Preservation Partnership

Formalizing a fledgling relationship that has merged economic and cultural imperatives, the J. Paul Getty Trust and the World Bank on Tuesday signed an agreement to work together to preserve cultural heritage in developing countries.

Convening at the new Getty Center in Brentwood, the two partners supplied no figures to quantify their financial commitment, but said the association will help poverty-stricken countries preserve meaningful cultural monuments and traditions while modernizing their infrastructures.

“We haven’t put a number on it,” said James D. Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank. “But we do $23 billion worth of lending a year. My guess is we will probably be able to find enough to do cultural projects.”

The bank is already working with the Getty on a $55.5-million architectural restoration and urban development project in Mali, in the towns of Djenne and Timbuktu, and has plans in the works for St. Petersburg, Russia. But “the pace is going to pick up and certainly we are committed at the bank to much more cultural lending,” he said.

The Getty’s contribution will primarily take the form of expertise and research, rather than money, said Harold M. Williams, president of the Getty Trust. “What we bring to the party, so to speak, is how one goes about identifying cultural heritage and developing sound plans for conservation. Part of our provisional plan is that we will have exchanges of personnel, with the objective of building a cadre of [cultural] expertise within the bank itself,” he said.

The World Bank is an affiliate of the United Nations designed to alleviate poverty by financing projects that further economic development. It cannot afford to have expertise in all areas of its involvement, Wolfensohn said. Allying itself with the Getty, as it has with UNESCO and other organizations, allows the bank to take productive advantage of their experience and knowledge.

“Culture is always good politics,” he said, so developing nations are more than eager to accept loans for cultural projects. “In terms of financial restraint, in many of these countries that’s not the issue. We at the bank are quite prepared in sensible countries to put the money up on economically valid cultural activities. The issue with us is going to be capacity and time.”

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The two institutions will work together to identify and select joint projects. Among future efforts is the preparation of a regional management plan to develop the resources of five countries with Maya cultural heritage: Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

The Getty Conservation Institute will coordinate the project and provide conservation expertise, while the World Bank provides financial support and designates staff as members of planning teams. The far-reaching project will encompass the conservation of archeological sites as well as issues concerning housing, environment, ecology, tourism, communications and transportation.

The World Bank/Getty partnership will strengthen, but not fundamentally change, the Getty’s existing program in the fields of conservation, research, information and education, Williams said. “Our resources are finite, and we always look for ways that we can get the most leverage and return on the talent we invest,” he said.

Williams’ designated successor, Barry Munitz, chancellor of the California State University system, who will become the Getty Trust president in January upon Williams’ retirement, said the partnership will continue under his regime “without missing a beat.” But it will present challenges.

“The most precious resource the Getty has is people, the quality of our people,” Munitz said. “As finite as our economic resources are, so are the time and energy of our people. The key question becomes setting priorities. Our task will be not to find projects, but rather to sort between the obvious, critical projects and pick the ones of highest priority.

“In this case, what will happen is the definition of priorities now becomes a blended World Bank/Getty set of priorities, as opposed to some other areas we may be approaching almost exclusively from a Getty perspective,” he said.

* PARTY FAVORS: The Getty Center’s opening festivities aren’t making room for everybody. E1