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As one of the few nonprofit regional conservation centers in the United States, and the only such center in the western region, the Balboa Art Conservation Center is undergoing transformational change as it shifts into a radically inclusive and accessible art conservation organization. The BACC Board helps nourish this shift while ensuring the organization's vision for inclusion has long-term systemic impact. The BACC Board of Trustees is led by Board President Dana Springs and boasts a board membership that is 50% BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). In addition to its racial diversity, BACC board members are located throughout BACC’s service area, including Seattle, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. They bring a range and depth of expertise in community organizing, arts management and advocacy, fundraising, conservation, education, and financial management. Their diverse perspectives and skills are essential as BACC seeks to fulfill its vision for equity and healing within our own structure and workplace, as well as the communities we serve. Throughout 2023, we are highlighting each of our Board Members to better understand what excites them about being a part of the BACC Team at this transformative time.  Anya Dani (she/her/hers) is an objects conservator specializing in community-based conservation. She is currently the Director of Community Engagement and Inclusive Practice/Lecturer at the UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage where she develops collaborative projects focused on preserving Black cultural heritage. She is also a lecturer in the Museum Studies Department at San Francisco State University, a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC), and a co-founder of the Black Art Conservators Group. Previously, Anya has worked as a conservator for the Stanford University Archaeology Collections, the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, and the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. She received both her MS and BA in art conservation from the University of Delaware. She has particular interest in uplifting underserved communities through preservation, decolonizing collections stewardship, and increasing racial justice, equity, and inclusion in cultural heritage conservation.
Although she’s moved around a bit, Anya mostly grew up in Delaware. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two kids, and a cat. She loves baking, lindy hop dance, and slowly nurturing her California native garden. BACC: How does your professional, community, and/or cultural work inform your role as a BACC Board Member? Anya: I’m a trained objects conservator who has worked at cultural institutions and universities both in the US and abroad, so I have a wide understanding of the conservation field and bring an insider’s view of conservation to the Board. My international work (I lived in Japan for 10 years) has helped me realize that conservation can come in many forms. I also have a background working on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in conservation. I want to help the BACC Board incorporate DEIA values into everything that it does. B: What excites you most about being on the BACC Board? A: I am most excited about supporting BACC’s radically inclusive vision for conservation. I believe that the conservation field needs to evolve in order to thrive, and BACC is a shining example of how to partner with communities and center equity in conservation. I want to do whatever I can to help BACC expand its scope, to partner with historically underserved communities, and to help preserve a wider range of cultural heritage. B: If you could have one artwork or artifact (personal or otherwise) conserved by the BACC team, what would it be and why? A: Even though I’m a conservator, I’m not a paper or photo specialist. So I would love for BACC to conserve some family crayon (early photography) portraits that I have at home. They probably date to the late 19th century. The photos are yellowed, brittle, and in much need of help.  Throughout the 2022-2023 school year, BACC collaborated with Herbert Hoover High School to introduce students to art conservation and engage them in the treatment of “Girl Reading,” a sculpture located in the school’s library. The sculpture was carved by Donal Hord in the 1930s. Other works by Hord, which he carved in the 1930s as part of the Works Project Administration, can be found throughout San Diego.
The Hoover High Project is part of BACC’s larger Workforce Development Initiative. Funded in part by the Conrad Prebys Foundation, the initiative aims to engage students at all educational levels in conservation. This is essential in building a more diverse conservation sector. When considering potential careers, few students know conservation is a career path. This is especially true among communities whose cultural heritage has been underrepresented within cultural institutions and who have been excluded from arts and conservation access. Located in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, Hoover High’s student body is 99% BIPOC. All student participants in the project are part of the 11th-grade Sustainable Academy of Building and Engineering (SABE) program. Lack of awareness about conservation and preservation among the public is closely tied to a systemic lack of arts education in this country, which predominantly affects schools with a larger percentage of non-white students, low-income, and English learners. This initiative seeks to help address these inequities by working with majority BIPOC schools to expose their students not only to conservation but the broader arts ecosystem and career paths. The programming is developed by Associate Paintings Conservator and Programs Manager Bianca Garcia, with support from Executive Director Leticia Gomez Franco, Kress Conservation Fellow Annabelle Camp, and former graduate intern and current WUDPAC Fellow, Adriana Benavides. Over the past year, the programming has taken multiple shapes, as we have responded to the needs of our educational partner. The Hoover High programming was inspired by a request for treatment of Hord’s sculpture, which is carved from white onyx. Prior to its current display in the school library, “Girl Reading” was displayed outside for decades. It was therefore very grimey, stained, and has lightly carved graffiti in numerous areas. When contacted for treatment, BACC turned the opportunity for a contract into an opportunity to educate students on the field of art conservation and the role of preservation in sustainability. SABE English teacher, Julie Millen explains the importance of the project within the larger Sustainability curriculum: “Sustainability is about keeping what we love and what’s important for the world alive and well. For us, preserving art is more than just preserving objects; it’s preserving history, culture, and all of the things that make humans special, and that’s worth sustaining; it’s worth preserving; it’s worth keeping.” BACC conservators worked with the educators to build a curriculum that integrates history, English, engineering, and chemistry, while investigating the history and care of the sculpture. BACC began by presenting to the 100 11th-graders participating in the SABE program to introduce them to conservation, where it fits within the arts and culture ecosystem, and the questions we must consider prior to undertaking a conservation treatment. Following this initial introduction, students came to the BACC labs in Balboa Park to gain a better, first-hand understanding of conservation practices and decision making. Students participated in hands-on activities in paper conservation, received a tour of the paintings conservation lab, and learned about the agents of deterioration. Students engaged in conversations on conservation ethics and ways to mitigate the agents of deterioration currently affecting “Girl Reading.” Following discussions with students, teachers, and alumni and based on testing conducted by BACC conservators, the statue was cleaned with student assistance. Conservators Bianca Garcia and Annabelle Camp selected a methyl-cellulose poultice for cleaning, which students helped to apply and remove. The cleaning formula selected was nontoxic and allowed important cleaning concepts, such as chelators, surfactants, pH, and capillary action to be demonstrated and explained to students. Students were eager to engage in cleaning and demonstrated a clear pride in preserving the school’s cultural heritage, as well as shock at how much grime came off of the sculpture surface! Additionally, because the sculpture was treated in situ, students outside of the SABE program and teachers were able to observe as they entered the library and ask questions. BACC conservators were also interviewed for the school news, ensuring that knowledge of BACC and the field of art conservation reached the entire student body. The Hoover High collaboration resulted in the successful treatment of the sculpture. More importantly, however, it empowered the students to care for this sculpture they are accustomed to seeing daily, encouraging them to become increasingly committed to and engaged in the preservation of other art and cultural heritage throughout their communities. As one of the few nonprofit regional conservation centers in the United States, and the only such center in the western region, the Balboa Art Conservation Center is undergoing transformational change as it shifts into a radically inclusive and accessible art conservation organization. The BACC Board helps nourish this shift while ensuring the organization's vision for inclusion has long-term systemic impact. The BACC Board of Trustees is led by Board President Dana Springs and boasts a board membership that is 50% BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). In addition to its racial diversity, BACC board members are located throughout BACC’s service area, including Seattle, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. They bring a range and depth of expertise in community organizing, arts management and advocacy, fundraising, conservation, education, and financial management. Their diverse perspectives and skills are essential as BACC seeks to fulfill its vision for equity and healing within our own structure and workplace, as well as the communities we serve. Throughout 2023, we are highlighting each of our Board Members to better understand what excites them about being a part of the BACC Team at this transformative time.  Rolando Charvel (He, His, Him) is currently the Department of Finance Director and City Comptroller. Prior to this role, he served as the City’s Chief Financial Officer from 2017 to 2020. Mr. Charvel began his work in the Office of the City Comptroller in 1999 after obtaining his bachelor’s degree in Accounting from San Diego State University. Over the years, Mr. Charvel promoted through the ranks until becoming City Comptroller, a position in which he served from 2014 to 2017. After becoming Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Charvel combined the Office of the City Comptroller with the Financial Management Department, centralizing financial oversight for the City under the Department of Finance, realizing significant efficiencies and reducing City costs. More recently, Mr. Charvel took over the functions of the Debt Management Department, which is now consolidated under the Department of Finance. This recent consolidation has allowed greater integration between capital expenditure planning and debt financing for the City of San Diego. Mr. Charvel is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of various financial professional organizations.
Mr. Charvel grew up in Baja California, Mexico, until coming to the United States to obtain his bachelor’s degree in 1996. He has been married to Liliana Charvel for 21 years and has two boys, Santiago, who is 14, and Isaac who is 11. He also has a Hungarian Pointer, Cali, his running partner that eagerly demands to go on runs most mornings. BACC: How does your professional, community, and/or cultural work inform your role as a BACC Board Member? Rolando: Most of my career has revolved around financial management. I have had the opportunity to develop technical proficiencies in the areas of accounting, budgeting, and financing for a large and complex organization. As I have progressed in my professional career in positions of growing responsibility over the last 23 years, I have also learned how to lead teams and manage a staff of over 100 employees. Finally, the City operates within a political context. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to become more sensitive to the priorities of San Diego’s diverse communities, including the need for equitable investments in communities of concern. As a board member, I hope to assist the rest of the board members and BAAC management to establish internal controls and financial best practices. B: What excites you most about being on the BACC Board? R: The most exciting part of being a BAAC Board member is to see the organization mature and become sustainable so that it can continue to carry out its mission with competent staff that can be retained through fair compensation and strong leadership. B: If you could have one artwork or artifact (personal or otherwise) conserved by the BACC team, what would it be and why? R: I love the idea of providing opportunities to conserve artwork of artists that would otherwise not have access to these services because they come from underprivileged communities. |