Sustainability initiatives are linked to cost-savings, reduced carbon footprints, improved community relationships, and future resilience, along with the opportunity to optimize the preservation of collections. Doing so can be critical for small and mid-sized institutions with substantially limited resources to survive and thrive going forward. However, the time and financial resources to develop such a plan have meant that these efforts have previously been limited to larger institutions. By adapting and applying what has been learned about sustainable preservation at larger institutions, the field can also more substantially address the need to meet sustainability goals.
The learning objectives for this course include:
- become familiar with the tools and resources available to implement sustainable practices specifically in the cultural heritage field
- understand sustainability terms and practices, and how they can apply to collecting institutions
- begin assessing current institutional practices through a sustainability lens and realize how to develop this practice into an actionable plan
Course Schedule
Webinar 1: Thursday March 27, 2025 1-230pm ET Green Terms and Tools
Presenter: Lorraine Finch, Director, LFCP
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This introductory webinar will go over commonly used sustainability terms and metrics, and what resources are available to implement sustainable and resilient practices in the cultural heritage field.
Webinar 2: Tuesday April 1, 2025 1-230pm ET Examining current operations
Presenter: Christopher Dunbrack, Associate Building Manager for The Metropolitan Museum of Art- Cloisters
- While focusing on identifying measures to reduce energy and carbon, this webinar will also explore ways of benchmarking and fundraising to support addressing these concerns.
Webinar 3: Thursday April 10, 2025 1-230pm ET Developing a Green Vision
Presenter: Patrick Hamilton, Manager, Climate & Sustainability Initiatives, Division of Mission Infrastructure, Science Museum of Minnesota
- This webinar will present the Science Museum of Minnesota’s approach to examining institutional practices through a sustainability lens as a case study, along with practical tips for other institutions learned from these experiences.
Webinar 4: Thursday April 17, 2025 1-230pm ET Creating a Plan
Presenter: Lorraine Finch, Director, LFCP
- In the final webinar, participants will learn how to “write a sustainability plan in an hour”, which can then be implemented at their institutions.
Course Coordinator: Kelly McCauley Krish, Preventive Conservator
Captioning in English and Spanish is available. The program will be held using Zoom Meeting.
Registration Fee
- $99 Early Bird through March 20, 2025
- $149 Regular Fee
Connecting to Collections Care courses are made possible in part by generous support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
