Category: Topics

Here’s everything you need to know about the exciting events hosted by ECPN at the AIC Annual Meeting in Philadelphia (only two weeks away!):

Portfolio Review Session
THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 10-10:30AM and 3-3:30PM in meeting room 415 (4th floor)

Several representatives from the various graduate-level conservation training programs will be on hand to present their pre-program and graduate portfolios, and to discuss their portfolios with attendees. Pre-program and graduate students are especially encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to see examples of student work first-hand.

Happy Hour
FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 6:00 PM–10:00 PM

Don’t just head home when the sessions end at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, June 3. Stop by Mcgillin’s olde Ale house at 1310 Drury Street — Philadelphia’s oldest continuously operating tavern —anytime between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to enjoy dinner and socialize with your fellow emerging conservators. If you’d like to walk over as a group, please meet in the lobby of the hotel at 10 to 6.

Check out the ECPN Facebook page for more updates during the meeting. I look forward to seeing you in Philly!

At the beginning of the year, a small group of conservators and preservation specialists gathered to gauge interest in the formation of a Philadelphia area conservation network. In March, we tested the waters by sending out a survey, distributed both on the consdistlist and via email to professionals in the Philadelphia area. After receiving positive results, the Philadelphia Area Conservation Association, also known as PACA (just like the adorable animal from Central and South America!) was born. Like other regional networks, PACA hopes to offer both informal events where professionals can gather to hear talks and exchange information, as well as social gatherings. In the future, other endeavors, such as outreach events may be considered.

On Tuesday, May 24th, we are pleased to be hosting our inaugural event. Samuel Anderson of Samuel Anderson Architects, NYC will be speaking to PACA about designing conservation lab spaces. The title of his talk is, “Rules and Wisdom of Conservation Lab Design with Insights into Museum Expansion Projects.” Since 1993, Samuel Anderson Architects has designed numerous research, academic, and cultural spaces. Some of their clients include: The Morgan Library & Museum, Harvard University Library, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Please find details for the event below. We hope to see you on the 24th and look forward to future posts on the ECPN blog as our group evolves!

Please join us for our inaugural event featuring
Samuel Anderson of Samuel Anderson Architects, NYC
“Rules and Wisdom of Conservation Lab Design with Insights into Museum Expansion Projects”

Tuesday, May 24, 2011
5:30pm + reception
Free

Penn Museum, Rainey Auditorium (please enter through the Kress entrance)
3260 South Street
Philadelphia, PA

If you are able to attend, please RSVP by Friday, May 20th with a simple ‘YES SAM’ in the subject line to pacaphiladelphia@gmail.com.

For directions, transportation, and parking information, please visit: http://www.penn.museum/directions-and-parking.html

Please direct all inquiries to:
pacaphiladelphia@gmail.com

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ECPN MEETING MINUTES

March 17, 2011

Conference Call Attendees:
Carrie Roberts

Rose Cull

Ryan Winfield

Amy Brost

Heather Brown

Amber Kerr-Allison

Stephanie Porto

I. Minutes

a. ECPN February minutes approved. Amber made the motion for approval, Rose seconded.

II. AIC Meeting 2011

a. Angels Project. Site was identified: American Philosophical Society (APS). Rose volunteering for Angels project, Saturday after the meeting. Rose encouraging ECPN members to sign up. Email your CV to Ruth and indicate your interest.

b. Outreach. Ryan will coordinate the email blast about the Portfolio Session so it goes out to student members of AIC 2-4 weeks before the meeting, with a “reminder” email the week before. Ryan indicated that email blast timing is more flexible with the smaller lists. Heather will create a Facebook event for Portfolio Session and Happy Hour. ECPN members encouraged to accept the Facebook events since attendance is visible. When Ryan does the email blast, Heather will post the message to the Facebook page.

c. Portfolio Session. (Amber) UD is in the process of choosing 2 students. Buffalo has not responded in 4 weeks, but they are in the midst of interviews, although they intend to identify students. NYU and Getty have students signed up. ANAGPIC is also coming up, so the 8 student speakers can connect there. Amber will email all 8 students the where and when of the portfolio session. Ryan indicated room has not been assigned yet, though Ruth has it selected. Ryan will follow up with Amber.

d. Room Shares. Rose posted to Cons dist list – not much call for sharing accommodations yet. Unclear if interest will increase closer to the date.

e. Photography. Heather will bring her camera to the meeting for ECPN photography.

f. Poster. Carrie/Amber to massage E&T copy in light of new developments. Rose encouraged group leaders to provide pictures of their faces for recognition at the meeting. Try to be doing something interesting. Rose indicated that Stephanie should go ahead and send a photo, even though ECC and ECPN are at the beginning of their collaboration. To add visual interest to the poster, Amber suggested taking some AIC-approved conservation images from the PPT on the AIC website, which is approved for public presentations. Ryan suggested due date of May 2 or 3 for Amy to deliver the poster file to AIC for production.

g. List Addition. Rose will send agenda and PDFs to Carrie for today’s call and add her to the AIC-Emerging list.

h. Flier. Version for 2011 Meeting. Rose indicated the flier looked completed. New Flickr page URL was inserted.

III. ANAGPIC

a. Flier for ANAGPIC. Ryan emailed Delaware to find out the process for bringing an ECPN flier to ANAGPIC. PDF format is fine. Same version as for 2011 Annual Meeting is fine. Ryan to follow up with UD.

b. Poster and Talk. Stephanie doing poster for ECC, Ryan is drafting 5-minute talk. Rose will schedule a call for mid-April to touch base with them.

IV. Communications – Other initiatives

a. Book reviewers. Michele Derrick indicated that JAIC Book review editor is Harriet Stratis. She selects the books and the book reviewers. Michele indicated that anyone interested in doing a book review should contact Harriet directly. Rose suggested this is a good topic for a future blog post.

b. Wikis. Rachael Perkins Arenstein will get back to Amy about ECPN involvement in the Wikis.

V. Outreach

a. Blog. (Heather) – Rose, Stephanie and Ryan will write a blog post about ANAGPIC. Rose will email a draft to Stephanie and Ryan. Stephanie Porto said 2 members of ECC offered to contribute to ECPN blog about being Canadian and working in the US. One paintings conservator, and one objects conservator. Perhaps identify an American who is working in Canada. (Stephanie is, but she is in private practice – identify someone in an institution if possible). Rose will send out a query or do a Facebook query to see if someone can be identified.

b. Webinars. Exploring topics such as incorporating, or starting private practice. Will do a full script, and can send to Jason to do it, if it’s very detailed. A webinar will be online soon so ECPN members can see the format, what works best, and what topics might be the best fit for the medium. Perhaps tackle in June/July after the meeting.

c. Mentoring Program. (Ryan) Have a few new applicants. Follow-up conference call with Rose, Ryan, Carrie, Stephanie, and Karen to discuss the new applicants, sometime next week, perhaps Wed/Thur. Rose will send out a request.

d. AIC News on Mentoring Program. Heather sent draft for AIC News to Lisa on Monday and she will get back to Heather. Heather will send the article to Morgan at the end of the month.

VI. Education & Training

a. New student position on the ETC. Identify AIC liaisons at the schools and fill this new position. Perhaps develop a list of one student, and one professor at each program to act as liaisons. Amber has a list of representatives from the US schools but no one from Canada yet. Buffalo has offered a student name. NYU, Delaware, and Getty have not identified students yet. Develop list for Canada also. Amber says this list would be a good start, to disseminate the request to have a student member of the ETC. Ryan and Stephanie can try to get a Queens administrative representative at ANAGPIC. Perhaps discuss the issue of school liaisons at ANAGPIC business meeting. If portfolio session becomes a yearly event, this could be another piece of the liaison role. Would involve 2-3 emails per year, to act as the contact person.

b. Student Research Website. (Amber/Carrie) Speaking every other week about this. Working on the proposal. Outline is completed, and Amber and Carrie are each writing sections. Preliminary document to be reviewed at AIC by the ETC committee. Rachel, Nancie will review also. Not mentioning CoOL yet because it may not be the host, so avoid that level of specificity in communications. Foundation will be built on ANAGPIC publications, most likely. AIC and ANAGPIC (Eryl and ANAGPIC representatives) ironing out how it will work. Carrie and Amber will put the proposal to ETC and other parties in the next 2 weeks, for their help in drafting it, and concurrently to ECPN for input. Then, will officially submit to ETC. It will be presented to FAIC if CoOL will be involved. Debbie Hess-Norris will have a meeting with program directors at AIC (not just ANAGPIC) to get buy-in from universities, in preparation for taking in papers. Copyrights, licensing, all comes into play. ANAGPIC currently holds copyrights to the papers they have. Everyone is on board to try to make it happen, so despite the complexities, it is a very exciting project.

VII. ECC

a. ECC Poster. Stephanie will send ECPN the ECC poster. A few changes were made subsequently, so the ECPN-ECC collaboration may or may not be mentioned. But the ECC poster is more for the CAC, to attract involvement within their own organization at this point. Also, it needs to be bilingual for ECC-CAC. Unclear how that will be worked in yet. The poster will be just English for ANAGPIC, and mention of collaboration may or may not be included. Mentoring program status is unclear at this time. Rose felt a sentence about collaboration made sense, just to acknowledge the two groups are working together, if it is possible to include it. ECPN poster will have Stephanie on it as ECC liaison.

b. New Facebook Page. CAC Emerging Conservators. Stephanie encouraged ECPN members to visit.

c. CAC Meeting. CAC conference is coming up in Winnipeg, and there will be an ECC meet-and-greet for anyone interested.

d. CAC Emerging Conservator Award and Grant. Presently there is one candidate for the Emerging Conservator Award. Also, with a generous donation from a retiring conservator, a “Pass the Torch” Grant was established that pays for a student to attend a workshop at the conference.

Next conference call will be April 21, 2011 at 1PM ET.

Respectfully submitted,

Amy Brost

As a recent graduate of the Master of Art Conservation Program at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, I’m currently living the transition between being a student and the ‘real world’. The Program at Queen’s University is a two-year program in which students focus on a particular treatment stream (objects, painting, or paper) from their first day. I learned during my studies that varied work experience is extremely important. So as I neared the Program’s completion, I began a hunt for post-graduate internship and fellowship opportunities that would allow me to further my education in conservation and give me a chance to be involved in a wide range of projects. I was flexible and prepared to travel any distance.

I had several objectives for seeking international experience: 1) on account of my interest in archaeological and ethnographic objects, I wanted to have the chance to work with a range of material culture; 2) I wanted to be exposed to different conservation philosophies; and 3) I wanted to expand my tool box of practical techniques.

Preparations for venturing abroad to gain work experience can be stressful and time-consuming. To be able to complete an internship in the U.S., it was necessary for me (a citizen of the Czech Republic and permanent resident of Canada) to obtain J-1 Research Scholar status. The process consisted of filling out and submitting specific documents, paying SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) and visa fees, and attending a pre-booked interview at the U.S. Embassy or nearest consulate. In my experience, if one is prepared and has submitted all of the required documents, one should be able to obtain a U.S. visa within a week following the interview.

My time in the U.S. as a summer intern during my studies and currently as a post-graduate intern has been extremely enriching. The experience has without a doubt exceeded my original objectives. Learning about different cultures – their traditions, values, and perspectives – has been invaluable in giving me a better understanding of how to care for objects. One of the greatest lessons that working abroad has taught me is the importance of flexibility; every geographical area provides its own challenges. In addition to many professional benefits, working abroad gives one the chance to see new places, meet new people, try new things, and simply enjoy the adventures that a foreign country has to offer.

Personal tips for preparing for a work experience abroad:

1) When contacting individuals or institutions with whom you’d like to work abroad, don’t be afraid of asking about available opportunities and the possibility for financial assistance. I’ve had the pleasure of finding conservators who had been extremely supportive and helpful beyond guiding me through the paperwork for the internship. Even if you are not offered any additional assistance, never hesitate to ask for information.

2) Regarding visas, I would advise that you review any visa requirements as soon as possible. Once you’ve made an agreement with the host institution, it’s important to start completing the paperwork immediately as the documents have to be processed and approved by a number of individuals at the host institution. You should also obtain the visa a good time in advance before your scheduled departure. This will ensure that if any unexpected set-backs should occur – for example, if it becomes necessary to provide additional documents – that there will be sufficient time to take care of the matter. I’ve learned that an invitation letter from the host institution is a vital document.

3) I’ve found it extremely helpful to get in touch with other students, who are travelling to the same institution to complete internships or other requirements, prior to departure.

Happy travels!

Ida Pohoriljakova

Post-Graduate Intern, Arizona State Museum

AIC is continually striving to expand access to the stimulating and important content that is presented at our annual meeting. Last year, at the 2010 meeting, we initiated two new “firsts”: we had members blogging about talks and workshops and we hosted all available poster presentations online. We received a lot of feedback that this extra information was extremely useful to those who were unable to attend, as well as those who were there, but unable to see everything that they had hoped. We are planning on continuing these services again this year in Philadelphia but we need your help!

If you are attending the upcoming AIC annual meeting in Philadelphia I hope that you will volunteer to blog from the conference on AIC’s soon to be newly relaunched blog. You need not be an experienced blogger nor particularly tech savvy. The WordPress blog format is extremely easy to use and any necessary hand-holding will happily be provided to make you feel comfortable online. There also is no pressure to be particularly witty. Although active tense, first-person and personal style are all encouraged in blog posts (this is a chance to free yourself from the writing constraints of condition reports!), the writing is expected to be more like reporting and professional in tone overall. The goal is for readers to learn more about the talk than they would gain from the abstract. Additional guidelines and training will be provided for all volunteers.

I am looking for 2-4 people for each specialty group session and general session and 1-2 people per workshop. If you will be attending one of the conference tours we’d love to hear from you too.

Last year our blog saw a huge increase in traffic due to annual meeting posts. We know that many colleagues are looking forward to hearing more about the conference and hope that some of you will volunteer, share your thoughts from the meeting, and take the opportunity to become more comfortable with some of the social networking tools of our present and future! If you are interested in volunteering or hearing more, please contact me off list using the information below.

Thank you,

Rachael

AIC e-Editor

Rachael Perkins Arenstein

A.M. Art Conservation, LLC

Art Conservation, Preservation & Collection Management

rachael@AMArtConservation.com

www.AMArtConservation.com

Colleen Callahan presenting her textile conservation treatments at the March 2010 VCA meeting

What is the VCA?

The Virginia Conservation Association is a regional conservation organization dedicated to the care and preservation of cultural materials. The VCA was founded in Richmond, Virginia in 1989 by a small group of conservators working in the region who recognized the value of fellowship and professional discourse. Rather than forming a guild expressly for conservators, the association purposely was established to be open to anyone wanting to learn about conservation.

The VCA provides a forum for sharing knowledge and experiences and to discuss issues and new developments relating to the conservation of art and historic artifacts. The VCA offers a variety of programs to disseminate information, provide education and training, and foster interaction among conservators, museum professionals, collectors and other parties involved and interested in conservation. Members meetings are held five times a year at various cultural sites in Virginia. Workshops, field trips and social gatherings also are organized periodically. Membership in the VCA is open to any individual by way of annual dues ($25 regular; $15 student), giving privileges to the programs and materials of the organization. Non-members also can partake in many VCA services and activities, (a fee may be required). The VCA arena of interest primarily is within the state of Virginia; however the organization also includes and serves members from the neighboring states and elsewhere. The membership roster normally numbers over 100 persons.

The VCA website is located at the internet address provided below.

http://www.virginiaconservationassociation.org

Thank you Frederick and Heather! For more information, you can also check out the VCA on Facebook at Virginia Conservation Association.

It’s spring, the season when North American conservation students can get out of the labs and libraries and go present their research at the Association of North American Graduate Programs in the Conservation of Cultural Property (ANAGPIC) student conference.

This year the conference will be hosted by the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) in Wilmington, Delaware. ECPN will continue their tradition of sending a representative to the conference to encourage participation from the students in the committee, who will speak at 12:25PM on Saturday April 16th. This year the Emerging Conservators Committee (ECC), a similar committee for emerging conservators in the Canadian Association for Conservation/Association canadienne pour la conservation et la restauration, will have a poster presented during the poster session on Friday April 15th.

Ryan Winfield, Membership Coordinator on staff at AIC, will be representing the ECPN and will be available to answer questions and give students more information about how they can be more involved in this dynamic committee. Queens student Jennifer Robertson will be presenting the ECC’s poster on behalf of the committee, and will be happy to answer questions during the poster session about this unique organization and how to get involved in current projects.

The initial schedule looks great and the lectures should be interesting and informative. We hope everyone enjoys the conference and has a chance to sample the mushroom flatbread at Buckley’s Tavern. Winterthur is very close to the Kennet Square which has a yearly mushroom festival, always a fun(gi) time!

In late 2009, the Voices of the Past website first surveyed heritage advocates about how they used the social web. Since then, the number of people connecting around heritage issues online seems to have grown quite a bit. Can we now definitively say that new media engagement is measurably effective in heritage advocacy, research and networking with peers?
You can help us find out by answering just 12 questions in the 2011 version of the survey. The results of this anonymous questionnaire will be shared with the heritage community worldwide and hopefully inform our common goal to create a sustainable future for heritage resources, and the folks who work to protect them. Please help improve the results by forwarding, tweeting, blogging and listserving the link to your colleagues as well.
Find the survey at http://conta.cc/heritagewebsurvey

Thank you ECPN for helping with this survey. Once compiled the results will be posted.

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ECPN MEETING MINUTES

February 17, 2011

Conference Call Attendees:
Carrie Roberts

Rose Daly

Ryan Winfield

Amy Brost

Heather Brown

Stephanie Lussier

I. Minutes

a. ECPN January minutes approved

II. ECPN Co-position for Education and Training

a. Carrie Roberts takes co-position with Amber Kerr-Allison; full transition of the position to Carrie will occur at the end of 2011.

III. AIC Meeting 2011

a. Angels Project (Ryan) – no updates. Contract with the site is pending.

b. ECPN attendees – several committee members plan on going. Heather posted room-sharing notice on Facebook. One person seeking to share accommodations so far, but more anticipated as the date nears.

c. Meetings – Business meeting and dinner scheduled. Registration brochure has full page on this. Brochure is also on the website available for download.

d. Related Facebook Group – Conservators in private practice or freelance Facebook group has a posting about meeting up at 2011 meeting. Rose will mention the ECPN dinner and invite them to join. Carrie added that she is looking to create a workshop for emerging conservators just starting out and going into private practice. Rose will invite Kirsten, Amber, and Carrie to be members of this group.

e. Portfolio Session Presenters – Via email, Amber notified the group that three of the four graduate programs have committed. Buffalo has 2 students available and added that the event could be expanded to provide a full introduction to all the schools, include professors, and perhaps even be open to local pre-program students who are not attending the AIC meeting. While this idea was well received, it also seemed overly ambitious for the first year of this event. Rose suggested surveying participants in this year’s portfolio session to see how it could grow in the future. Paper survey, or possibly collect email addresses and encourage people to complete an online survey (email would make it possible to follow up with them). Keep it straightforward this year, see how it’s received, then build upon it next year if there is a good response. Ryan added that there are a number of Student AIC member registrations already in, so student attendance is expected to be good. Exhibit hall is not open to the public, so it’s difficult to have people coming who are not registered for the annual meeting. Could consider a one-day exhibit hall pass or other special registration category if the portfolio session is opened to the public in the future.

f. Portfolio Session Outreach – Will be posted on Facebook. Rose suggested emailing Student members of AIC to notify them, which Ryan said could be done.

g. Poster – Amy is working on this, but requested file specifications before going further with the design. Printing will be done by AIC, with Amy delivering the file to Morgan for production. Ryan emailed Morgan to ask that she send Amy electronic file specs and delivery requirements.

h. Flier – Amy will add Carrie Roberts and Stephanie Porto. Karen’s position of AIC Board liaison may be transitioned by the time of the meeting, so indicate that position generically on the flier. Amy will send flier with all revisions except the new Flickr page URL to Ryan and Rose. Final approval next call for 4/1 deadline. [Correction of previous minutes – flier is single-sided color, not double-sided.]

IV. Outreach (Heather)

a. Blog – Jason Church willing to write a post – Heather says it can be challenging to identify writers. Heather will follow up with Jason to give him the green light.

b. Webinar – can work with Jason to stage webinars from Louisiana. Possible topics include how to build a portfolio. Ask portfolio presenters at the AIC meeting about participating in a webinar.

c. Flickr – ECPN images will be moved onto the AIC Flickr page. Jason needs to move his images. Ryan handled permissions. Rose to follow up with Ryan. Rose or Ryan to provide new URL to Amy to use on the flier.

d. AIC News – article about mentoring program (Heather) – Jane is writing it with her. Lisa provided a guideline of 500-1000 words. Will include a general introduction to the program, specifics on how the program works, and then will discuss Heather and Jane’s personal experiences. Heather will send the draft to Lisa and Morgan.

V. Communications (Amy)

a. AIC News – article about ECPN at the AIC annual meeting was approved on the previous call and Ryan forwarded it on by the 2/1 deadline for the next issue.

b. Wikis – Amy to follow up with Rachael Perkins Arenstein on ECPN contributions to the SG Wikis. Rose did the Wiki training if anyone has questions.

c. JAIC Peer Reviewers – Amy confirmed that Michele Derrick had enough volunteers and that she did not want to solicit more until there was a need. Rose proposed offering ECPN assistance with book reviews. Ryan indicated that there is one book reviewer at present, so this may be an opportunity area for ECPN. Amy to ask Michele.

d. Position descriptions – Rose sent Communications position description to coordinators and requested that the coordinators develop and maintain descriptions, as this helps with evaluating progress, formalizing committee structure and workflow, and facilitates transitions.

e. Repository/archive for ECPN documents – for Katie and Jason’s notes, proposals, posters, other committee documents. Ryan reported that AIC is exploring various platforms (ie, Dropbox, Big Tent, Yahoo! Group, etc.) and will determine which will be used by all specialty groups and committees. Ryan to advise, then committee members (current and former) can provide the documents to populate it.

VI. Education & Training (Carrie)

a. Recent E&T conference call – discussed ideas ECPN has for possible workshops to develop as part of AIC, including starting a private practice (with Kirsten Travers), grant writing, and publishing (how to publish in JAIC, blogs, other journals, etc.) Setting up a private practice is a workshop that would translate well into a Webinar – Heather will follow up with Jason. Carrie has sent ideas to Stephanie Lussier. Webinars are more permanent so it is ideal to create webinars along with workshops.

b. Research Database – CoOL doesn’t have capacity and isn’t searchable – Rose suggested discussing with Walter Henry. U. of Texas database may be transitioned to AIC, which would also provide a possible platform for the research database, and it contains research already. Concern that it’s pre-populated with the research of just one program. Do not want to give the impression of skewing emphasis within the database to one training program. All programs will help with vetting, so all must be on board with how new information is brought into it. Start with the idea of populating it with research from ANAGPIC.
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~anagpic/studentpapers.htm

VII. ECPN at AAM

a. Rose unable to attend AAM. For the future, this is an opportunity for networking and identifying areas for collaboration.

VIII. ECPN and ECC at ANAGPIC (Ryan, Stephanie)

a. Ryan can possibly set up the poster, since Stephanie cannot come to the conference. Stephanie advised via email that there may be a Queens student who can present, and an ECC representative. Rose sent Ryan her talk from last year. Ryan will be delivering remarks and may co-present with the representative from Canada, per Stephanie’s email.

IX. Publications Committee Update (Amy)

a. Amy participated in the January conference call, which centered around electronic publishing. Specialty groups each have their own processes. Each group is providing information on how they handle electronic publishing now (ie, post prints) and this will be used to develop a best-practices document. Considerable discussion on PDF vs. XML. PDF is faster, simpler, and less expensive, but XML is more versatile, and easier to migrate in the future.

b. The Architectural Specialty Group is looking to update its Wikipedia entry with volunteer help, possibly from ECPN. Ryan can provide them with a list cross-referencing architectural conservation and ECPN. Amy posted to listserv. Can also post to Facebook page and encourage ASG to reach out to the conservation graduate programs directly. Amy will circle back with Jenn Capetto of ASG.

Next conference call will be March 17, 2011 (St. Patrick’s Day) at 1PM ET.

Respectfully submitted,

Amy Brost

Tip #10: Make sacrifices

“People make a great mistake in thinking that my art has come easily to me but nobody has devoted so much time and thought to music as I.” -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

This one I saved for last because it’s sometimes the hardest to hear; when a great opportunity arises, you should take advantage of it, even if it means making some sacrifices. This is certainly true of any goal we set in life, but seems particularly applicable to this stage of becoming a conservator. As I look back over the other 9 tips, two fundamental sacrifices stand out to me: time—to visit conservators, read online resources, attend events, and create a bibliography—and money—to join professional organizations, fulfill the pre-requisites required for application to the programs, and, again, to attend events.

I’m not suggesting that you go without sleep in order to read every conservation blog, or accumulate credit card debt so you’re able to join every organization. Just do the best you can with the resources at hand. If an amazing internship opens up in another city, consider commuting as a possibility. If the only experience you can find is unpaid, take it and maybe a paid position will open up in the future. If an interesting and instructive conference is about to take place and you can’t afford it, ask about volunteer opportunities in order to waive the registration fee. It’s true that the more sacrifices you make the more you’ll reap the benefits, but the main point, no matter what the situation, is to be determined to make it work.

If you chose conservation as a career, you must have a passion for art, or science, or both! You’re giving a lot, but what you’re getting in return is a job that you love–and, in my opinion, that’s worth the effort. There are some great things about being pre-program, like having the opportunity to work with a variety of materials, or take classes in all the areas that interest you. So, when this process becomes stressful and/or you need some motivation to keep at it, remind yourself to enjoy each and every step. Believe it or not, these few years will fly by and before you know it, you’ll be a conservator! Good luck!

Was there something I missed? Please feel free to post an additional tip to the blog as Tip #11 (nobody said there had to be 10!).