Various Grants Are Available To Museums

New York's museums and historical agencies are many and diverse. These institutions collect and interpret art, history, science, and culture. These valuable organizations are places of life-long learning, where New York's citizens can expand their knowledge.

The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) provides support for museums and historical societies, their staffs and volunteers in their efforts to strengthen and develop their institutions and work with their communities. The following three grant programs, administered by the Upstate History Alliance, are designed to make it easy for organizations to access professional help and improve their institution.

Get Ready! Just as an individual needs a clear destination and road map on a journey, an organization can best move forward and effectively meet its mission with a strategic plan that serves as a blueprint for the future.

Get Ready! Grants provide a way to learn about the planning process and help organizations begin creating plans. A Get Ready! Grant provides organizations with a consultant experienced in museum planning. This consultant will introduce strategic and long range planning concepts to boards and staff, and help organizations initiate planning.

Deadline: Get Ready! Grants can be submitted at any time.

Get Set! For our cars and our homes each of us occasionally secures the assistance of a professional to perform a tune-up, recommend improvements and make changes. All organizations can benefit from the assistance of outside help from time to time.

The goal of the Get Set! Grant is to provide organizations with access to professional ideas and opinions, knowledge, and expertise not found in their institution. Grants of up to $2,500 can be used for consultants' fees and travel expenses, and consultants can work in any area of museum operations, including, but not limited to planning, board/staff relationships, interpretive planning, exhibition development, collections management, conservation, educational programs, technology, fund raising, and marketing.

Deadline: February 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1.

Go! It is said that "the world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only one page." To advance our institutions and encourage individual development, NYSCA advocates professional travel. Go! Grants allow museum staff members and volunteers to expand their horizons through the support of travel to other museums or professional conferences and workshops, or to participate in online workshops.

Deadline: 30 days before proposed travel or professional development opportunity.

For more information about these grants and application procedures, please visit the Upstate History Alliance website at www.upstatehistory.org or contact the Upstate History Alliance at 800-895-1648; info@upstatehistory.org.