Internationally Recognized Garman Art Conservation Department Awarded Grant Through National Endowment for the Humanities
Congressman Brian Higgins announced Buffalo State’s Patricia H. and Richard E. Garman Art Conservation Department will receive a $350,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for preservation education and training. The three-year grant extends from 2020-22.
The Garman Art Conservation Department will use the grant to support students studying the conservation of art and cultural heritage in the prestigious graduate program. The SUNY Research Foundation at Buffalo State College accepted the award on behalf of the department.
Higgins, Class of ’85, said, “This federal award recognizes nationally the quality of Buffalo State College’s program and the ability of the Garman Art Conservation Department to produce the next generation of experts in the fields of historic preservation.”
“Our art conservation department has had the incredible fortune of receiving 13 NEH grants over the past three decades in which graduate student fellowship support was either the sole or main purpose of the grant,” Buffalo State President Katherine Conway-Turner said. “The fact that the department was awarded the full amount that it requested this year speaks volumes about the caliber of the faculty, the program, and its graduates. This grant is welcome news as the department kicks off its 50th year celebration this year.”
NEH Chairman Jon Parrish Peede noted NEH grants are highly competitive and involve a rigorous peer-review process to ensure the projects represent the highest level of humanities quality and public engagement.
“The education of conservators is an essential component of all preservation efforts, and the Garman Art Conservation Department is fully committed to this goal,” said Patrick Ravines, associate professor and art conservation program director. “Our mission is and always has been to educate future generations of conservators to carry on with the noble goal of preserving the wide range of objects that comprise the nation’s cultural heritage, historical documents, works of art and craft, decorative collections, functional historical objects, and archaeological materials, and to continue to provide access to these collections.”
Ravines expressed his gratitude to the NEH for awarding the grant.
“The NEH support for graduate student fellowships is necessary in order to recruit the exceptional students who go on to thrive in careers at institutions such as the Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institute museums, the National Gallery of Art, and the Getty Conservation Center,” he said, noting the work they perform is greatly needed.