Explore collections and conservation spaces in Ottawa! Attendees will take a two-hour bus ride (departing at 7:30am) to neighboring Ottawa to tour several cultural heritage institutions.

Transportation and a boxed breakfast are included, but attendees will purchase lunch and dinner on their own. You will be directed to gallery cafés for lunch, and the dinner options will be within a local shopping and food hall. Return to the bus by 7pm for the drive back to Montreal. Home by 9:30!

This tour has a 20 person capacity. In order to facilitate this tour, at least 15 must be registered for this tour to be held. 

Visit the storage facilities, conservation laboratory and digitization department of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (National Library and Archives of Quebec). 

This tour is being offered separately in either English or French, so please select the tour with the language you wish to hear. Both tours will occur at the same time. This registration is for the French language tour.

Transportation is not provided but the archives are accessible via public transit, walking, or ride share.

Visit the storage facilities, conservation laboratory and digitization department of the National Library and Archives of Quebec. 

This tour is being offered separately in either English or French, so please select the tour with the language you wish to hear. Both tours will occur at the same time. This registration is for the English language tour.

Transportation is not provided but the archives are accessible via public transit, walking, or ride share. 

Get access to unusual collections spaces as you explore the campus of McGill University! This tour will allow you to see a different side of the city and see collections you might otherwise miss in academic spaces.

Transportation is not provided but the university is accessible via public transit, walking, or ride share. 

The variability and challenges of obsolescence in preserving and presenting digital single channel pieces to complex multi-channel installations often require interdisciplinary collaborations, technical knowledge, and access to a network of specialized professionals. In smaller organizations, media conservation responsibilities are often shared among non-conservation staff. That said, museum professionals without formal media conservation training may work as stewards from acquisition, installation, to maintenance of media artworks. Under these circumstances, documentation becomes one of the most accessible and impactful tools that will not only serve as a record for condition assessment but also as a guide for future presentations.  

This workshop aims to promote a collaborative approach, encouraging both conservators and non-conservation professionals to actively participate in the long term care of media art. Rather than introducing command-line or forensic tools commonly used in media conservation, it will focus on accessible resources, such as assessment worksheets, media intake forms, artist interviews, and other practical documentation strategies. These tools will guide participants in understanding the intricacies of media artworks and pinpointing the key behaviors and technical needs required for clear and effective documentation. The workshop will be conducted in person and divided into two parts. The first half will feature lectures and several case studies drawn from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) collections. Led by members of both the conservation and technical teams at SFMOMA, it will highlight a range of documentation methods and demonstrate how these approaches contribute to the ongoing care and presentation of media art. 

The second half of the workshop will offer hands-on exercises, providing participants with the opportunity to practice examining, describing, and documenting media artworks. Participants will learn to identify and capture key elements of media work using provided forms and easily accessible tools such as smartphones, GoPro cameras, audio recorders, and guidelines for constructing signal flow diagrams and daily operation and maintenance instructions. From medium descriptions to report templates, the goal is to encourage the development of a shared vocabulary between the artist, conservators, AV technicians, curators, exhibition teams, and other stakeholders—resulting in more meaningful and sustainable documentation practices that will support the exhibition and long-term care of the media art collections.

Instructors

Shu-Wen Lin is the Associate Media Conservator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). In 2021, with support from the Asian Cultural Council and Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts, she co-organized and served as the program chair for a multi-lingual symposium to help initiate regional networks of care for contemporary and media art in Asia. She has previously held positions at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and M+ Museum. She received her MA from the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program at New York University in 2016.

Joshua Churchill is the Assistant Manager of the Collections Technical team at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). He has worked with SFMOMA since 2002, providing technical expertise in the installation and conservation of media artworks in the museum’s collection. His contributions include on-site and international support for major touring exhibitions such as Nam June Paik (2019–2022) and William Kentridge: Five Themes (2009–2012). Joshua is also an active media artist and musician, practices that inform and enrich his work at SFMOMA.

Flavia Perugini currently serves as a Senior Project Specialist at J. Paul Getty Trust, where she leads projects related to Modern and Contemporary Art Research initiatives. Before joining the Getty in 2020 she held positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and George Washington's Mount Vernon in the USA, and the Wallace Collection and Tate in the UK. Flavia holds graduate degrees in Conservation and Restoration from London Metropolitan University and in Architecture from Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy. She is a Fellow member of AIC and IIC, and a member of ICOM-CC and INCCA.

Do you want to learn how to treat two paper objects with one Diatomaceous Earth stone? If the answer is yes, this hands-on workshop focused on the practical and eco-friendly use of Diatomaceous Earth (DE) stones in paper conservation is for you!

Diatomaceous Earth stones are reusable, rigid, and absorbent surfaces that can be incorporated into your conservation toolbox to help in various tasks, including humidifying, drying, mending/hinging, and lining paper objects. The workshop will provide hands-on exploration of these applications. During the session, you will experiment with and learn:

• effective humidification of paper objects using water saturated DE stones
• best practices for drying paper objects with DE stones and wool felt
• two distinct methods for lining paper using DE stones
• advantages to mending and hinging paper objects with DE stones
• essential tips for maintaining your DE stones to ensure their longevity

This workshop will offer you some valuable insights and practical skills to enhance your conservation practice with this new tool. All participants will receive a Diatomaceous Earth stone to take home. Participants will also have the opportunity for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Bibliothèque Nationale.

This workshop is supported by AIC’s Book and Paper Group.

The workshop will take place at Bibliothèque Nationale (site Rosemont), 2275 Rue Holt, Montréal. Meet at the conference center at 12:30pm for complimentary transportation.

Instructor

Ewa Paul is a paper conservator at the National Archives in Washington DC; she joined the conservation team full-time in March 2023. Ewa has been in private practice in Fairfax, VA, USA since 2014. She also worked as a contract paper conservator at The Phillips Collection, the NMAH and many other institutions in the greater Washington DC area. Between 2010 and 2012, Ewa volunteered at the Rising Museum in Warsaw, Poland. She was a Neukom conservation fellow at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 and is a graduate of the Buffalo Art Conservation Program in the USA.

This workshop will consist of primarily hands-on practice of salvage cleaning and drying techniques, applied to sets of objects that represent common artifacts in mixed collections – books, documents, photographs (B&W and color, traditional and digital), audiovisual media, white cotton textiles, miniature quilts, small baskets, wooden objects, ceramic plates, clay pots and iron pans.

Rather than learning the “correct” methods for each type of object, conservators will experiment with several methods on a range of object types to gain greater flexibility for responding to salvage situations and to better understand why certain methods may be recommended over others. The hands-on exercises will be complemented with information on health and safety and sustainability related to emergency salvage, as well as decision-making exercises, where participants apply what they have learned to specific scenarios.

The training activities in this workshop are based on ones developed at the Canadian Conservation Institute. This workshop is organized by the AIC Emergency Committee, in collaboration with the Canadian Conservation Institute and the AIC Health & Safety Committee.

The workshop is taking place at Pointe-à-Callière Museum, 350 Place Royale, Montreal, which is a 16-minute walk from the conference center. Participants are responsible for getting to the workshop on their own.

Instructors

Alison Reppert Gerber is the Head of the Preservation Services Section at the Library of Congress’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. In this role, she oversees the program planning and management for the preservation of audio, video, and film collections in support of the Library’s mission. Responsible for the oversight of three laboratories at NAVCC, Alison manages the technical and financial resources allocated to the Preservation Section, establishes priorities, and directs preservation work activities. Previously, Alison was Head of Preservation Programs at the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, where she directed the work of the Archives Conservation Laboratory and the Audiovisual Media Preservation Initiative (AVMPI). She has extensive experience in preventive conservation and treatment of paper, photographic, and audiovisual media; emergency preparedness, response, and training for cultural heritage; and management of cellulose nitrate film collections.\

Ivey Barker is the Associate Photo Conservator with the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. Ivey assesses condition and treatment needs, documents findings in reports, treats a wide range of photographs, from daguerreotypes to digital prints, and contributes to outreach efforts. Ivey was previously at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where she was the Mellon Fellow in Photograph Conservation. She has held positions at the National Archives and Records Administration, the Image Permanence Institute, and the George Eastman Museum. Ivey received a MA in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management from the University of Rochester, in collaboration with the George Eastman Museum. Her contributions to emergency response can be seen on the Digital Print Preservation Portal (DP3) and in the workshop curriculum she developed for the recovery of aqueous inkjet prints after a water emergency.

Irene Karsten is a Senior Preventive Conservation Advisor at the Canadian Conservation Institute. Since 2009, she has conducted facility assessments with a focus on care of collections and advised on facility design for Canadian heritage institutions. She contributes to collections risk management projects for museums, galleries, libraries and archives and provides training in risk management methods and emergency preparedness and response, including the online workshop “Response Ready: Developing an Emergency Response Plan for Heritage Institutions.” Irene completed a Ph.D. in Human Ecology with a specialization in textile conservation science at the University of Alberta in 2003.

Marianne Breault is a preventive conservation advisor at the Canadian Conservation Institute, where she has worked since 2019. She holds a Master’s degree in painting conservation from the Institut national du patrimoine in Paris, France. Before joining CCI, Marianne worked as a conservator at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, where she was responsible for the treatment and preventive conservation of paintings and sculptures. In her current role at CCI, she provides preventive conservation advice to a diverse range of clients including museums, archives, heritage groups and cultural centres, with a focus on supporting smaller institutions. She’s also actively involved in risk assessment projects, as well as training and publication development.

Stephanie Black is the Conservator at the Anchorage Museum in Anchorage, Alaska and Chair of the American Institute of Conservation’s Health & Safety Network. She specializes in the conservation and care of archaeological, indigenous, and natural history collections. Her areas of interest are in collaborative conservation and collections care, laboratory health and safety, mental health in the workplace, and conservation education. Stephanie previously worked as an Assistant Conservator at the Field Museum on the Native Truths North American Hall redevelopment project and the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum on their Gallery Enhancement Project, both in Chicago, Illinois. She also worked as an objects’ conservator and laboratory technician for the MSc Conservation Studies program offered at University College London Qatar in Doha, Qatar. Stephanie holds a MSc in Conservation for Archaeology and Museums and a MA in Principles of Conservation from University College London in the United Kingdom, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Art Conservation and Art History from the University of Delaware.

Join us for a dynamic workshop designed to help conservation professionals confidently articulate the value of their work—whether in donor conversations, behind-the-scenes tours, or when partnering with development teams. Learn how to frame your stories in ways that align with your business or institution’s mission and priorities so you’re prepared to make a compelling case when opportunity knocks. Don’t miss this chance to connect with peers, build lasting skills, and become a more effective ambassador for conservation within your workplace and beyond.

This workshop will be led by Huron, who’s advancement team has guided more than 3,000 nonprofits and over 100 major campaigns exceeding $1 billion, bringing a depth of experience unmatched in the sector. With their recent integration of Advancement Resources and the Halpin Partnership—national leaders in philanthropic training—Huron offers research-based, highly effective strategies for strengthening donor engagement and support. Their record of helping mission-driven organizations translate their work into compelling cases for philanthropy makes this a valuable and energizing opportunity for all participants—and for the conservation field.

Participants will engage in a brief exercise prior to the workshop to explore their business or institution’s strategic priorities and philanthropic approach. To further increase the impact of this program, participants can continue to interact with Huron’s learning platform and resource library following the workshop. 

This workshop is generously supported by the University of Delaware.

Instructor

Huron is a global professional services firm that collaborates with clients to put possible into practice by creating sound strategies, optimizing operations, accelerating digital transformation, and empowering businesses and their people to own their future. By embracing diverse perspectives, encouraging new ideas, and challenging the status quo, they create sustainable results for the organizations they serve. Through their deep expertise in strategy, innovation, technology, operations and analytics, they empower the world’s leading organizations and drive the transformative change you need to own your future.

This two-day workshop provides a foundational introduction to conservation dyeing. Participants will explore the theoretical principles of dyeing textiles and engage in essential hands-on practice. The insights gained from this workshop will support participants continued learning, and further development of conservation dyeing skills in their own practice.

The target audience is conservation students and emerging professionals who did not receive specialized training in textile conservation during their academic studies and are seeking practical experience in conservation dyeing.

The first day of the workshop would focus on theory, while the second will offer hands-on experience through a guided dyeing exercise.

This workshop will take place at the Musée des Beaux-arts de Montréal,1380 Sherbrooke Street W, Montreal. Meet at the conference center at 8:45am for complimentary transportation.

Instructors

Camille Lafrance is the Public Art Associate Conservator for the City of Calgary. She holds a B.A. in Historical Sciences and Heritage studies from Université Laval, and a MPhil in Textile Conservation from the University of Glasgow. Her professional background includes textile conservation roles at the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, among other institutions.

Eddie Docking, Public Art Conservation and Collection Technician, City of Calgary. Eddie Docking is an objects conservator with a wide variety of interests including metal, contemporary art, and textile conservation, as well as interests in material chemistry. They were the 2025 Interdisciplinary Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in the Object Conservation Lab and Arts of Ancient America Department at LACMA. Eddie holds an Honours B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Calgary and a Master of Conservation in Object Conservation from Queen’s University.

This workshop will provide participants with practical experience on three iterations of the microfading tester (MFT) instrument commonly in use today: the original Whitmore MFT design, the Retroreflective MFT, and the Fotonowy MFT. The audience for this workshop includes prospective and emerging MFT users, as well as those interested in alternatives to their current MFT setups.

Introduced in the mid-1990s by conservation scientist Paul Whitmore (Whitmore, Pan, and Bailie, JAIC 1999), the MFT has become an important preventive conservation tool for assessing the light sensitivity of an object. By exposing an object to an intense and tiny spot of light—greater than 1 million lux and less than 0.5 mm in diameter—and simultaneously monitoring color change with a spectrometer, the MFT provides information on an object’s vulnerability to light, as well as supporting object selection for exhibitions and the development of object-specific lighting guidelines for display.

Though the MFT is employed at heritage institutions around the world, there have been obstacles to its more widespread use. Because it is a unique technique that emerged from within the conservation field rather than from a commercial manufacturer, the formal training and technical support normally offered by instrument companies have not been available. Over the years, MFT users also began exploring alternatives to the original Whitmore MFT setup, including changes to the light source, measurement geometry, and means of automation. Thus, it is incumbent on the conservation field itself to support MFT practice, and this training workshop represents a contribution to this effort.

The bulk of the workshop will be dedicated to gaining hands-on experience with the Whitmore MFT, Retroreflective MFT, and Fotonowy MFT. During three 90-minute sessions on each instrument, participants will work in small groups with expert instructors to begin learning how to operate the instrument (choosing test locations, assessing the light source, establishing test parameters, focusing the light spot, conducting the tests) and communicate the results (analyzing and interpreting the data, preparing reports, impacting lighting guidelines). Information will also be shared on the acquisition, assembly, portability, and maintenance of each instrument. The workshop will include group discussion of general MFT concepts and case studies, and a Q&A.

This workshop is organized by AIC’s Microfading Tester International Discussion Group (MFT-IDG) in collaboration with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Canadian Conservation Institute, Canadian Museum of History, Field Museum, Getty Conservation Institute, Ingenium, Library of Congress, Musée des Beaux-arts de Montréal, Museum of Modern Art, and National Galleries of Scotland.

The workshop will take place at Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal,1380 Sherbrooke Street W, Montreal. Meet at the conference center at 8:15am for complimentary transportation.

Instructors

Vincent Laudato Beltran is a scientist in the Preventive Conservation research team and the Managing Collection Environments Initiative at the Getty Conservation Institute. His research and teaching efforts include environmental management in hot and humid climates, evaluations of packing case performance during transport, and the advancement of microfading tester practice. Vincent contributed to the 2019 ASHRAE chapter on “Museums, Galleries, Archives, and Libraries,” co-organized the “Towards Art in Transit 2.0” symposium at the 2024 AIC meeting, and is the chair of the “Microfading Tester International Discussion Group”. He holds a BS in General Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MS in Oceanography (Geochemistry) from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.

JP Brown is the Senior Conservator at the Field Museum, Chicago, IL where he has worked for the last 20 years. He is the author of the current iteration of the free SpectralViewer MFT software. Prior to joining the Field he designed and built real-time computer-based environmental monitoring systems for historic buildings, taught practical and preventive conservation at University College Cardiff, and worked as an archaeological conservator at the Yorkshire and Humberside Museums Council. He holds degrees in Archaeological Conservation (University College Cardiff, 1986), and Computer Science (University of Chicago, 2005) and currently specializes in objects conservation, real-time environmental monitoring and control, software solutions to conservation problems, and the 3D imaging of artifacts.

Cindy Connelly Ryan is a preservation science specialist in the Library of Congress Preservation Research and Testing Division, with a dual background in physics(Carnegie-Mellon University) and art conservation (New York University). Her current projects focus on developing instrumentation and best practices for identification of dyes and pigments, XRF, and MFT; reconstruction of obsolete historic artists’ materials; and conducting analytical studies of collection items. She frequently collaborates with Conservation colleagues on assessing conservation techniques, particularly for iron gall ink and verdigris. Cindy is the programming officer of the MFT-IDG, and has been an MFT practitioner since 2007, using the Whitmore, Fotonowy, and Thomas designs.

Kirsten Dunne ACR is Senior Projects Conservator at the National Galleries of Scotland, where she has worked since 2005. She trained in Paper Conservation but since 2019 her role has focused on Time Based Media, Microfading and the application of technology to conservation practice, including conservation created data and documentation. She was trained by Bruce Ford and has used a Whitmore model Microfader since 2012, applying it to risk-based collections management for the NGS collection. Kirsten sits on the committee of the American Institute of Conservation International Microfading Discussion group, acting as Information Repository Officer. She holds an MA in Conservation of Fine Art, Works of Art on Paper from Northumbria University and an MA in History of Art from Edinburgh University.

Abed Haddad is an Assistant Conservation Scientist at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, where he collaborates with staff and allied professionals on research, treatment, storage, and environmental quality and monitoring. He is interested in the characterization and technical study of modern and contemporary artists and materials, as well as expanding access to collections through scientific analysis and data-driven decision-making. He also serves as an adjunct lecturer at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, where he teaches advanced technical studies of cultural heritage and mentors students on projects. He was elected to a three-year term as Vice President of the American Institute for Conservation in 2025. He holds a doctoral degree in chemistry from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY).

Eric Hagan is a Senior Conservation Scientist in the Preventive Conservation Division of the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI). His current research focuses on the light sensitivity of colorants in museum collections—particularly in relation to prior exposure history—as well as the development of open datasets to support risk assessment tools, education, and analysis. He facilitates CCI regional workshops and webinars on exhibit lighting and is a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) Museum and Art Gallery Lighting Committee. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London and a Master of Art Conservation (Science) degree from Queen’s University.

Jenny Youkyoung Kim is an assistant scientist in the Preventive Conservation research group at the Getty Conservation Institute. Her research focuses on sustainable collection care practices, including advanced color fading studies and environmental monitoring using open-source data visualization tools. Her expertise spans a wide range of analytical techniques, including the microfading tester, acoustic emission monitoring, and digital image correlation. Before joining the Conservation Institute, she held positions at M+, The British Museum, and the Library of Congress, and was previously a Getty Graduate Intern (2021-2022) with the Managing Collections Environments Initiative. She holds a Master of Research in Science and Engineering in Arts, Heritage, and Archaeology from University College London, and a BS in Biological Environmental Science from Dongguk University, Seoul.

Rio Lopez is the Associate Objects Conservator at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Her work at the museum has been dedicated to the preventative care, study, and treatment of the permanent and temporary museum collections. Her research efforts involve the scientific analysis and conservation treatment of modern and contemporary materials. She holds a BA in the History of Art from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA/CAS in Art Conservation from SUNY Buffalo State College.

Maeve Moriarty is a Senior Conservation Scientist in the Conservation Science Division of the Canadian Conservation Institute. She specializes in inorganic analyses of artists’ materials and archaeological materials. Her work includes the non-invasive analysis of heritage objects by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, including pesticide analysis. Before joining the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI), Maeve worked in a commercial analytical laboratory, in several research laboratories and as a team leader on a project involving the remediation of contaminated sites in the Arctic. In her work, Maeve used various analytical methods, such as synchrotron-based techniques. She has published numerous articles on arsenic, as well as on the imaging and analysis of inorganic elements. Maeve earned a B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Ottawa and a Master’s in Environmental Chemistry from the Royal Military College of Canada in 2009.

Multiband imaging is an important tool for recording condition, informing the care and treatment, and increasing our understanding of manufacture and materials of heritage objects. However, it can be challenging to know where to start and how to increase capabilities. Multiband imaging offers a lot of flexibility for equipment and setups from low barrier to more complex, higher-end options. This workshop aims to provide participants with additional information and resources to help get started with multiband imaging and also expand capabilities based on equipment and setup.

Multiband imaging is a set of photographic techniques that use broadband wavelength ranges from longwave UV to near infrared, including visible light, to provide the visualization and spatial distribution of materials under different illumination. This can include but is not limited to reflected UV, UV-induced visible luminescence, reflected infrared, and visible-induced infrared luminescence imaging.

The first part of the workshop will include a panel representing different institutions and media specialties to share their multiband experiences and setups. Panelists will provide short presentations focused on how they got started with multiband imaging, where they are now, and where they want to go with their multiband imaging set-up. They will share current and past equipment uses and the limitations and goals that drove those choices. These short presentations will examine the various goals around imaging and how set-ups can morph and develop over time depending on goals, funding and the resources of the institution. Following the presentations there will be facilitated discussion and participant Q&A.

The second part of the workshop will include a hands-on component with demonstrations and an opportunity for participants to examine and test out cameras, filters, lenses, targets, and radiation sources. This will also allow for a deeper examination into how to choose equipment and build on existing set-ups. This section will aim to answer the following questions when choosing equipment: What are the limitations of some of the less expensive equipment? How can you evaluate the filters and radiation sources you have? What are the different targets and how are they used?

Instructors

Tessa de Alarcon has been a conservator at the Penn Museum since 2012. She received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2004 where she majored in studio art and minored in archaeology, and her M.A. from the UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials in 2012. She has published and presented on a variety of topics including the conservation of basketry, gold manufacturing techniques at Ur, and the treatment of Egyptian Cartonnage. She has done fieldwork in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Guatemala and she has also taught workshops in Guatemala on documentation and archaeological conservation.

Keats Webb is an imaging scientist at the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI) where she uses scientific and computational imaging to aid in the research and conservation of the Smithsonian collections. Recent research includes investigating the optimization of spectral and 3D imaging for cultural heritage documentation using consumer imaging systems. Keats has a PhD from the University of Brighton and an MRes from the University College London as part of the Science and Engineering in Arts Heritage and Archaeology Centre for Doctoral Training (SEAHA CDT).

It has become common knowledge that practicing mindfulness meditation can improve our personal and professional lives by calming the nervous system, making us more present and less reactive. For some, it is a purely practical endeavor. For others, it is a spiritual one in which the sense of self recedes to give way to a spacious, open consciousness, and a sense of interconnectedness with all other beings. Both a growing body of scientific evidence and overwhelmingly positive personal testimonies demonstrate the effectiveness and affirm the benefits of mindfulness meditation.

This pilot workshop explores the application of mindfulness to the highly specialized professional setting of art conservation. Conservators need to look deeply at objects to understand their materiality, their history, and the changes and damages that may have occurred. But they can also make a myriad of snap judgments without being aware of it–judgments about an object, what it is, its provenance, its quality, how it is made, what has happened to it, and how to approach its conservation. Snap judgments could result from cultural biases or over-reliance on one’s experience. The practice of mindfulness can bring these assumptions to the forefront of consciousness, freeing the mind from them, thereby sustaining openness, curiosity, and real learning from the object. On the other hand, there is a deep focus and meditative quality to the type of looking practiced by conservators that could serve as an anchor for a mindfulness practice. Lastly, conservation work entails tasks that can be physically strenuous–for example, precise, repetitive motions, sustained attention and tension, looking under a microscope. Can a mindfulness practice help alleviate the strain for the body?

The goals and hypothesis of the workshop are to explore (a) if mindfulness can improve the practice of conservation by slowing the mind down, promoting focus, reducing biases, and alleviating physical challenges; and (b) if the deep looking that is an integral part of conservation can be a catalyst for mindfulness.

A first workshop was organized in December 2024, the Getty Center in collaboration with the Peabody Essex Museum, the Conservation Association of Los Angeles, and UCLA Mindful, organized an initial pilot workshop. Participants reported a heightened mindfulness state and a more fulfilling experience of looking at objects and experiencing feelings of joy when pairing mindfulness and conservation practices. The feedback from the participants made it clear that there is a need and a demand for mindfulness activities specifically geared towards our field.

In this second pilot workshop, as in the first one, participants and facilitators will be co-experimenters.  We will contribute to anonymous and confidential data collection gathering by wearing in the form of non-invasive watch-style physiological monitors measurements (e.g. measuring heart rate), completing mindfulness state surveys, and sharing anecdotal data reflective discussion and behavioral observation), while examining various collection objects.

The facilitators hope that this workshop will provide further scientific data supporting the exploration of the connection between conservation and mindfulness and continue the brainstorm to design mindfulness activities geared towards the field of conservation.

Lunch will be provided. This workshop is taking place at the Canadian Center for Architecture, 1920 Baile Street, Montreal, which is 25 minutes on public transportation or a 12-minute drive from the conference center. Participants are responsible for getting themselves to/from the workshop.

Instructors

Dr. Tedi Asher is the Peabody Essex Museum’s in-house neuroscience researcher. She joined PEM in 2017 after completing her doctoral degree in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program at Harvard Medical School. Her training as a basic biologist helps her appreciate how mechanistic understandings of living systems can meaningfully inform our lived experience. Her current work explores ways to combine understandings of the human nervous system with caring curiosity to connect across differences and build new understandings of individuals, communities and the human experience.

Rachel Rivenc is the Head of Conservation and Preservation at Getty Research Institute.

Dr. Lilit Sadoyan is a long-time museum educator, independent curator, and art historian. As Gallery Educator at the Getty Museum since 2008, she facilitates experiences that encourage curiosity, inspire learning, and include diverse perspectives. Dr. Sadoyan leads the Getty’s initiative to investigate the impact of mindfulness in museums. In addition to program development and implementation, she has hosted a national convening and a Getty podcast miniseries on the subject. She is co-author of Activity-Based Teaching in the Art Museum: Movement, Embodiment, Emotion (2020). Dr. Sadoyan has also held numerous curatorial positions at The Huntington Art Collections, the Art, Design & Architecture Museum, LACMA, and Getty.

David Stevenson has been with the Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA) in the role of Conservator since 2011. Here, his focus is on Archival and Preventive Conservation. He holds a MA, Digital Heritage from the University of Leicester School of Museum Studies, and a Diploma in Conservation from Fleming College. Prior to working with the CCA, he has held positions in museums, archives, and galleries, including the Archives of Ontario, the Bata Shoe Museum, The Textile Museum of Canada, Stephen Bulger Gallery and the Archives of the University of Dundee.

This workshop will focus on the preservation of metal and composite metal artifacts, though the methods demonstrated are broadly applicable to a wide range of materials. The workshop will emphasize the control of two critical environmental factors—oxygen and relative humidity—within sealed microclimates to ensure the long-term stability of artifacts.

Participants will be introduced to a variety of barrier materials, oxygen scavengers, desiccants, and sealing methods used to create controlled microenvironments. Barrier materials will include Corrosion Intercept, Marvelseal, Escal, and polyethylene ziplock bags. Oxygen scavengers such as the Revolutionary Preservation System (RPS) RP-A and RP-K, along with Ageless products, will be presented, as well as desiccants including cobalt blue-indicating silica gel, white and orange silica gels, and preconditioned silica gel. Monitoring techniques will cover tools for both oxygen and RH measurement, including RP oxygen eyes, PreSense oxygen meter, dataloggers, RH strips, and color-indicating silica gels. Sealing systems such as Food Saver units, portable hand-sealers, and RPS plastic clips will also be demonstrated.

Hands-on activities will allow participants to create and test five different types of microclimates: (1) oxygen-free, (2) oxygen-free and 0% RH, (3) oxygen-free with RH controlled to specific percentages, (4) moisture-free (0% RH), and (5) RH controlled to specific percentages. Participants will learn to monitor and interpret oxygen and RH levels within these systems, gaining practical skills to adapt microclimate solutions to specific conservation challenges. By targeting the needs of metals and composite artifacts—such as those combining metal with organic components—conservators will be able to ensure safer storage and preservation across both short- and long-term contexts. Case examples will illustrate the life stages of artifacts in which microclimates are most effective, from registration and examination to conservation, handling, and storage.

The workshop will begin with an introduction to the theoretical principles of preventive conservation on the microscale, offering participants a clear understanding of the methods and materials involved. This will be followed by hands-on activities at interactive stations, each dedicated to a specific microclimate type.

Participants will gain concrete skills in designing and evaluating microclimates for artifacts. They will be able to:

• Assemble and monitor oxygen- and moisture-controlled environments.

• Identify the strengths and limitations of different barrier films, scavengers, desiccants, and monitoring systems.

• Develop decision-making strategies to match microclimate solutions to artifact condition and lifecycle stage (e.g., post-excavation, pre-treatment, conservation, or long-term storage).

Although the focus will be on metals and composite objects, the methods are equally adaptable to other materials. They can also be applied to pest management, since anoxic microclimates are effective in controlling insect activity, though this is not the primary focus of the workshop. The techniques presented are cost-effective and practical, supporting sustainability by extending artifact stability and reducing the need for interventive treatments. The workshop is designed to be accessible to all levels of conservation professionals. No prior experience is required, making it suitable for conservators, collections managers, and students alike.

Instructors

Alice Boccia Paterakis is the Head of Conservation at Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis, MO. Alice has a Master’s degree in Objects Conservation from Queen’s University, Canada, and a PhD in Conservation from University College London, UK. She served as Head of Conservation of the Agora Excavations for the American School of Classical Studies in Greece. She is currently Head of Conservation for the Missouri Historical Society and Director of Conservation for the Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology in Turkey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome (AAR 2000), the IIC, and the AIC.

Melissa Mariano is the Collections Manager at The Huntington in San Marino, CA. Melissa Mariano holds a Master’s Degree in Preventive Conservation from Northumbria University. She has a wide experience in collections care and management, working for museums, archaeological sites, private collections and consulting firms in a variety of roles. Melissa joined The Huntington as the Art Division’s first Collections Manager in 2023, where she is building a Collections Department and collections care program, among other projects.

This workshop allows participants to visit a local artisans’ studio in the Lachine Canal complex and gain hands-on experience in stone cutting. Founded in 2021 with the mission of promoting, preserving, and sharing the expertise of the stone crafts, Les Ateliers de la pierre du Québec aims to be a unifying place for all those passionate about the stone crafts.

The workshop will be led by two local stone carvers and sculptors who will provide demonstrations and presentations on stone conservation using case studies from the studio. Participants will have the opportunity to practice stone cutting with different types of stones and tools. The studio is equipped with 10 workstations, each with a dust collector, protective eyewear, hearing protection, and disposable masks if needed.

The workshop will take place at Ateliers de la pierre, 4710 Rue Saint-Ambroise, Montréal. Meet at the conference center at 8:40am for complimentary transportation.

Instructors

Alexandre Maquet is an artisan and teacher at the CÉGEP du Vieux-Montréal and a certified trainer for the Arts and Crafts Council of Québec since 2017. As co-founder and director of the stone-cutting and sculpture school Les Ateliers de la Pierre du Québec, he has been involved in Quebec's arts and crafts and heritage scene for 20 years and has participated in many events as a speaker and stone-cutting demonstrator.

Simon Larochelle is a stone carver and a sculptor. He has been working on heritage conservation projects for more than 25 years.

This hands-on workshop explores both practical and theoretical aspects of tratteggio, a visible retouching method developed in Italy during the mid-20th century. This technique marked an important shift in conservation practice by introducing a retouching method that reintegrates areas of loss while respecting the material history of the original artwork. The workshop is designed to share modern applications of tratteggio based on the expanded use of classic techniques from a more diverse international perspective. Participants will be introduced to the principles of tratteggio, gain an understanding of its theory and history, and learn how to apply the technique on provided mock-ups. Although this technique can be applied to any polychrome surface, it is most commonly used by paintings conservators, particularly in the treatment of Old Masters.

Tratteggio employs hatched strokes of varying colors that are visible up close but blend visually from a distance. The workshop will include variants of the technique, such as chromatic abstraction, chromatic selection, and chromatic compensation. Because it relies on optical color mixing and not color mixtures that replicate the original paint layer structure, it is important to understand color interaction and perception. The workshop will guide participants in assessing and choosing colors for straightforward color combinations that can be reproduced, and they will practice control and placement of the brush to achieve successful results.

Practicing the techniques of tratteggio has benefits for conservators even if the method is not ultimately used. It hones dexterity, and the ability to break down color mixtures to component parts—skills that are directly transferable to mimetic retouching. Participants will practice on provided mock-ups and leave with a set of samples to keep for reference and continued practice. Lessons will be broken up with lectures on theory, history, and practice.

Instructors

Alex Chipkin is a private paintings conservator based in New York City. She received her Postgraduate diploma in the Conservation of Easel Paintings from the Courtauld Institute of Art in 2020. Alex has worked in both private studios and museum labs in England, the United States and Italy. Her interest lies in Old Master paintings and her goal is to specialize in the structural conservation of paintings on panel. Her international perspective, which incorporates techniques and practices from various countries, and her interdisciplinary approach give her a nuanced understanding of artworks and guides her in implementing creative treatment strategies.

Cristina Morilla is a paintings conservator with a particular focus on artworks spanning from medieval to early modern Europe. Morilla's interests extend to the technical aspects of art history, color technology and conservation ethics. Her recent projects include a technical study and conservation of several European altarpieces in the Harvard Art Museum's collection spanning from 1250 to 1700.

This seminar, at no additional cost for attendees, will introduce participants to a framework and valuable resources for broadening environmental setpoints beyond the static conditions of 70°F and 50% RH in collections spaces. Following current preventive care recommendations and guidance toward reducing energy consumption and associated costs while maintaining standards of care for collections, participants will emerge with a path forward to planning and implementing environmentally sustainable preventive care strategies.

The 2021-2023 national research study Culture Over Carbon: Understanding the Impact of Museum’s Energy Use was the first in-depth energy use analysis and the first estimate of the cultural sector’s energy impacts on climate change. The study found that art museums are the greatest contributor of carbon emissions in the cultural sector largely due to the use of strict and energy intensive environmental setpoints. In 2023, The Association of Art Museum Directors adopted the BIZOT Green Protocol which sets forth recommendations to broaden environmental setpoints in collections spaces from the rigid 70°F and 50% RH to 16-25°C (60-77°F) and 40%-60% RH. As museums contemplate updating collections care policies and broadening setpoints, there is uncertainty as to how to proceed, who carries the weight of making the decisions, what the carbon and fiscal benefits are, and the potential impact on collections care. Each museum is unique in its building type, systems, collections, and climate region making it difficult to know how to start exploring ways to reduce energy and associated costs without compromising the integrity of collections care.

Environment & Culture Partners, New Buildings Institute, and A2 Efficiency, in collaboration with eight art museums and four cross-sector advisors are modeling and testing broadened environmental setpoints in museum collections spaces through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded research project, Min/Max: The Relationship Between Energy, Carbon, and T/RH Parameters in Collecting Institutions. The proposed pre-conference seminar will draw from research findings to provide a framework for museums to tackle energy reduction in collections spaces. 

Products of Min/Max include a free interactive energy dashboard and building energy model quantifying the impact broadening environmental parameters have on energy costs, often one of the highest annual costs for cultural organizations, greenhouse gas emissions, and collections preservation as well as case studies of broadening parameters at partner museum sites. Backed by conservation science and field research, this tool helps museum staff in identifying appropriate environmental conditions for collections that can save money, reduce energy usage, and reduce carbon emissions while maintaining standards of care for art and material culture. 

From Fall 2025-Spring 2026 museum partners in different climate regions are testing broadened setpoints in select collection spaces following a framework of considerations for planning and implementing environmentally sustainable preventive care developed by the project team. Because each museum is unique, there is no “one-size-fits all” approach nor is it necessary to take an “all or nothing” approach to sustainable collections care. Using the BIZOT recommendations as a guidepost, the project team collaborated with each museum partner to develop a customized testing plan that considers collections risks, building envelopes, mechanical system capabilities, and museum staff capacity and concerns. These tests provide real-world results and inform project case studies. Testing will be completed prior to the AIC Annual Meeting, giving attendees a first look at test results and the Min/Max resources.  

The seminar will be presented in three parts. Attendees will be introduced to the Min/Max dashboard and model including the research and decisions that informed development, its functionalities, and how the tool can be used as an entry point for environmental and fiscal sustainability while maintaining collection preservation standards. 

Participants will learn about the Min/Max framework of considerations for broadening setpoints. Museum partner case studies will be incorporated into the discussion.

Topics will include:

• decision making through collaborative teams,
• team communication, 
• overcoming concerns and barriers,
• data and documents needed to start, 
• using collected data and documents to develop a customized plan, 
• analyzing data during implementation of broadening setpoints,
• refining and troubleshooting, 
• optimizing mechanical system performance,
• museums partners’ application of the framework, 
• museum partner energy savings, costs savings, and collections condition results,
• next steps in implementing sustainable collections care

Finally, attendees will engage in a thought experiment to consider how they might apply the framework to their own institutions or institutions they consult. One major barrier to moving forward with broadening setpoints is fear and uncertainty. The thought experiment and following discussion will encourage voicing concerns and a collective offering of solutions.

Discussion points may include: 

• concerns and perceived barriers
• knowledge gaps
• risk analysis
• concerns regarding singular decision-makers versus group consensus
• communication tactics
• readiness
• staff capacity
• resources
• funding

Participants will come away with a tangible roadmap for reducing energy consumption while maintaining high standards of collections care. They will also be equipped with tactics for easing concerns and overcoming barriers within their institutions.

Instructors

Alec S. "Al" Carver-Kubik is Program Officer, Grants & Research at Environment and Culture Partners.

Christopher Cameron, CEM, Sustainable Heritage. Christopher worked as a Sustainable Preservation Specialist at the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) for 9 years. During this time, he assisted over 60 institutions with projects ranging from evaluating collections environment and mechanical systems to establish environmental monitoring programs.

Our labs and studios include old and new tools and techniques – what are your tips, tricks, and tools that help tackle imaging projects to support conservation documentation? These practical, cost-effective, and creative solutions can be focused on traditional or innovative tools, techniques, or setups, a combination, low tech or high tech or somewhere in between. We offer the opportunity to share practical solutions with our community in short presentations (5-7 min) of useful imaging related tips, tricks, and tools.

Attendees  are invited to gather over a meal in an informal setting to share and discuss useful tips. Tips might include useful tools, treatment procedures and workflows, recipe adjustments, materials, or other such creative solutions that colleagues have developed while caring for objects. Of particular interest are low-cost alternatives to expensive equipment, low-tech analytical tools or procedures, and easy- or free-access technological resources that objects conservators can use. The format will be 5 to 7 minute presentations, accompanied by a multi-media video, a PowerPoint presentation, and/or on-site examples and demonstrations. 

We invite paintings conservators and conservators focused on contemporary art to engage in discussion of active treatments and complex decision-making. The event promotes the importance of shared knowledge while embracing innovative and unique treatment approaches. This luncheon welcomes participants from other conservation disciplines who may work with contemporary painted surfaces. Participants are asked to submit case studies in advance and are then grouped into rotating discussion tables led by moderators with accompanying note-takers. Discussion tables include topics and case studies focused on painted contemporary surfaces, including plastic, 3-dimensional objects, paper, textiles, and organic materials, as well as discussions on ethical considerations. By engaging conservators at various career stages and in different specialties, this session creates an inclusive space where conservators share treatment approaches and connect across experience levels. This luncheon is limited to 60 people (including note-takers and moderators) to ensure table assignments can be made.

Conservation professionals in every job and at every career stage give professional feedback. We manage up to our bosses and faculty advisors; supervise employees, students, and interns; review journal articles, book manuscripts, and grant applications; and write book reviews.

When done well, professional feedback increases motivation and engagement, enhances learning and development, gives insight into strengths and areas for growth, and helps clarify institutional and individual goals. When done badly, feedback can increase disengagement, dissatisfaction, and turnover; damage relationships and morale; create perceptions of inequity; risk litigation; or undermine goals. Yet the vast majority of us have never had training in how to do it well. And while we might commiserate with others in the midst of conducting performance reviews, struggling through comments by a picky reviewer, or trying to have a more productive relationship with an advisor or administrator, giving and receiving feedback is not something we regularly discuss in professional conservation settings.

This session is for anyone who has had a sleepless night after reading nasty comments from “Reader 2” and would like to be able to review journal articles more quickly and kindly, so that they never become a nasty “Reader 2” themselves; and/or who would like to have more productive and efficient meetings with their colleagues, advisors, or advisees.

Speakers:

Suzanne Davis (she/her) is a senior associate curator and head of the Conservation Department at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan (U-M). She oversees preservation of the Kelsey’s 100,000+ artifacts and historic building and directs conservation programs for many of the museum's excavation-based research projects. She is a graduate of the Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. She is a Professional Member of the American Institute for Conservation and holds the honorary distinction of AIC Fellow. She serves on the boards of several cultural heritage preservation organizations and is a past president of AIC. Suzanne publishes regularly, serves as a peer reviewer for multiple journals and presses, and has undertaken leadership and management training through U-M’s Ross School of Business.

Jessica Walthew (she/her) is a PhD student at the University of Glasgow. For 8 years she was a conservator at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum working with the Product Design and Decorative Arts and Digital departments. Her research and teaching interests include theory and history of conservation, plastics, sustainability, and digital media. She is a graduate of the Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. She has worked on archaeological projects in Turkey, Italy, and Peru, and held post-graduate fellowships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Bard Graduate Center/American Museum of Natural History.

Conservators and heritage professionals in general are tasked with preserving cultural heritage for the enjoyment and education of future generations. On the other hand, they are also tasked with making that cultural heritage accessible to current generations. This involves managing risks which have been and are still hotly debated, including loosening strict indoor museum climate requirements or dealing with the pressure to allow increasing numbers of valuable objects to go on loan.

However, in spite of the collaboration between different fields at the intersection of innovation and tradition, a theme of the AIC 54th annual meeting, and in spite of the progress made in risk analysis methodology, many conservators still resist taking any risk at all, especially when it comes to situations where the object is out of their control. This was evident in many of the reactions to the results presented at the 2024 annual meeting in Salt Lake City to a study on loan transport presented in cooperation with conservators, registrars and collection managers at thirteen large museums on four continents, which showed that poor handling was the main cause of damage in loan transport and not vibrations or shock per se. This resistance also continues to be evident in the continued unwillingness of many conservators and heritage professionals to broaden the allowable temperature and relative humidity bands in museums in spite of research showing that this would be of minimal risk to objects. The question is then, where does this resistance to taking risks come from?

In the continuing series of such dialogues at AIC annual meetings, a Socratic dialogue is thus proposed for members of the conservation profession to reflect on what it means to accept and take risks (or not) in conservation. A Socratic dialogue is a structured form of dialogue in which all participants actively contribute. The purpose of the dialogue is not to answer the question of how conservators should accept or take risks in their daily work. The Socratic method provides a safe, open environment for participants to reflect on what it means to accept or take a risk (or not), and to investigate what the essence is behind their own points of view as well as those of others.

Instructor:

Bill Wei, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (retired), Amsterdam. Dr. Wei (1955) is an independent consultant, formerly senior conservation scientist (retired) in the Cultural Heritage Laboratory of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE). He conducts research into the effects of cleaning and treatments of objects on their appearance and viewers’ perception, including: 1. The use of non-contact roughness measurements to study surface changes, as well as for the identification of objects using “fingerprints” to help fight illegal trafficking. 2. The effect of aging, corrosion and cleaning on the surface, appearance and perception of objects of art and cultural heritage. 3. Effect of dust on the condition and perception of objects. 4. Virtual retouching of faded and discolored objects 5. The effect of vibrations and mechanical stresses on the condition of fragile works of art and cultural heritage A major area of interest is how conservation decisions are influenced by the differing perception of objects by art historians, conservation scientists, conservators, curators, directors, and other collections staff. Dr. Wei has trained as a Socratic dialogue moderator and has organized over sixty dialogues in over a decade, including dialogues at eleven previous AIC annual meetings (2013-2024 except 2020) on “museum climate”, “certification”, “disaster planning”, "high-tech innovation", “public participation”, “color”, “systematic racism in conservation”, “value”, and “authenticity and originality”, a dialogue on the rights of living artists at the ICOM-CC meeting in 2014 and at the ICOM-CC Legal Issues working group meeting in 2016, a series of on-line IIC dialogues on conservation ethics, and dialogues for various museums, cultural heritage institutes, universities, and smaller groups of conservators in different countries on conservation ethics, cleaning of historic church interiors, digitalization, photograph conservation, the value of archaeological work, and the subject of dust in museums.

The Sustainability Committee and Health & Safety Network are hosting a collaborative luncheon panel focused on critical mental wellness topics around mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion (also known as burnout), along with solution-oriented tools to help prevent and recover from the resulting symptoms. This session builds on themes that emerged in last year’s lunch panel in Minneapolis, "Sustainability in Collections Care: Centering on Context vs. Extending an Object’s Physical Life,” but attendees do not need to have attended that event to participate in this one.

This panel discussion includes presenters who will offer their perspectives on how to recognize the varied ways burnout manifests and offer insights on how to protect ourselves. Our intention is to leave participants empowered and with a greater sense of agency. Presentations will include:

• Imposter Phenomenon in Conservation, by Jacquelyn Peterson-Grace
• Practicing with joy: Mindfulness & Conservation, by Rachel Ri, Tedi Asher, and Lilit Sadoyan
• Through the Respirator: Gendered and Cultural Realities of Conservation in Contaminated Spaces, by Cathy ter Bogt, Tiare Pito, Jolenna Deo, Sophie Honnor, Whiro Walker, Lili'uokalani Cantlay, Ann Tozer

This session will illustrate the challenges conservators face in choosing safe and sustainable materials for case construction and storage furniture used to house collections. Materials choice is a topic that concerns members of all specialty groups and networks. Presentations in this session include:

• Breathe it In: Air Quality Data from a Household Monitor, by Nicole Grabow
• All that glitters is not gold: Efflorescence (crystal) mitigation at Infinity of Nations at Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian – New York, by Erin Birdsall, Susan Heald, John George

This luncheon session, hosted by Conservators in Private Practice, will focus on the work done by private conservators. There are a wide range of specialties represented in private practices, and this wide breadth of knowledge is a unique resource that should be shared. This tips session will demonstrate some of the treatments and research completed by those in private practice.

“I don’t know if this is interesting, but…” Conservators are experts in materials and techniques but communicating that work can be challenging. How do you explain complex treatments, delicate materials, or ethical decisions without oversimplifying, being redundant, or too technical? In this interactive Luncheon, the marketing manager and senior conservator from the Northeast Document Conservation Center will share a short presentation on their approach to sharing aspects of conservation, grounded in institutional priorities and AIC ethical practices. The presentation seeks to explore how asking different questions can spark compelling conservation stories.

Following the presentation, attendees will participate in group exercises that practice different approaches to communicating their everyday projects and treatment approaches. A group of co-facilitators with backgrounds in communicating conservation will be available to lend additional viewpoints and expertise during the discussions. Each table will then present their thoughts and outcomes to everyone. This session will produce a set of refined prompts and tips that will be shared afterward as a free resource.

Participants will leave the session able to:

1. Identify common barriers when communicating conservation work.
2. Generate strategies that guide you through thinking about technical projects and/or repetitive tasks differently.
3. Adapt messaging for multiple audiences, including colleagues and the public.

Instructors:

Katelin Lee, Outreach Manager, Foundation for Advancement in Conservation, Promotes awareness of the conservation field within the public and provides membership with opportunities to reach new audiences.

Dr. Catherine G. Cooper, Research Scientist, Technical Services Program at the National Park Service, Assisting with in-house research and providing technical preservation consulting and services to other NPS units and beyond.

TBA, Private Conservator, Provides advice on sharing services via social media.