trust department.
The Task Force’s work has been guided by the decisions of state and county public health officials. Los Angeles County’s “Safer at Home” restrictions are currently in force until at least May 15. We will reopen our sites and resume events only when county authorities decide it is safe to do so, but no specific timetable has been announced. Officials have stated that easing of restrictions will be gradual, allowing some non-essential business to reopen at first. It may be months or longer before large public gatherings are allowed.
The Task Force has developed a plan to gradually bring staff back to the Getty Center and Getty Villa, and ultimately, to welcome visitors back as well. These steps will take place in four phases, likely taking as much as a year to fully implement. This would allow us to assure proper social distancing and safety for everyone working at or visiting our locations.
This plan does not guarantee that certain actions will take place on specific dates. Considerable uncertainty remains regarding the future spread of the coronavirus, actions by public health officials, and the effectiveness of efforts to develop a vaccine and treatments. It is clear that we will not fully return to pre-COVID-19 “normal” operations, with all of our workforce simultaneously working together on site and no restrictions on the numbers of visitors, until there is a reliable vaccine—potentially a year or more from now.
We recognize that this four-phase road map is daunting and lengthy. But it allows each Program and Trust department to begin its detailed planning now, so that we are as ready as possible to resume our operations as restrictions ease. A summary of the plan follows this message.
Our guiding principles during this crisis are to protect the health and safety of all of our employees and members of the public. Getty is also committed to sustaining our employees and infrastructure so that we can restore normal operations as this crisis eases. Getty remains an organization with strong financial resilience. We have no plans for layoffs or furloughs. I remain confident in our ability to maintain our support for Getty staff.
A time frame that is uncertain and lengthy will require your patience and endurance. It is important for each of us to take breaks from our work. Please consider using some of your vacation time to step away from work and your computers for a time, even if it isn’t the vacation that you originally may have envisioned for this summer. It is vital that you take care of yourselves and your families. We know that you are all balancing many competing demands right now and we are so grateful for your ongoing dedication to your work, and to moving our mission forward despite these challenging circumstances.
You may have questions about these processes and we will do our best to address them based on what we know. Please direct them to internalcommunications@getty.edu. As Jim Cuno said to you all recently, we will be back, and our visitors will be back. Thank you for helping us plan for that prospect.
With gratitude,
Steve Olsen
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer
Summary of Road Map to Reopen Getty Center and Getty Villa
April 27, 2020
Phase One
Phase One is our current status, which focuses on protecting all of you, protecting the public, and helping to combat the spread of the disease. The priorities for this phase include securing and maintaining Getty properties and collections and ensuring continuity of our work. We closed our sites to visitors and also have eliminated all business travel. The current conditions involve limited security staff and facilities staff working 24/7 shifts on our sites and limited contractor access, and a small number of occasional other staff for essential business purposes.
Phase Two
We will enter Phase Two when state and county officials begin to relax the restrictions regarding closure of organizations such as ours. At that time, we will gradually begin to bring a number of employees back to work. Current guidance on social distancing, hand washing, and wearing of masks are likely to remain in place during this phase, and the Getty Center and Getty Villa will remain closed to the public.
Phase Two might take place over several months, beginning with a return of as many as 100 additional employees and gradually increasing that number to 500 to 600. Staff numbers will initially be restricted due to physical distancing requirements in our workspaces as well as limits on Top of Hill parking, until we are able to resume tram service. The earliest wave of returning staff will be those whose work is directly related to maintaining the collections and science labs. As a second round, perhaps a month later, we would begin allowing an increased number of certain designated staff whose jobs require them to be on site. We would continue to evolve into full resumption of onsite business activities while continuing to follow social distancing and other precautions.
A significant number of Getty employees would need to continue to work from home during Phase Two, due to social distancing limitations in work spaces, conference rooms, etc. It is likely that working from home, or a staff schedule rotating people alternately working on site and at home, would continue for some time, until we could safely remove all social distancing requirements. It is also likely that travel restrictions would continue in Phase Two, due to varying coronavirus recovery situations both within the U. S. and abroad.
Phase Three
We will enter Phase Three when public health officials allows to begin welcoming visitors back to the Getty Center and Getty Villa. An optimistic outlook sees the phase beginning sometime in late summer or early fall. Both the Center and Villa locations would limit the number of visitors using timed ticketing, as well as more limited hours of operation.
Visitors would be required to follow public health guidelines regarding face masks and physical distancing. Occupancy limits would be placed on gallery and other occupancies. Large group locations, such a theaters and lecture halls, would remain closed, and large groups of visitors, school groups or group tours would likely be added only gradually and in limited numbers. It is likely that docent and volunteer programs would not resume until Phase Four.
During Phase Three, due to social distancing restrictions in our work spaces, we still would have employees working from home or alternating their work locations between our sites and at home.
Phase Four
Phase Four would commence only after a vaccine and effective treatments are available. All of our employees could return to work simultaneously at our sites. The Getty Center and Villa would admit visitors up to the daily capacity of each site to handle visitors. Volunteers, docents, and readers would return to the sites, and the full scope of public programs and events could resume. Our restrictions on business travel could likely ease for locations that are also relatively coronavirus-free and where vaccines are available. We are hopeful that Phase Four might be possible in early- to mid-2021, but there is much uncertainty about second waves of illness and overall public health readiness.