The official application period for ARCA's 2013 Postgraduate Certificate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection has opened.

The Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) 2013 Postgraduate Certificate Program in International Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection Studies will be held from May 31 through August 12, 2013 in the heart of Umbria in Amelia, Italy.

This interdisciplinary program offers substantive study for art police and security professionals, lawyers, insurers, curators, conservators, members of the art trade, and post-graduate students of criminology, law, security studies, sociology, art history, archaeology, and history.

In its fifth year, this academically intensive ten week program provides in-depth, postgraduate level instruction in a wide variety of theoretical and practical elements of art and heritage crime. Students will explore its history, its nature, its impact, and what is currently being done to mitigate it. Students completing the program earn a postgraduate certificate under the guidance of internationally renowned cultural property protection professionals.

This program will expose participants to an integrated curriculum which occurs in a highly interactive, participatory, student-centered setting. Instructional modules include both lectures and “hands-on” learning from case studies, in situ field classes and group discussions. At the end of the program, participants will have a solid mastery of a broad array of concepts pertaining to cultural property protection, preservation, conservation, and security.

Students explore such topics as: art crime and its history; art and heritage law criminology; art crime in war; the art trade; art insurance; art security; law enforcement methods; archaeological looting and policy; cultural security; and art forgery.

At the close of the 10 week lecture portion of the program each candidate must complete a considerable piece of written work demonstrating original and significant research. ARCA assigns a supervisor to oversee the research. The supervisor provides final approval of a finished paper, which should be of publishable quality. After completion of all program coursework and the final paper a student is awarded ARCA’s postgraduate certificate in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection.

Important Dates:

November 15, 2012 - Early Application Deadline

January 15, 2013 - Application Deadline

April 2013 - Advance Reading Assigned

May 30, 2013 - Students Arrive in Amelia

May 31, 2013 - Welcome and Orientation June 01, 2012

June 3, 2013 - Classes Begin

June 21-23, 2013 - ARCA Annual Conference

August 9, 2013 - Classes End

August 10-11, 2013 - Students Housing Check-out **

Nov. 15, 2013 - Research Paper Submission Deadline

**Some students stay a few days longer to participate in the August Palio dei Colombi, Notte Bianca and Ferragosto festivities.

For questions about programming, costs, and census availability, please write to us for a complete prospectus and application at: education@artcrimeresearch.org.