From the President's Desk, "News in Conservation" August-September 2024, Issue 103

(Scroll to the bottom to download this column in: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Croatian, German, Portuguese, or Spanish)

In July I was back at the Palace Museum in Beijing renewing the agreement between IIC and the Museum under which the IIC International Training Centre for Conservation (IIC-ITCC) operates. I also helped launch the latest product of the agreement, a two-week course on metal conservation. The original agreement came about as a result of the 25th IIC Congress held in Hong Kong in 2014. At that Congress our keynote speech, the Forbes Prize lecture, was given by Dr Shan Jixiang the eminent former director of the Palace Museum.  Dr Shan and my predecessor as President of IIC, Sarah Staniforth, agreed to establish an international training centre for conservation to promote research and exchange on conservation at an international level. The driver has been to develop professional capacity and standards for conservation professionals, particularly those from developing countries and the Asia Pacific region. From the outset the operational cost of the IIC-ITCC has been generously borne by the Palace Museum. The relationship between IIC and the Palace Museum is highly valued by IIC and we look forward to continuing to build on and deepen that relationship in the years to come. I thank particularly Palace Museum Director Dr Wang Xudong for his commitment to the partnership.

Since 2015, 117 participants from 37 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, America and Oceania have benefited from the five IIC-ITCC training workshops. These have covered preventive conservation, non-destructive analysis, textiles, paper & photography and ceramics & glass.

The last of these was held in 2019, after which Covid limited any further events until this latest metal conservation course. Within the current three-year agreement, two more are planned, focusing on paintings & thangkas in 2025 and furniture in 2026. Next year is the 100th anniversary of the Palace Museum and a two-day conservation symposium is also planned to be held.

Each course has 24 students—12 from within China, selected by the Palace Museum, and 12 internationally, selected by IIC. This year the international students include conservators working in Africa (Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Cameroon), Colombia, Ukraine, Mexico, Malaysia and the Philippines.  The course structure is managed by a joint academic committee, and the lecturers drawn from IIC Fellows.         

Just as our 25th Congress was the event that created the IIC-ITCC, with its wider benefits for the conservation profession, so also we expect that our 30th Congress in Lima from 23-27 September will be a catalyst for change. We hope it will lead to greater opportunities both for Latin American conservators and for conservators from outside the region as the personal relationships forged there, and the shared knowledge taken from it, are used to advance our profession. 

The Congress is our next big event after Beijing. I look forward to greeting many of you either in person in Lima or through the Virtual or Local Live Hubs. It promises to be another memorable event and also a milestone in the development of our profession as a truly global one. 

With my best wishes

Julian Bickersteth AO   FIIC

IIC President