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Exhibition Research and Development Grant Guidelines

To encourage and enrich international partnerships between art museums, and to enable curators outside the United States both to learn more about historical American art and to develop exhibitions of American art at their home institutions, the foundation offers two types of Exhibition Research and Development Grants: Convening Grants for Internationally Collaborative Exhibitions and Curatorial Travel Grants to the United States. Applications will be judged competitively on an annual basis beginning in spring 2011.

An institution may apply for a convening and/or travel grant even if it has applied separately, or will be applying separately, for general exhibition support for the same project.  Proposals for convening and/or travel grants and proposals for general exhibition support are considered on their own merits; grant approval in one program does not guarantee grant approval in the other.

Eligibility: The foundation only accepts proposals from institutions with United States 501(c)(3) status or the international equivalent. Grants are not made to individuals.

I. Convening Grants for Internationally Collaborative Exhibitions

• These grants are for pre-exhibition convenings and are available only when the exhibition topic (which may be about any aspect of historical American art except architecture, conservation, or film) and the organizing and presenting institutions have been identified and confirmed; at least one of the participating institutions must be located within the United States and one located outside the United States.
• The grants allow for an international team of at least four curators and scholars to convene in person to develop and refine ideas for an exhibition and its catalogue: participants will seek ways to bring new perspectives and innovative thinking to their topic that result in new scholarship and will address how to make the exhibition more meaningful for international audiences. The team must include at least one individual from each of the organizing and presenting institutions; it is a preference that at least one third of the participants come from outside the United States, and inclusion of new voices on the exhibition's subject is encouraged.
• The convening may be one meeting or a series of meetings and must take place with enough lead time to allow emergent ideas from the convening to substantially shape the exhibition and catalogue (typically at least 15 months before the opening of the exhibition at its first venue).
• Funding is available for travel, lodging, and meals; facility/equipment rental; modest honoraria for participants not affiliated with the organizing/presenting institutions; and indirect costs (with amount capped at 15% of a grant).
• Grants range from $10,000 to $25,000 each.

To apply, please download the application form below.

Convening Grant for Internationally Collaborative Exhibition Application Form

• These travel grants allow international curators to travel to the United States to research and develop specific exhibition ideas about any aspect of historical American art (except architecture, conservation, or film) by visiting public and private art collections, archives, libraries, and meeting with U.S.-based curators.
• Only curators permanently employed by a museum outside the United States will be considered at this time.
• Applicant must detail the exhibition idea(s) to be researched, resources to be consulted in the United States, and the use of any funding. Preference will be given to exhibition ideas with innovative approaches that will result in new scholarship and to a clear and well-researched itinerary that includes meeting specialists.
• Foundation staff and external reviewers will be asked to suggest additional, relevant resources of which the applicant may be unaware; if awarded a grant, the applicant would be encouraged, and in some cases required, to pursue such suggestions.
• Funding is available for travel, lodging, meals, and research fees and expenses.
• Grants range from $2,000 to $5,000 each.

To apply, please download the application form below.

International Curatorial Travel Grant Application Form

Deadlines

Exhibition Research and Development Grants
Proposals due          Awards Announced          For travel between
March 1, 2011          May 2, 2011                    July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012
March 1, 2012          May 1, 2012                    July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013