Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works

Outreach - the collections assessment for preservation (cap) program is administered by faic under a cooperative agreement with the institute of museum and library services (imls). Participating museums receive support for a general Conservation assessment from a qualified collections assessor and a building assessor. The two assessors work collaboratively to provide institutions with recommendations for improved collections care. Thirty-eight museums received support in 2023.in 2014, faic began operating connecting to collections care, an online community and professional development resource for small and mid-sized museums, with funding from imls. This community offers an average of 12 free webinars and two low-cost courses per year. The program also supports a moderated forum with more than 3,600 subscribers that provides collections care guidance to museum staff.faic hosts the knowledge-sharing platform Conservation online (cool), including the internationally global Conservation forum (formerly known as the conservationdistlist) with over 11,000 subscribers.

Emergency preparedness, response, & recovery - faic manages several emergency initiatives that support efforts in all phases of dealing with emergencies, from preparedness to response and recovery. An annual mayday campaign encourages collecting institutions to undertake emergency planning activities during the month of may. A team of over one hundred trained professionals called the national heritage responders (nhr) provides expert assistance to institutions that experience damage from emergencies. The alliance for response (afr) program is a national initiative that develops and trains regional response teams that include cultural institutions and local emergency professionals in 36 locations around the country. in 2023, faic provided training for an afr network in Massachusetts and helped launch a new regional afr network in new hampshire.

Professional development & education - workshops and educational sessions are a key part of faic's programs. in addition to offering workshops at the aic annual meeting, which draws 800+ attendees each year, faic produces professional development programs throughout the year at various locations. These events range from weeklong, lab-based workshops on specific treatment techniques to on-line programs on equity and inclusion topics. Faic created new curricula to fill gaps in training, including a series of online courses. in 2023, faic presented 13 in person and online events that reached 752 professionals. Faic awarded $276,318 in professional development scholarships and post-graduate fellowships in 2023.

Research & publications - faic publishes information of interest to the Conservation and preservation communities on its web pages, such as survey results and other research. Faic videos on disaster response and other topics are made available through faic's learning portal and on the aic youtube account. Faic is partnering with the national endowment for the humanities to conduct the "held in trust" project, which examines the current state of and future recommendations for Conservation and preservation in advance of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the declaration of independence. As held in trust's first outcome, faic is developing climate resilience resources for cultural heritage, an online toolkit to help cultural organizations assess the impact of climate change on their site and improve their resiliency. The stich life cycle assessment project looks at common processes and activities of collecting institutions and their environmental and health impacts. Faic publishes the field guide to emergency response and the emergency response and salvage wheel, essential resources for collecting institutions after disasters. Faic administers the faic/samuel h kress Conservation publication fellowships, which have resulted in at least 32 new publications since 1994. Faic also operates an oral history project, which documents the history of Conservation through interviews.