Exchange Program for Museum Professionals (PREP), 2017-2019
Berlin – Washington (USA)
Application deadline: Nov 18, 2016
The German/American Provenance Research Exchange Program for Museum
Professionals (PREP), 2017-2019
The German-American exchange program PREP was established by the SPK
and the Smithsonian Institution to foster the formation of networks
between provenance researchers in both countries. PREP stands for
German-American Provenance Research Exchange Program for Museum
Professionals. The program is geared towards museum professionals from
Germany and the United States involved in provenance research,
particularly as it applies to art theft and looting during the National
Socialist era. The primary goal is the establishment of a professional
network. Thematically, the program will include an increased focus on
Asian art, applied arts, and prints and other works on paper, thus
expanding the scope of previous Nazi-Era provenance research. PREP is
primarily funded by the German Program for Transatlantic Encounters,
and also by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the
Media.
Who can participate in PREP?
– professionals working in museums and research institutions,
– above all scholars, curators, and provenance researchers,
– but also archivists, attorneys, and digital humanities
specialists.
– Doctoral students and curatorial assistants are also
invited to take part in the exchange program.
Project structure
Along with the organizers, the Smithsonian Institution and the Stiftung
Preußischer Kulturbesitz/Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, a group of
partners also support PREP. These include the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York, the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, the
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Zentralinstitut für
Kunstgeschichte Munich. The newly founded Deutsche Zentrum
Kulturgutverluste (DZK) will serve in an advisory capacity.
From 2017 to 2019 these partners will organize 6 week-long
conferences in their respective cities including workshops, tours, and
public events (New York – Berlin in 2017; Los Angeles – Munich in 2018;
Washington DC – Dresden in 2019). At each conference PREP will offer a
public program providing information on provenance research in German
and American museums. In 2017 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
York City (5–10 February 2017) and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
(24–29 September 2017) will organize this program.
Information for applicants
Application form on the Smithsonian Institution’s website.
Applications for 2017 should be submitted by 18 November 2016. In order to access the application form, prospective applicants first need to register via the Smithsonian
Online Application Platform SOLAA (https://solaa.si.edu/solaa/#/public).
The application is listed under the “Office of the Undersecretary for
History, Art and Culture.” The application is called “German/American
Provenance Research Exchange Program (PREP).”
Completed applications with all supporting documents are due by 12 pm
EDT on Friday, November 18, 2016. Applicants will be notified of their
status by the end of December 2016.
Details on selection criteria and the application process, please
download the guidelines “PREP: Information for applicants /
Informationen für Bewerber”
(http://www.preussischer-kulturbesitz.de/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/mediathek/schwerpunkte/wissenschaft_forschung/rp/PREP-Call_for_applications-2016-final_engl-dt.pdf).
For questions about the German/American Provenance Research Exchange
Program or the application process, please contact Smithsonian
Institution Provenance Research Initiative (provenance@si.edu) or the
German project coordinators at the Zentralarchiv of the Staatlichen
Museen zu Berlin (prep@hv.spk-berlin.de).