New Guidelines for IMLS’s Museums for America (MFA) Grant Program Announced

Guidelines are now available for the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ (IMLS) Museums for America (MFA) grant program, which now includes funding for projects previously under Conservation Project Support (CPS). The MFA deadline is January 15, 2013. We encourage our members and colleagues to review the new guidelines and begin planning their application(s) as soon as possible.

There are three categories within the MFA program, including Collections Stewardship.

As stated in the guidelines, “Projects should support the care and management of collections to expand and sustain access for current and future generations. Projects should reflect systematic, holistic, logical approaches to the documentation, preservation, and conservation of tangible and digital collections to sustain and improve public access.” There is no restriction on the number of applications an institution may submit to one or more of the three categories.

To aid those interested in conservation and collections care projects, the Connecting to Collections Online Community will host a free webinar featuring Connie Bodner, IMLS senior program officer. Connie will review MFA guidelines and answer questions live on November 7 at 2:00 pm (Eastern). No prior registration is required to participate in this webinar. On November 7, simply go to the www.connectingtocollections.org and click “Access Meeting Room.”  IMLS staff will also be conducting a series of five web conferences to provide an overview of the program and answer questions.

In addition to MFA, activities once supported under the 21st Century Museum Professionals grant program have now been consolidated under National Leadership Grants. The deadline for this program is also January 15, 2013.

To further highlight their commitment to conservation, IMLS has launched a new blog series, “From the Bench.” Cosponsored by Heritage Preservation and the American Institute for Conservation, the series will provide a platform for conservators to share their work with the public and will highlight how IMLS funding has supported collections care efforts.