When looking for ways to protect museum artwork, paying for the solutions can be challenging in light of other operational and capital priorities.

Museums go to great lengths to protect artwork from damage or thieves – whether the art is in a building or in transit.

The level of protection will vary greatly depending on the facility’s budget and the value of each piece. Typically, multiple measures should be in place, including alarm systems, personnel, visitor, and environmental policies. For example, climate control measures regulate temperatures and humidity which protect delicate artifacts.

Here is a closer look at some of the ways that museums and other cultural properties look after the artwork that they vigilantly safeguard 24/7.

Recently, there have been several disturbing events occurring within museums and art galleries. Activists have attempted to draw attention to specific social/political causes by arriving, glue in hand, and proceeding to secure themselves to priceless masterpieces. Using high-profile historical objects and venues to create awareness for a political cause is nothing new. Protesters have long staged events at national landmarks to raise awareness for social justice and other causes. However, physically attaching themselves via superglue to artwork is a dramatic escalation of standard protests and this weaponization of the artwork requires an immediate response.

Museums and other cultural properties offer immense value. They don’t just house priceless works of art. Mirrors of society, they sit squarely at the crossroads of history, ingenuity, and humanity.

Occasionally, something else happens within the walls of a gallery – confrontations that could be avoided.

Art Sentry Artwork Protection System Helps With Museum Security Staffing Issues

Museums are valuable institutions and add to society in many ways. They inspire and motivate, educate and inform, and offer a place of rest and rejuvenation for the community. Their effect on the wellbeing of visitors is well documented. In order to preserve these benefits, many challenges must be addressed.

One major challenge for museums is unprecedented staffing issues.

Most museum security systems take a reactive approach, capturing incidents that can be reviewed later should an incident occur. Art Sentry takes a proactive approach - our system PREVENTS over 92% of all object touches and subsequent damage. Rather than addressing an incident after the fact, why not try to prevent it in the first place?

Hybrid Model Deployment at a leading American Art Museum to Advance Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI)

Value Summary

• Improvement in visitor satisfaction scores, equity, and the creation of a more inclusive environment.
• Improved collection security including a dramatic improvement in response time to security-related proximity alarms and emergencies.
• Cost savings by security forces having complete visibility to all galleries, covering more galleries effectively, and satisfying certain line-of-site lending requirements without adding more personnel.
• Creating a new personnel category “Visitor Engagement Representatives” with more duties and responsibilities. These job duties improve employee morale and increase retention rates.

Museums and cultural properties are facing major staffing challenges with an unprecedented number of positions to fill, often accompanied by tighter budgets. These complex issues have left many museums looking for solutions to enable them to maintain a high level of protection for their priceless collections with fewer people. Technology is one compelling solution to consider.

Visiting a museum or an art gallery should be a positive experience. Visitors sometimes feel that security guards single them out, including accusations of racial or other bias. The Art Sentry system can help sensitively address this controversial aspect of museum operations.

Nothing makes a museum security guard cringe more than an engaged and fascinated visitor reaching out to touch a priceless work of art. And for good reason. Those touches, especially cumulatively, can do some serious damage. Besides breaking or damaging the item outright, the oils on our skin will also break down the items over time. Perhaps the primary reason not to touch the artifacts is out of respect for their history and what they represent.