Grants for Museum Advancement

Sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts, administered by Museumwise: The Museum Association of New York

Applications are now being accepted for 2013 Get Ready, Get Set & Go grants

The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) has provided $78,605 for the FY 2013 Grants for Museum Advancement program. These funds will be portioned between January and June and July and December in accordance with previous year's application percentages (approximately 8 Get Ready; 14 Get Set; and 40 Go! grants). 

Grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis until the funds have been fully allocated. It is advisable to apply early in the year.

Again in 2013:

• Get Set! grant  applications - two postmark deadlines: February 1 and July 1
• Go! grants - Institutions may apply for grants of up to $500 to support travel and/or registration fees for single participant, $750 for multiple participants. You may submit one application for multiple participants to partake of the same professional development opportunity. 
• Organizations may receive one Go! grant per calendar year.

Click here to view a list of 2012 Grants for Museum Advancement recipients.

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 grants programs, administered by the Museumwise: The Museum Association of New York, 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 your organization begin creating a plan. A Get Ready! Grant provides your organization with a consultant experienced in museum planning. This consultant will introduce strategic and long range planning concepts to your board and staff and help you 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 your organization with access to professional ideas and opinions, knowledge, and expertise not found in your institution. Grants of up to $3,000 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 and July 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.

Organizations may apply for grants of up to $500 to support travel and/or registration fees for single participants, $750 for multiple participants. You may submit one application for multiple participants to partake of the same professional development opportunity. 

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

General Information for Grants for Museum Advancement

1. We encourage you to contact Museumwise: MANY to discuss your project before submitting an application - by e-mail at info@museumwise.org or by phone at 800.895.1648.

2. Organizations may receive one Get Ready! one Get Set! and one Go! grant in each calendar year. 

3. Grants for Museum Advancement funds are available at the start each calendar year, applications are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis until the funds are fully allocated. 

4. Additional support will not be awarded until a final report for a previous project is submitted. The Museum Program at NYSCA is regularly updated on outstanding final reports.

5. Only organizations holding a charter from the New York State Board of Regents as a museum or historical society or institutions that are a unit of local government may apply.

6. Grants do not support out-of-state travel (neither mileage nor accommodations) for staff or consultants.

7. While an organization may apply for grants within the NYSCA Museum Program and the Get Ready, Get Set, Go! in the same year, these applications must be for different projects. Requests for the same project are considered “double dipping.”

8. From time to time the Grants for Museum Advancement Program may issue a special Requests for Proposals (RFP). Information on RFPs will be posted on this website and promoted through state and regional service organizations.