Art First Responsder

The Chubb Collector recently came out and one of the interesting articles was about hurricane Sandy, and art first responders. The article is written by a Crozier Fine Art project manager.  According to the Crozier website, they are a museum-quality storage, transportation and fine art engineering services. According to the Chubb article, Crozier removed more than 3000 pieces of art from storm damaged areas. The pieces of art were moved into a 10,000 square foot facility where the artworks were inspected and action plans developed for conservation, storage and return to collectors.

Chubb Collector reports

Requests for assistance started coming to us almost immediately. Several clients approached us as we stood outside our headquarters. Others were able to connect through undisrupted personal email accounts and voicemails. We also had a team walking up and down 10th and 11th avenues, from 19th street up to 26th, checking in on our existing clients and any others who might need a hand. The spectrum of assistance ranged from “Hey, can we borrow a flashlight and some gloves?” to needing full-scale collections removal and immediate stabilization. Each big request that came in was followed by a site visit by a Crozier Emergency Project Manager, where necessary documents were signed and the scope of work and conditions on site were assessed.

The extent of damage was staggering. With evidence of a chest-level storm surge in some areas and other areas strewn with debris, Chelsea looked more like a disaster zone than the heart of New York City's art scene. Our crews were dispatched using walkie-talkies to communicate; cell phones still were not working. Our managers walked from location to location, checking job progress and delivering necessary materials. Client managers took on the role of field registrars to manage the volume of inventory that we were removing. There was nothing to eat or drink below 34th street, so in addition to overseeing operations, senior management drove to mid-town to buy food and water for the crews. Everybody pulled together to get the job done.

Projects continued through the week with staff meeting every morning in our still-unlit reception area to receive assignments and hand-written paperwork for the day. With no power or lights throughout the lower half of Manhattan, crews could only work until 4 p.m. if they were to get home safely before dark.

In a matter of days, we removed roughly 3,000 works of art from galleries, residences and commercial buildings, each suffering varying degrees of water exposure. They were delivered to our New Jersey facility where we had readied a 10,000 square foot triage space so that the work could be placed in clean, stable temporary storage.

Source: Chubb Collector