The Association for Research into Crimes against Art Postgraduate Certificate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection is held annually in Italy.

Late Application Period – 31 January 2023 until 30 March 2023*

As spaces on the 2023 program census are limited, applicants are strongly advised to request and submit their application materials as quickly as possible. Completed application files are reviewed on a rolling basis until the summer census cap is reached, after which, any remaining accepted candidates are placed on the waiting list.

For questions related to participating in this training program, please write to us at:  education [at] artcrimeresearch.org

Perspectives on the investigation, prosecution and prevention of art crime

The Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) warmly invites interested postgraduates to apply to ARCA’s PG Cert Program in the study of art crime and cultural heritage protection.  The 2023 edition of the program will again be held onsite, from May 26 through August 12, 2023, in ARCA’s host city Amelia, located in the rolling hills of  Umbria in Italy.

In its 13th year, this academically-challenging, eleven-course, 210 hour, postgraduate professional development program will provide in-depth instruction in important theoretical and practical elements related to combatting art and heritage crime. By examining art crime’s interconnected world, participants will experience an integrated curriculum in a low participant-to-instructor participatory setting. 

Each course associated with the 2023 program has been selected to underscore the value of, and necessity for, a longitudinal and multidisciplinary approach to the study of this type of criminal behaviour, as well as its trends and motivating factors.  Designed to expose participants to an integrated curriculum, the program’s courses include comprehensive, multidisciplinary lectures, classroom-based discussions and presentations, in situ field learning modules, as well as “hands-on” learning that includes case studies investigation and development, applied research, and participatory assignments designed to serve as the backdrop for exploring art and antiquities crime, its nature, and its impact on the art market and cultural heritage institutions.

Participants are encouraged and challenged from the outset of the program to develop or further their own scholarly interests, and to evolve as independent thinkers and researchers while simultaneously contributing to the theoretical discourse.

At the conclusion of the program, participants will have a solid mastery of a broad array of concepts pertaining to provenance, art market due diligence, illicit trafficking, cultural property protection, art and heritage law, and cultural security.

During the program participants will explore

• art crime and its prevalence
• the preconditions, processes and consequences of art and antiquities crime
• contemporary perspectives on the detection, investigation, and prosecution of art crime
• art and heritage law and international legal instruments
• illicit trafficking and its interconnected relationship with the licit art market
• provenance and the challenges of recovering looted assets
• criminological theories and their application to the study of art crime
• art crime during war and armed symmetrical and asymmetrical conflicts
• the licit art market and its associated risk
• art insurance and fine art underwriting
• the ethics of antiquities preservation and publication
• risk management and crime prevention in museum security
• fakes, forgery and deception in the art market
• the financial and social motivations for art crime
• art, antiquities, and cultural identity

 * subject to availability and a late application fee.

Courses Scheduled for 2023

NOTE: With the Academic Director’s permission some courses can be audited on a course by course basis for those unable to attend for the full summer, please contact admissions for more details.