Preserving Art and Culture for Future Generations

Commitment to

Quality

As one of the few nonprofit regional conservation centers in the country, ICA combines museum-level conservation standards with a welcoming approach for both celebrated works and cherished personal treasures.

Skills

That Serve Every Story

Our team of graduate-program trained conservators and skilled technicians works on everything from paintings by significant known artists to singular artifacts of deep community or family significance, always with the same care and commitment to the ethical standards set forth by the American Institute for Conservation.

Detail in

Every Treatment

Whether conserving a monumental outdoor sculpture or a WWII flight cap, we preserve not just the object, but the story it holds, for generations to come.

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Introducing ICA

Midwest Heritage, National Blueprint

The Intermuseum Conservation Association (now ICA-Art Conservation or ICA) was established in 1952 by directors of six Midwestern museums as the nation’s first nonprofit regional art conservation center. Its mission from the start: to provide professional, high-quality, and cost-effective conservation services alongside specialized preservation education.


ICA became the model the National Endowment for the Arts used to encourage a national network of similar centers in the 1970s. As funding priorities shifted, the network was never fully formed, and today ICA is one of the only five such regional centers in the country. Originally based at Oberlin College, ICA relocated in to Cleveland in 2003 and to our current location in the Pivot Center for Art, Dance, and Expression in 2023. Part of the city’s vibrant Clark-Fulton neighborhood, our home places us within a thriving community of arts and social service organizations, making ICA an active part of the cultural fabric we help preserve.

Our Mission

From Timeworn Treasures to Timeless Legacies

ICA-Art Conservation protects and preserves the material evidence of our shared artistic and cultural heritage. We serve museums, cultural organizations, and individuals with objects of historical, artistic, or sentimental value—ensuring each is preserved according to the same rigorous standards.


We are the leading resource for practical, practiced conservation and preservation education across the “North Coast” and beyond. Through conservation treatment, hands-on training, collections care consulting, and disaster preparedness planning, we help small institutions, community groups, and private collectors protect the singular objects that define their stories, ensuring those legacies endure for generations.

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Who We Work With

From Local Archives to National Landmarks

ICA partners with a wide range of clients, from small community museums and historical societies to major cultural institutions, libraries, archives, and private collectors. Whether we’re conserving a single cherished heirloom or an entire institutional collection, our approach remains the same: meticulous, thoughtful care that preserves both the object and the story it holds.

Who We Work With

Core Values

ICA is dedicated to safeguarding the wealth of human visual material culture, encompassing artistic, historical, scientific, and cultural artifacts, for the benefit of present and future generations. Our efforts embrace objects from diverse cultures, eras, geographies, and belief systems.

Our Core Values include:

“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

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Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

ICA’s mission is to safeguard human visual and material culture—artistic, historical, scientific, and cultural—for present and future generations. We work with objects from diverse cultures and eras and foster an environment free from divisions based on race, gender, religion, or other identities. Every perspective is vital in developing effective solutions to conserve our shared heritage.