Preserving Art and Culture for Future Generations

Commitment to

Quality

Our staff are here to provide the highest quality art conservation and collections services. As the oldest, full-service art conservation laboratory in the country, we pair deep experience with an innovative attitude.

Unique

Skills

Each of our conservators is an AIC Fellow, AIC Professional Associate, or active member of AIC. Our technicians and support staff bring a wide range of skills to the care and handling of material culture treasures.

Attention to

Detail

From monumentally-scaled outdoor sculpture to delicate christening gowns, if it is important to you, it is important to us. ICA offers the same high-quality care no matter what object comes our way. 

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Introducing ICA –

Midwest Heritage, National Blueprint

The Intermuseum Conservation Association (now  ICA-Art Conservation or ICA) was founded in 1952 by the directors of six Midwestern museums as the nation’s first non-profit regional art conservation center. From the beginning, the organization's goal was to to provide professional, high-quality, and cost-effective art conservation services and specialized conservation education.


ICA became the model used by the National Endowment for the Arts when it incentivized a network of similar centers across the United States in 1971. As federal funding priorities shifted, the regional network failed to fully materialize and now ICA is one of only five nonprofit regional conservation centers remaining. Originally located on the campus of Oberlin College, in 2003 ICA staff packed up the lab and moved to the historic Vitrolite Building in Cleveland’s Hingetown neighborhood. Twenty years later, ICA moved to its current home in the Pivot Center for Art, Dance, and Expression in Cleveland’s vibrant Clark-Fulton neighborhood to join a community of arts and social service organizations. Come visit!

Our Mission –

Timeworn to Timeless

ICA-Art Conservation protects and preserves the material evidence of our shared cultural and artistic heritage. We offer conservation services for museums, institutions, and individuals that preserve objects of artistic and cultural value so history is not forgotten. We empower cultural stewards through expert conservation and preservation education, so that our shared legacy endures. 


ICA is the leading resource for practical and practiced conservation services and education throughout the “North Coast” and beyond. Through conservation treatment, educational programming, collection care services, and disaster preparedness planning, ICA seeks to preserve the legacies of generations of artists, authors, collectors, and scholars for years to come. 

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Core Values

ICA works to preserve the corpus of human visual material culture — artistic, historic, scientific, and cultural – for all people today and in the future. Our work touches on objects born of all cultures, all times, all geographies, and all belief systems.


“At The Bench” - Our conservators are happiest when they are putting their expertise into practice, conserving objects and artwork.


Client-focused - We recognize that conservation is personal; clients—museums, institutions, organizations, and individuals - and their works are treated with integrity and respect.


Learners as well as Educators – While it is our mission to share information about preservation and conservation, we also seek out opportunities to learn from our peers and communities.


Flexible and Creative – ICA’s conservation staff are members of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) and governed by the AIC Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice. We work within these guidelines to offer responsive, practical solutions to cultural stewards from a diversity of backgrounds and with access to a range of resources.

Meet The Team Behind ICA

  • A woman wearing glasses and a scarf is smiling for the camera.

    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

    ICA’s mission is to preserve the corpus of human visual material culture — artistic, historic, scientific, and cultural – for all people today and in the future. Our work touches on objects born of all cultures, all times, all geographies, and all belief systems. It is imperative that ICA conduct its work within an environment that transcends any race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, age, veteran status, citizenship, immigration status, disability or protected class. All perspectives are relevant, vital, and welcome in the development and implementation of the best solutions to conserve and preserve our visual material culture.

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