Curatorial Conversation – Digital Transformations at Rijksmuseum & Getty
- Region: Online
- Type: Webinar
- Cost: Free
Tuesday, 10 March 2026
5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
Free online webinar
Join us for a discussion on the groundbreaking multi-year digital collaboration between the Rijksmuseum and the Getty. This event will introduce the recent Memorandum of Understanding signed by both institutions, outlining their shared commitment to advancing digital innovation in cultural heritage and strengthening collaboration between their collection-focused IT teams.
Saskia Scheltjens, Head Research Services Rijksmuseum and David Newbury, Senior Director of Public Technology J. Paul Getty Trust will explore how each institution is transforming digital art historical infrastructure—covering topics such as managing complex cultural data, supporting research and conservation, and creating accessible, inclusive digital collections. The session will highlight the Rijksmuseum’s pioneering work in open data, integrated collection systems, and its shift toward FAIR data principles, as well as the Getty’s ongoing renewal of its collections infrastructure, including developments within the Getty Provenance Index and the Getty Vocabulary Program.
Designed as an open conversation, this event will foreground shared experimentation, cross-institutional learning, and the value of long-term collaboration. Attendees will gain insight into how two world-leading cultural institutions are shaping the future of digital collections, research infrastructure, and computational cultural heritage.
Curatorial Conversations, in collaboration with the Warburg Institute, invites museum directors and curators of recent exhibitions and installations at world-leading museums and galleries to discuss their work. The conversations, led by Gregory Perry, CEO, Association for Art History and Bill Sherman, Director, The Warburg Institute, discuss the issues around setting the directorial or curatorial agenda and staging meaningful encounters with objects. The series is designed to draw out discussion of the discoveries made, challenges tackled, and the lessons learned in heading a collection, presenting important permanent collections, and putting together internationally renowned exhibitions.
Rijksmuseum Library, photo by Michael D Beckwith (2018).