History of RAN
The Rock Art Network grew out of an initiative of the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) based in Los Angeles, California. Since 1987, The Getty Conservation Institute has been committed to improving practice in the management and conservation of rock art. This includes conceiving and delivering training for rock art conservation specialists through an international post-graduate course in Australia in 1989, courses in rock art management in the USA and undertaking significant management and conservation work at sites at Painted Rock in the USA and at Cueva del Raton in Baja California, Mexico.
From 2005 – 2011, a series of rock art conservation and management workshops were held in South Africa as part of the Southern African Rock Art Project (SARAP). This program was followed by exchange programs between rock art specialists, managers, and custodian communities from southern Africa and Australia held between 2012 and 2014.
In 2014, a major forum was held in Kakadu National Park in Australia which led to the 2015 publication of Rock Art: A cultural treasure at risk – How we can protect the valuable and vulnerable heritage of rock art by the GCI. This seminal work established the four pillars of rock art conservation and management practice. https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/rock_art_cultural.html
Since 2015, rock art specialists and allied experts in communication and education continued to meet to reaffirm the ‘four pillars’ as a guide to improve practice. These gatherings in Namibia in 2017 https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/art_on_the_rocks.html, United States of America in 2018 and France and Spain in 2019 https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/networking_for_rock_art.html provided the genesis of the Rock Art Network.
The Rock Art Network has evolved from an informal affiliation of like-minded and committed people to a formally incorporated association of members that can harness resources and pursue practical initiatives to ensure rock art is better understood and cared for. In making this shift, the Network retains its core values of harnessing diverse disciplinary and cultural perspectives, its collegiate style and its focus on identified needs for rock art conservation and management around the world
