In the years following the floods of 1966, there was a need to train a new generation of conservators. In tandem with the Venetian Soprintendenti for Museums and Monuments, Francesco Valcanover and Renato Padoan, Sir Ashley Clarke, founder of Venice in Peril, arranged for a collaboration with the V&A Museum which led to the exchange of knowledge of conservation techniques.

Supporting stone conservation

Later between 1976 and 2009 this evolved into support for the stone conservation course run by the International Centre for the study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), a body established in Rome in 1959 as  a UNESCO initiative.

The two facades of S. Maria Formosa projects of Venice in Peril Fund provided practical work sites in 1995 and 1997.

 

Supporting European craftsmanship

Also, between 1980 and 2007 the Fund provided bursaries for students to undertake courses at the European Centre for Training Craftsmen in the Conservation of the Architectural Heritage, which, as a result of a Council of Europe initiative in the European Architectural Year of 1975 came to be established in the buildings on the island of San Servolo. Run by the architect Wolf Dietrich Elbert, it attracted students from all over Europe for  its courses on stone, plaster, metal, woodcarving and furniture restoration. 

 

Supporting the Istituto Veneto per i Beni Culturali

This Venetian non-profit set up by Renzo Ravagnan in 1995 provides technical training to both EQF5 and degree levels for young conservators working with a wide range of materials and techniques. The IVBC partners with the city museums and students work alongside expert conservators to help provide maintenance and restoration services to their collections. In 2016 Venice in Peril contributed by equipping a laboratory at Palazzo Grimani.

For ongoing work in this area sea also the City and Guilds of London Art School San Giorgio internship and the GeM scholarship.