Page 86 - Annual Report

Future Plans

 Completion of projects with Aga Khan Trust for
Culture to prepare the Specifications Manual for
Built Heritage Conservation; and completion of
26 fellowships for the 1947 Partition Archives.
 Focus on achieving Year 3 deliverables for the Art
Conservation Initiative which includes: monitoring
the work of 5 partner institutes in conducting their
online training; field surveys of smaller collections;
procurement of equipment and materials for the
conservation labs; and scheduling and
implementing 3-month conservation training
courses in specific materials.
 Initiation of the project for implementing the MA
in Art Conservation course in partnership with
St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.
Conservation team from Museum of Art & Photography, one of the partners under the
Tata Trusts’ Art Conservation Initiative, Bangalore, conducting a field survey of the collection

Best Practices

Adapting to the online training model in the Art Conservation Initiative has helped conservators working
on the projects to continue their training without interruption. With conservation labs being closed during
the pandemic, the conservators—whose primary responsibility is to work on objects onsite in the
labs-found time to focus on analysing treatment plans for objects with their peers. They engaged in
reading conservation literature, going in-depth into material science where required, honed their
report-writing skills and discussed conservation-related issues one-on-one with the Academic Consultant.

Challenges Faced

 Operational challenges arose in all projects due to the uncertainty of lifting of restrictions in different
states, coupled with the uncertainty of project partners and their families contracting Covid-19. While all
projects continued to function through the year, they had to be adapted to the web platform, which led to
restructuring of timelines and budgets.
 The 10-day material conservation workshops, scheduled at 5 institutes under the Art Conservation
Initiative, had to be postponed due to the pandemic. While this was a setback, it allowed time for reflection
on the structure of the workshops, which, over the year, were redesigned as longer 3-month training
courses to train conservators in specific materials. This new model will ensure an intensive
hands-on experience,
so that the graduating conservators are professionally and adequately trained in specific materials, while
adhering to the deliverables of the project.

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