- American Alliance of Museums - Museum Assessment Program
The Museum Assessment Program (MAP) helps small and mid-sized museums maintain and improve operations by providing guidance in meeting priorities and goals and understanding how your museum compares to standards and best practices. This program is supported through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Museums can apply for a Collections Stewardship Assessment. The timeline is between February and December, and the last application deadline was February 1, 2022. If you would like to be notified when the next deadline becomes available, contact MAP staff at map@aam-us.org.
www.aam-us.org/map
- Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has established a clearing house of information to assist the preservation community and the general public in exploring the range of preservation funding options. The emphasis is on federal funding, with more limited discussion of state, tribal, local, and non-profit funding opportunities. Federal grants fund the preservation, interpretation, and reuse of historic properties. The website also offers a Section 106 Digital Library with resources for the Section 106 Process and submission guidance. www.achp.gov
- The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation program for art museums is designed to help cultural institutions build and sustain their capacity to undertake serious scholarship on their permanent collections; to preserve these collections; and to share the results of their work in appropriate ways with scholarly and other audiences. While the foundation does not specifically cite grant opportunities, Funding opportunities are divided into four core program areas:
- Higher Education and Scholarship in the Humanities
- Arts and Cultural Heritage
- Scholarly Communications
- International Higher Education and Strategic Projects
Under Arts and Cultural Heritage, the foundation funds projects in Art History, Conservation, and Museums. www.mellon.org
- Archaeological Institute of America - Site Preservation Grant
This grant is intended to fund projects that uphold the AIA's mission to preserve and promote the world's archaeological heritage for future generations. The goal of the grant (which carries a maximum value of $15,000 to be awarded over the course of one to three years) is to aid in the preservation of threatened archaeological sites by implementing conservation, protection and/or monitoring. Programs that include education and public outreach components are encouraged. Applications are evaluated annually with an application deadline of November 1. www.archaeological.org
- Bank of America Art Conservation Project
The Bank of America Art Conservation Project provides grants to nonprofit museums throughout the world to conserve historically or culturally significant works of art that are in danger of deterioration - including objects that have been designated as national treasures. All nonprofit cultural institutions with artwork requiring much-needed conservation are encouraged. For inquiries about the project and deadlines, reach out to art.conservation@bankofamerica.com.
www.bankofamerica.com/artconservation
- Greater Hudson Heritage Network (GHHN)
The Conservation Treatment Grant Program, administered by the Greater Hudson Heritage Network (Greater Hudson), in association with the Museum Program of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), provides preservation support for treatment, collection component assessments, and collections management assistance. Museums, historical organizations, or other cultural institutions registered to do business in New York State are encouraged to apply: www.greaterhudson.org
- Conservation Treatment Grants Program provides support for treatment procedures to aid in stabilizing and preserving individual items in collections of museums, historical and cultural organizations in New York State. Support is available for conservation treatment of paintings, works on paper, textiles, furniture, frames, sculpture, historical, ethnographic, and decorative objects. Individual grant awards will not exceed $7,500.
The application must include condition report(s) and treatment proposal(s). Priority consideration will be given to applicants who have not yet received three consecutive treatment grants. 2022 grant information will be released soon.
- Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is a primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. Application forms and Notices of Funding Opportunities for the current fiscal year are made available approximately 90 days before the grant deadline, but until that time, applications and guidelines from the previous year are available for reference. www.imls.gov/grants/apply-grant/available-grants. Any changes to deadlines will be posted in an IMLS news release and in Grants.gov.
All grant programs identified by IMLS’s Notices of Funding Opportunities are included here; many of them specifically target preservation and access, as well as innovation in museum and library services. Current IMLS grant opportunities include:
- National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT)
The Preservation Technology and Training (PTT) Grants program provides funding for innovative research that develops new technologies or adapts existing technologies to preserve cultural resources. Grant recipients undertake innovative research and produce technical reports which respond to national needs in the field of historic preservation. The deadline for funding this year has passed. See: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/2022-preservation-technology-and-training-grants.htm
For 2022, the PTT grants were focused on:
- Innovative research that develops new technologies or adapts existing technologies to preserve cultural resources (typically $20,000)
- Specialized workshops or symposia that identify and address national preservation needs (typically $15,000 to $20,000)
- How-to videos, mobile applications, podcasts, best practices publications, or webinars that disseminate practical preservation methods or provide better tools for preservation practice (typically $5,000 to $15,000)
- National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers
Each state has a historic preservation officer who may be able to provide additional suggestions specific to your state or region. The offices of Historic Preservation Officers also provide federal preservation project review – section 106. To find the preservation officer in your state, visit www.ncshpo.org
- National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) - Arts Indemnity Program
The National Endowment for the Arts offers grants to organizations, individuals, and partnership agreements. While many of these funding opportunities may not specifically apply to preservation projects, they all share in the goal of laying “..the groundwork for systemic changes that sustain the integration of arts, culture, and design into local strategies for strengthening communities.” See: https://www.arts.gov/grants/apply-grant/grants-organizations.
Current grants for organization include:
- Grants for Art Projects – February 10 and July 7, 2022
- Challenge America – April 21, 2022
- Research Awards – March 28, 2022
- The NEA administers the U.S. Government's Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Program on behalf of the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities (FCAH). The Indemnity Program was created by Congress in 1975 for the purpose of minimizing the costs of insuring international exhibitions.
- National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) – Preservation and Access, Federal/State Partnership, Research, Challenge Programs, Digital Humanities, as part of seven Divisions and Offices.
Specifically, the division of Preservation and Access’ grant programs recognize that good stewardship of cultural resources requires equal attention to both preservation and access. All of the division’s programs focus on ensuring the long-term and wide availability of primary resources in the humanities. www.neh.gov
NEH is accepting, reviewing, and processing grant applications on its normal schedule. Current Grant Program Opportunities include:
- National Film Preservation Foundation Grants
The NFPF helps archives, historical societies, libraries, museums, and universities preserve and increase accessibility of American films, in addition to offering grants that support the preservation and increased accessibility of American orphan films of historic and cultural interest. The NFPF offers basic preservation grants ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 for laboratory work, federally funded, matching grants for large-scale preservation, reconstruction, or restoration projects, and Avant-Garde grants to support the preservation of America’s Avant-Garde film heritage. The application deadline for basic preservation grants and matching grants is March 25, 2022. www.filmpreservation.org
- National Trust Preservation Funds Grants
The National Trust Preservation Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation offers several types of financial assistance to nonprofit organizations, public agencies, for-profit companies, and individuals involved in preservation-related projects. These grants aim to help stimulate public discussion, enable local groups to gain the technical expertise needed for particular projects, introduce the public to preservation concepts and techniques, and encourage financial participation by the private sector. Check back later this year for more information about 2022 grants. www.savingplaces.org
- Society for Industrial Archeology
The Society for Industrial Archeology offers Industrial Heritage Preservation Grants (IHPG) ranging from $1000 to $3000 for the study, documentation, recordation, and/or preservation of significant historic industrial sites, structures, and objects. Funds are awarded to projects that include but are not limited to: increasing public awareness of preservation efforts, photography, videography, preparing inventories and developing measured drawings of extant significant industrial sites, structures, maritime facilities and industrial artifacts. Awards are made to both nonprofit organizations and qualified individuals. The application deadline is March 1 to be considered for that year. www.sia-web.org
- Samuel H. Kress Foundation - Conservation Grants Program
The Kress Foundation Conservation Grants program supports the professional practice of art conservation, especially as it relates to European art of the pre-modern era. Grants are awarded to projects that create and disseminate specialized knowledge, including archival projects, development and dissemination of scholarly databases, documentation projects, exhibitions and publications focusing on art conservation, scholarly publications, and technical and scientific studies. Grants are also awarded for activities that permit conservators and conservation scientists to share their expertise with both professional colleagues and a broad audience through international exchanges, professional meetings, conferences, symposia, consultations, the presentation of research, exhibitions that include a prominent focus on materials and techniques, and other professional events. Grant application deadlines are March 1 and October 1 (History of Art, Conservation, Digital Art History) and January 15 (History of Art, Conservation). www.kressfoundation.org
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FAIC Kress Conservation Fellowship program provides a wide range of post-graduate fellowship opportunities for emerging conservators. FAIC administers the Kress Conservation Fellowship program on behalf of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. The Kress Conservation Fellowship program provides competitive grants to museums and other conservation facilities to sponsor supervised post-graduate fellowship opportunities to help develop the skills of emerging conservators. Applications are due on January 22. www.kressfoundation.org