Conservation tends only to figure in the media, and hence the public imagination, when individual cases throw the spotlight on the restorative skill of conservators. The Qing vases at the Fitzwilliam Museum provide a good example. 

Today, this example of how to restore a Stradivarius violin after it had been crushed figured on the BBC's homepage, no less.

The point about conservation, however, is that much of it focuses on preventive work - 'how do you stop vases getting smashed' etc. - and the work that goes into caring for the collections that play so integral a part in shping our collective identity or in caring for objects of  importance to individuals.  This, however, isn't going to make the BBC homepage, which means that the tremendously valuable work that conservators do and all the symbolism that it represents in terms of caring for our cultural environment can easily go unnoticed.

In this project, and in the light of the impending closure of some conservation schools as a result of budget cuts, we're examining how to raise awareness of the sector's importance and how, in a world in which cultural provision itself will play a different role, the skills base that conservators will need is likely to change.

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