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The Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) is a non-governmental civil society organisation (CSO) that conducts scholarly research and training within the discipline of combatting cultural property crime.^[1] Established in 2009 with the aim of exploring the gaps in the international legal framework which addresses art and antiquities crimes. ARCA was founded by Noah Charney, an art and art crime historian, as well as a published author.

Internationally recognized as an agency working in the highly specialized field of art crime research, ARCA's affiliate researchers have been interviewed in the press and asked to provide commentary on criminal incidents affecting the art market as well as to comment on incidences where art crimes overlap with other criminality such as: money laundering, organized crime, and terrorist financing.^[2]

The Association's work has also been documented by governmental and non-governmental institutions as a useful resource in further understanding and interpreting art crimes. To do so, ARCA also maintains cooperative relationships both intergovernmental and non-governmental through cooperation agreements with international organizations, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), and the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Observatory of Illicit Traffic.^[3][4][5]

ARCA was established in 2009 with the aim of exploring the gaps in the international legal framework which addresses art and antiquities crimes, ARCA was founded by Dr. Noah Charney, an art and art crime historian and author.^[6][7]

One of the earliest volunteer-driven forums of its kind, the Association focuses on bringing together experts from diverse art, archaeology, criminal justice, and law backgrounds to collaborate and share knowledge, research, and resources, with the intent to better analyze and address the nuances of cultural property crime more efficiently. Its goals include raising awareness and fostering dialogue concerning the complexities of transnational cultural property-related crimes including its etiology, prevention, and control. It also seeks to demonstrate how stolen art objects, as well as looted cultural items, may be a source of profit which fuels other crimes.^{[citation needed]}

In March 2018 ARCA was invited to participate at UNESCO's Paris Headquarters for their Category 6 expert committee meeting and conference in order addressed to engage the European art market and sensitize relevant stakeholders to the implications of illicit trafficking of cultural property – from the consequences regarding the protection of cultural heritage to terrorism financing and money laundering.^[8] In 2023, addressing an audience of diplomats, policymakers, and stakeholders from attending a United Nations event organized by the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), ARCA spoke on the topic of emerging trends relating to the destruction of cultural heritage and illicit trade of cultural property, and their linkages with terrorism.^[9]

ARCA's research has been acknowledged to have supported law enforcement and public prosecutor efforts in the protection of cultural heritage and in upholding the rule of law. In one notable public case, the Association's work was accredited by the State of New York - District Attorney's Office in Manhattan for having provided assistance in the Grand Jury Investigation into the private New York antiquities collector Michael Steinhardt regarding his acquisition, possession, and sale of antiquities which constituted stolen property under New York law. This acknowledgement is public record, and available via the New York Courts.^[10]

ARCA also serves as an advisory for Operation Pandora, an annual European police operation which is carried out in the framework of the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT). Launched in 2016 to target the illicit trafficking of looted or stolen cultural goods in circulation in the European market, this multi-country police action is coordinated by Europol, Interpol and the World Customs Organization and utilizes experts working in the field of art crime research, including the Association's forensic analysts, who help law enforcement agencies by facilitating the identification of illicitly trafficked art.^[11][12]

In furtherance of their outreach goals, researchers whose work has been supported by ARCA have identified a number of looted or stolen cultural property in circulation within the legitimate art market.^[13][14] They have also drawn attention to fraudulent art schemes involving US dealers who falsify an object's provenance record in order to launder illicit antiquities.^[15]

Since 2009 the Association has offered a professional development Postgraduate Certificate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection consisting of eleven courses held annually over the course of one summer in Amelia, Italy.^[16] In 2017 the Association began a second in person initiative, providing advanced and introductory provenance research training courses, in partnership with the Holocaust Art Restitution Project.^[17]

During the stringent COVID-19 lockdowns in Italy, ARCA created a grouping of online training courses, in keeping with health and safety regulations designed to reduce transmission of the virus. During this period, the Association offered online courses were highlighted by The International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH) as being "useful, accurate, and up to date topics on the subject of art crime and cultural heritage protection."^[18]

ARCA has also provided bespoke training in partnership with UNESCO via the agency's Heritage Emergency Fund in 2018 in Beirut, Lebanon. ^[19] From 15 to 18 March 2021 ARCA provided training modules for Twenty four Customs officers from Eastern and Central Europe who took part in a virtual specialized PITCH (Preventing Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Heritage) training, organized jointly by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).^[20]

When funding is adequate, ARCA has sponsored the documentation and exploration of new methodologies, approaches and interactions which underscore art and antiquities crime and steps towards its mitigation. In 2012 the Association awarded its 2012 Writer's Residency to Dr. Laurie Rush, a US-based archaeologist, and Cultural Resource Manager, working at Fort Drum whose work with the military advocates for Cultural Property Protection as a force multiplier in stability operations. During her summer residency with ARCA, the Association introduced the officer to officers working with Italy's Carabinieri art crime police unit, who in turn authorised the first book of its kind, in English, highlighting the work carried out by the Italian military's Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Property.^[21]

Since 2010 the Association has hosted its eponymous international art crime conference in Amelia, Italy, an event geared towards academic researchers, provenance researchers, law enforcement officials, museum professionals, legal experts and public prosecutors grappling with ethical and legal complexities of art and antiquities crime and cultural property protection.^[22]

In 2016 a weekend-long conference forum highlighted the concept of Cultural Rights and Value Education.^[23][24] In 2018, this event emphasized art crimes which had occurred during incidences of asymmetrical warfare in the Middle East and supported the presence and presentations of archaeologists working within the conflict zones of Syria and Iraq.^[25] More recently, in 2023 an ARCA-affiliated forensic researcher was appointed to serve on the international panel of experts tasked with assisting the British Museum's recovery project, aimed at recovering artefacts stolen from the British Museum.^[26][27]

ARCA has published the peer-reviewed Journal of Art Crime (JAC) on a biannual basis since 2009, which is geared toward interdisciplinary academic articles related to art and antiquities crimes, their investigation and long term repercussions. Some of this journal's articles represent the first publication of forensic work conducted by leading art crime-focused archaeologists who work to track and identify looted antiquities in circulation in the art market.^[28] The JAC also highlights "cold cases", some of the lessor seen work of law enforcement investigators who often are restricted from commenting on investigations until long after a case investigation has been closed.^[29]

Subject to paywall, the JAC is available to subscribers in paper and ePaper format as well as through university digital research lending platforms with access to the HeinOnline Law Journal Library.^[30] The JAC may also be accessed via the Metropolitan Museum of Art's library collection, and the regional interlibrary loan system known as UBorrow.^[31]

ARCA also hosts an art crime blog which provides free opensource access to scholars, law enforcement professionals, museum curators, and the general public on issues related to cultural property crime and the organization's activities. Geared at providing an understanding of the complexities of art crime and its broader implications for society, the Association has produced more than 2000 articles since 2009 on topics ranging from provenance, to looting, and illicit trafficking, to forgery, vandalism, and iconoclasm.^[32][33]

In 2021, ARCA's work was highlighted in two film documentaries one originating the United States and the other in the UK. The first "Lot 448", was directed by Bella Monticelli and premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival as part of the film festival's Female Trailblazers film series.^[34] Focused on highlighting females working in traditionally male roles, the film highlighted one of ARCA's forensic researchers who gathered evidence in an attempt to stop the auction of a looted Etruscan antefix and to returning the artifact back to its country of origin.^[35][36] The second documentary was produced by TIWI for SkyArts and is titled Art Traffickers - Treasures Stolen From the Tombs. This documentary features commentary from an ARCA researcher discussing the historic looting and plunder conducted by some of Italy's notorious antiquities trafficking networks.^[37]