Flexibility key to Art Institute’s changing security needs

The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the world’s premiere fine arts facilities. Particularly renowned for its collection of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting, the museum is encyclopedic in scope, housing 5,000 years of creative expression. A major destination for tourists and locals alike, the museum recently featured an exhibition of American painters Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper and hosts 1.4 million visitors a year.

Meanwhile, 3,000 students attend the School at the Art Institute of Chicago to study everything from architecture to creative writing to painting to fashion design at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Alumni include Georgia O’Keeffe, Vincente Minnelli, Halston, and David Sedaris.

Museum security may bring to mind images of high-tech cameras and alarms, but when the Art Institute looks at contract security services, one of the most important considerations is a bit more pragmatic: flexibility.  “Our needs change day to day, sometimes hour to hour,” explains Michelle Lehrman Jenness, the Art Institute’s Associate Vice President of Protection Service.  “And Securitas has the flexibility to fit those ever-changing needs.”

Approximately 40 Securitas officers supplement the Art Institute security staff on a permanent basis, but Lehrman Jenness cites a continual need to bring in additional officers based on the Institute’s diverse activities. The museum hosts a full calendar of events – from membership and private events in the galleries to major civic happenings such as the all-night “Looptopia” celebration in downtown Chicago – that often require an increased or specialized security need. To help the museum prepare for the upcoming “Taste of Chicago” city festival, Securitas provided the Art Institute with bomb-sniffing dogs. “What I’ve learned about Securitas is that they have those branches of expertise that we can use when we need them, which is really critical to protecting the Art Institute,” she says.

In addition, the museum is in the midst of renovating all existing galleries while simultaneously building one of the largest museum expansions in the United States. Designed by famed architect Renzo Plano, the addition will increase gallery space across the entire complex by 33%, add a second museum entrance, and link directly via a pedestrian bridge to Chicago’s Millennium Park. Every element of the Art Institute’s renovations and expansions has also meant expanded security needs, and the Art Institute is working with Securitas to develop just such an expanded security plan before next summer’s scheduled opening.

“Flexibility is the key to success,” says Lehrman Jenness. “We go up and down with crazy events; that’s why we have a contract service.” But she also stresses the importance of consistent, customer-oriented service. “We aim for a seamless transition.  People don’t know whether the officer is in-house or Securitas, and I don’t want them to know.”

At the School of the Art Institute, Securitas officers provide access control and mount patrols at each of the eight downtown buildings that make up the campus. Museum officers provide gallery security, perimeter patrols, and construction escort.  The Art Institute provides the museum officers with three days of additional training to cover not only the facilities’ layout and safety protocols but also a brief history of the collection and an overview of new exhibitions. “This is new in the museum industry,” Lehrman Jenness notes. “Thirty years ago, the guard stood in the corner and said nothing. Now we are really moving towards customer service.  Sometimes, the officer will be the only personal contact a visitor has, and that point of contact is obviously very important to the experience of the visitor.” 

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