A few notes:
We’ve made every effort to verify these grant deadlines. In most cases the deadlines listed were taken directly from the grant-making agencies’ websites. However, calendars do change, so we recommend that you double-check the deadlines by visiting the appropriate agency’s website.
You’ll note that, in some cases, the due date listed does NOT include the year, and simply contains the month and day a grant is due. This is to indicate that the grant-making agency had not yet posted 2011 due dates for 2011 when this calendar was updated in early January 2011. In those cases, we simply assumed that the grant-maker would keep to a similar schedule in 2011 and the deadlines listed are based on the 2010 due dates. Please be sure to double-check these.
The most significant change in programs this year is at the NEA, where the “Access to Artistic Excellence” program has been replaced by “Art Works,” which is expected to better reflect the agency’s guiding principles. When this calendar was updated in early January 2011, the NEA website had not yet posted the full program guidelines. The information shown for the “Art Works” program was taken from a temporary posting on the NEA website. Please visit that website for the most up-to-date information.
January
January 12, 2011 :: NEH :: America’s Historical and Cultural Organizations
America’s Historical and Cultural Organizations grants support projects in the humanities that explore stories, ideas, and beliefs that deepen our understanding of our lives and our world. The Division of Public Programs supports the development of humanities content and interactivity that excite, inform, and stir thoughtful reflection upon culture, identity, and history in creative and new ways. Grants for America’s Historical and Cultural Organizations should encourage dialogue, discussion, and civic engagement, and they should foster learning among people of all ages. To that end, the Division of Public Programs urges applicants to consider more than one format for presenting humanities ideas to the public.
NEH offers two categories of grants for America’s Historical and Cultural Organizations: Planning and Implementation Grants.
PLEASE NOTE: Interpreting America’s Historic Places grants have been folded into the America’s Historical and Cultural Organizations program.
January 12, 2011 :: NEH :: American Media Makers
Grants for America’s Media Makers support projects in the humanities that explore stories, ideas, and beliefs that deepen our understanding of our lives and our world. The Division of Public Programs supports the development of humanities content and interactivity that excite, inform, and stir thoughtful reflection upon culture, identity, and history in creative and new ways. Grants for America’s Media Makers should encourage dialogue, discussion, and civic engagement, and they should foster learning among people of all ages. To that end, the Division of Public Programs urges applicants to consider more than one format for presenting humanities ideas to the public. NEH offers two categories of grants for media projects: Development Grants and Production Grants.
January 18, 2011 :: IMLS :: Museum Grants for African American History and Culture
Museum Grants for African American History and Culture are intended to enhance institutional capacity and sustainability through professional training, technical assistance, internships, outside expertise, and other tools. Successful proposals will focus on one or more of the following three goals: (1) developing or strengthening knowledge, skills, and other expertise of current staff at African American museums; (2) attracting and retaining professionals with the skills needed to strengthen African American museums; and (3) attracting new staff to African American museum practice and providing them with the expertise needed to sustain them in the museum field.
February
February 1, 2011 :: IMLS :: National Leadership Grants
National Leadership Grants support projects that have the potential to elevate museum and library practice. The Institute seeks to advance the ability of museums and libraries to preserve culture, heritage and knowledge while enhancing learning. IMLS welcomes proposals that promote the skills necessary to develop 21st century communities, citizens, and workers.
Successful proposals will have national impact and generate results—new tools, research, models, services, practices, or alliances—that can be widely adapted or replicated to extend the benefit of federal investment. The Institute seeks to fund projects that have the following characteristics:
Strategic Impact—Proposals should address key needs and challenges that face libraries and museums. They should expand the boundaries within which libraries and museums operate, show the potential for far-reaching impact, and influence practice throughout the museum and/or library communities.
Innovation—Proposals should demonstrate a thorough understanding of current practice and knowledge about the project area, and show how the project will advance the state of the art of museum and library service.
Collaboration—While partners are not required in all National Leadership Grant categories, the Institute has found that involving carefully chosen partners with complementary competencies and resources can create powerful synergies that extend project impact. Proposals should show understanding of the challenges of collaboration and propose means for addressing them.
March
March 10 :: NEA :: Art Works
(Full details will be posted on the NEA website in January. For now, the agency offers the following information)
The Access to Artistic Excellence and Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth categories have been replaced with a new funding category called Art Works, which will embody the agency’s guiding principle: “Art works.” Art Works will support the four outcomes mandated by the Agency’s 2010 Strategic Plan:
- Creation: The creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence,
- Engagement: Public engagement with diverse and excellent art,
- Learning: Lifelong learning in the arts, and
- Livability: The strengthening of communities through the arts.
March 15, 2011 :: IMLS :: 21st Century Museum Professionals
Public or private nonprofit agencies, organizations, or associations that engage in activities designed to advance museums and the museum profession may also apply. In addition, institutions of higher education, including public and nonprofit universities, are eligible.
Program Overview: Museum professionals need high levels of knowledge and expertise as they help create public value for the communities they serve. The purpose of the 21st Century Museum Professionals program is to increase the capacity of museums by improving the knowledge and skills of museum professionals in multiple institutions. 21st Century Museum Professionals grants are intended to reach broad groups of museum professionals throughout a city, county, state, region, or the nation.
Grants fund a wide range of activities, including the development and implementation of classes, seminars, and workshops; resources to support leadership development; collection, assessment, development, and/or dissemination of information that leads to better museum operations; activities that strengthen the use of contemporary technology tools to deliver programs and services; support for the enhancement of pre-professional training programs; and organizational support for the development of internship and fellowship programs.
April
April 1, 2011 Optional Draft Deadline :: NHPRC :: Digitizing Historical Records
(See June, below)
April 1, 2011 Optional Draft Deadline :: NHPRC :: Electronic Records Projects
(See June, below)
May
May 5 :: NEH :: Challenge Grants
NEH challenge grants are capacity-building grants, intended to help institutions and organizations secure long-term improvements in and support for their humanities programs and resources. Grants may be used to establish or enhance endowments or spend-down funds (that is, funds that are invested, with both the income and the principal being expended over a defined period of years) that generate expendable earnings to support ongoing program activities. Funds may also be used for one-time capital expenditures (such as construction and renovation, purchase of equipment, and acquisitions) that bring long-term benefits to the institution and to the humanities more broadly.
Because of the matching requirement, these NEH grants also strengthen the humanities by encouraging nonfederal sources of support. Applications are welcome from colleges and universities, museums, public libraries, research institutions, historical societies and historic sites, scholarly associations, state humanities councils, and other nonprofit entities. Programs that involve collaboration among multiple institutions are eligible as well, but one institution must serve as the lead agent and formal applicant of record. NEH particularly welcomes proposals for programming at America’s historic places (historic sites, neighborhoods, communities, or larger geographical regions).
May 3, 2011 :: NEH :: Preservation Assistance Grants
Preservation Assistance Grants help institutions—particularly small and mid-sized institutions—improve their ability to preserve and care for their humanities collections, including special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine arts, textiles, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, and historical objects. Institutions such as libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, arts and cultural organizations, and town and county records offices are encouraged to apply.
May 19, 2011 :: NEH :: Preservation and Access Research and Development
Preservation and Access Research and Development grants support projects that address major challenges in preserving or providing access to humanities collections and resources. These challenges include the need to find better ways to preserve materials of critical importance to the nation’s cultural heritage—from fragile artifacts and manuscripts to analog recordings and digital assets subject to technological obsolescence—and to develop advanced modes of searching, discovering, and using such materials.
Applicants should define a specific problem, devise procedures and potential solutions, and explain how they would evaluate their projects and disseminate their findings. Project results must serve the needs of a significant segment of humanists.
May 21 :: Save America’s Treasures
Save America’s Treasures makes critical investments in the preservation of our nation’s most significant and endangered cultural treasures, which illustrate, interpret, and embody the great events, ideas, and individuals that contribute to America’s history and culture. This legacy includes the built environment as well as documents, records, artifacts, and artistic works. Collectively, Save America’s Treasures projects tell our nation’s story and ensure that our legacy is passed on to future generations.
Administered by the National Park Service in collaboration with the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, Save America’s Treasures involves other federal agency partners, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has been the program’s principal private partner since its inception. Museums and libraries are encouraged to apply.
June
June 9, 2011 :: NHPRC :: Digitizing Historical Records
The Commission seeks proposals that use cost-effective methods to digitize nationally significant historical record collections and make the digital versions freely available online.
June 9, 2011 :: NHPRC :: Electronic Records Projects
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission seeks proposals that will increase the capacity of archival repositories to create electronic records archives that preserve records of enduring historical value.
July
July 1 :: NEH :: Preservation and Access Education and Training
The Preservation and Access Education and Training program is central to NEH’s efforts to preserve and establish access to cultural heritage resources. Thousands of libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations across the country maintain important collections of books and manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings and moving images, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, art and material culture collections, electronic records, and digital objects. The challenge of preserving and making accessible such large and diverse holdings is enormous and the need for knowledgeable staff is significant and ongoing.
Preservation and Access Education and Training grants help the staff of cultural institutions, large and small, obtain the knowledge and skills needed to serve as effective stewards of humanities collections. Grants also support educational programs that prepare the next generation of conservators and preservation professionals, as well as projects that introduce the staff of cultural institutions to recent improvements in preservation and access practices.
July 20, 2011 :: NEH :: Humanities Collections and Reference Resources
The Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program supports projects that provide an essential foundation for scholarship, education, and public programming in the humanities. Thousands of libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations across the country maintain important collections of books and manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings and moving images, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, art and material culture, electronic records, and digital objects. Funding from this program strengthens efforts to extend the life of such materials and make their intellectual content widely accessible, often through the use of digital technology. Awards are also made to create various reference resources that facilitate use of cultural materials, from works that provide basic information quickly to tools that synthesize and codify knowledge of a subject for in-depth investigation.
August
August 11 :: NEA :: Art Works
(Full details will be posted on the NEA website in January. For now, the agency offers the following information)
The Access to Artistic Excellence and Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth categories have been replaced with a new funding category called Art Works, which will embody the agency’s guiding principle: “Art works.” Art Works will support the four outcomes mandated by the Agency’s 2010 Strategic Plan:
- Creation: The creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence,
- Engagement: Public engagement with diverse and excellent art,
- Learning: Lifelong learning in the arts, and
- Livability: The strengthening of communities through the arts.
August 17, 2011 :: NEH :: America’s Historical and Cultural Organizations
America’s Historical and Cultural Organizations grants support projects in the humanities that explore stories, ideas, and beliefs that deepen our understanding of our lives and our world. The Division of Public Programs supports the development of humanities content and interactivity that excite, inform, and stir thoughtful reflection upon culture, identity, and history in creative and new ways. Grants for America’s Historical and Cultural Organizations should encourage dialogue, discussion, and civic engagement, and they should foster learning among people of all ages. To that end, the Division of Public Programs urges applicants to consider more than one format for presenting humanities ideas to the public. NEH offers two categories of grants for America’s Historical and Cultural Organizations: Planning and Implementation Grants
PLEASE NOTE: Interpreting America’s Historic Places grants have been folded into the America’s Historical and Cultural Organizations program.
August 17, 2011 :: NEH :: American Media Makers
Grants for America’s Media Makers support projects in the humanities that explore stories, ideas, and beliefs that deepen our understanding of our lives and our world. The Division of Public Programs supports the development of humanities content and interactivity that excite, inform, and stir thoughtful reflection upon culture, identity, and history in creative and new ways. Grants for America’s Media Makers should encourage dialogue, discussion, and civic engagement, and they should foster learning among people of all ages. To that end, the Division of Public Programs urges applicants to consider more than one format for presenting humanities ideas to the public. NEH offers two categories of grants for media projects: Development Grants and Production Grants.
September
September 15, 2011 :: IMLS :: American Heritage Preservation Grants
The purpose of the American Heritage Preservation Grants program is to raise awareness and fund preservation of treasures held in small and mid-sized museums, libraries and archives that convey the essential character and experience of the United States. These artifacts can be of diverse origin, but should have significance in the heritage of the community in which they are now held.
Priority will be given to smaller institutions, but all libraries, archives, and museums that meet IMLS institutional eligibility criteria are eligible to apply. Grants will provide funds to preserve specific items, including works of art, rare books, scientific specimens and historical documents (photographs, maps, deeds, etc.) that are in need of conservation. These funds are not intended to fund a small portion of a larger project, but are aimed at completing a stand-alone conservation project. Applicants will build on completed conservation assessments of their collections, to ensure that the American Heritage Preservation Grants go towards projects that represent best practices in the field and underscore the importance of assessment planning
NOTE: Planning grants may be found through:
Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) grants
NEH Preservation Assistance Grants (PAG)
All eligible institutions may apply for projects in the following areas:
• Treatment of library, museum and archival collections
• Improvement of collections storage
• Environmental improvement of collections
October
October 3, 2011 :: IMLS :: Conservation Project Support
The Conservation Project Support program awards grants to help museums identify conservation needs and priorities, and perform activities to ensure the safekeeping of their collections.
Conservation Project Support grants help museums develop and implement a logical, institution-wide approach to caring for their living and material collections. Applicants should apply for the project that meets one of the institution’s highest conservation needs. All applications must demonstrate that the primary goal of the project is conservation care, and not collection management or maintenance.
Grants are available for many types of conservation activities, including surveys (general, detailed condition, or environmental); training; treatment; and environmental improvements.
Museums are encouraged to share the impact of conservation activities with their communities through outreach and programs.
October 6, 2011 :: NHPRC :: Archives – Basic Projects
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission seeks proposals for fundamental archival activities that promote the preservation and use of America’s documentary heritage.
October 6 :: NHPRC :: Archives- Detailed Processing Projects
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission seeks proposals for detailed processing and preservation of collections of national significance.
November
November 2, 2011 :: IMLS :: Museums for America
Museums for America is the Institute’s largest grant program for museums, supporting projects and ongoing activities that build museums’ capacity to serve their communities.
Museums for America grants strengthen a museum’s ability to serve the public more effectively by supporting high-priority activities that advance the institution’s mission and strategic goals. Museums for America grants are designed to be flexible: funds can be used for a wide variety of projects, including ongoing museum work, research and other behind-the-scenes activities, planning, new programs, purchase of equipment or services, and activities that will support the efforts of museums to upgrade and integrate new technologies. IMLS also welcomes proposals that promote the skills necessary to develop 21st century communities, citizens, and workers.
Grants are awarded in the following categories:
- Engaging Communities (Education, Exhibitions, and Interpretation)
- Building Institutional Capacity (Management, Policy, and Training)
- Collections Stewardship
November 30, 2011 :: IMLS :: Museum Assessment Program
The Museum Assessment Program (MAP) is supported through a cooperative agreement between the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the American Association of Museums. It is designed to help museums assess their strengths and weaknesses, and plan for the future.
The program provides technical assistance for four kinds of assessments: (1) collections management; (2) governance; (3) institutional; and (4) public dimension. Assessments are funded on a first-come, first-served basis. Museums may apply for MAP assessments in any sequence. Museums that received a MAP assessment grant on or before September 2003 may apply for a grant to fund participation in that assessment a second time. Application materials can be obtained by contacting the American Association of Museums.
December
December 1, 2011 :: IMLS :: Conservation Assessment Program
The Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) is supported through a cooperative agreement between the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Heritage Preservation. The general conservation assessment (unlike a detailed collection survey) provides an overview of all of the museum’s collections as well as its environmental conditions and policies and procedures relating to collections care.
The program supports a two-day site visit by a conservation professional to perform the assessment. For museums located in historic structures, the grant supports a two-day site visit by a preservation architect. Assessment reports are then provided later.
CAP also helps institutions with living animal collections, such as zoos and aquariums, that do not have an assessment of the animals’ physical conditions and habitats. Institutions with fully surveyed living animal collections (such as those accredited by the American Zoological Association) may use the grant to assess the conservation needs of their material collections only. Botanic gardens and arboretums may assess the conservation needs of both their living and material collections.
December 8 :: NEH :: Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections
As they strive to be effective stewards of humanities collections, cultural repositories are increasingly interested in sustainable preservation strategies. NEH therefore invites proposals that explore and implement energy-efficient and cost-effective preventive conservation measures designed to mitigate the greatest risks to collections.
To help institutions develop sound preventive conservation projects, NEH encourages collaborative and interdisciplinary planning, which may be especially helpful for identifying sustainable strategies. Such planning would include consideration of the following factors: the nature of the materials in a collection; the performance of the building, its envelope, and its systems in moderating internal environmental conditions; the capabilities of the institution; the nature of the local climate and the effects of climate change; the cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency of various approaches to preventive conservation; and the project’s impact on the environment.
