Core lectures and hands-on demonstrations were taught by Bertrand Lavédrine (Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation des Collections, France), Debra Hess Norris (University of Delaware Department of Art Conservation), and Nora Kennedy (Photograph Conservation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art) and touched on identification of negative and print processes, safe handling of prints and negatives, housing and storage materials, and creative storage solutions, as well as collections advocacy and grant-writing.

Additional discussions were led by Fatima Fall (director of the Centre de Recherches et de Documentation du Sénégal (CRDS) in Saint-Louis, Senegal), Henrike Grohs (director of the Goethe-Institut in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire), Marie Lavandier (director of the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France, Paris), Franck Ogou (of the l’École du Patrimoine Africain in Porto-Novo, Benin), and Erin Haney and Jennifer Bajorek of Resolution and addressed public programming, community outreach, publications, exhibitions and exhibition alternatives, intellectual property, and digitization. All sessions were tailored to address the specific needs and concerns of participants working in an array of geographic, cultural, and institutional contexts in Africa.

Participants also took the floor for a formal, 10-minute presentation of their collections. Participant presentations were filled with critical information, thoughtful provocations, and many stunning photographs.

Photos (in this album) by Caroline Lacey