GRANT GUIDELINES:

Applicant Eligibility:
Applications will be accepted from non-profit museums and historical organizations, or other cultural institutions that own, care for and exhibit collections to the public. Grant awards will be made to institutions lacking in-house conservation staff with expertise in the area for which support is requested. Collections owned by state or federal agencies are ineligible for grant support.

Organizations may submit only one request, which may involve one object or a group of related objects, all owned by the applicant institution.

Eligible institutions of all sizes are welcome to request support from this state-wide program; those with small budgets are encouraged to apply.  Priority consideration will be given to applicants who have not yet received three consecutive treatment grants. Click here for a listing of Past Grant Recipients.

What We Fund: 
Support is available for conservation treatment of paintings, works on paper (including individual drawings, watercolors, prints or photographs), textiles (including costumes, domestic textiles and upholstery), furniture, frames, sculpture, historical, ethnographic and decorative objects.

• Support is also available for treatment costs for supports, frames, stands and mounts that are integral to the treatment of the object.
• Grants will support in-state transportation costs for the objects and/or the conservators, and the cost of insurance for the work(s) to be treated.

What We Do Not Fund:

= Grants will not support staff salaries.

= Grants will not support out-of-state transportation for objects and/or conservators, nor the cost of obtaining the treatment estimate for this proposal.

= Funds are not available for preventive care, such as rehousing or reformatting of objects, purchase of storage furniture, monitoring or upgrading of environmental systems.

= Grants will not support conservation of archival collections.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: June 2, 2008
Complete grant applications must be postmarked or hand-delivered to Lower Hudson Conference by 5 p.m. on Monday, June 2, 2008.

Panel Review Process:
Applications will be reviewed competitively by a panel of conservation, curatorial and museum professionals.

Range of Grant Awards:
Individual grant awards will not exceed $7,500.
A total of approximately $123,000 is available in 2008.

Schedule of Completion:
Next awards will be announced in mid-August, 2008. Funded conservation work must be completed within one year of the grant award.  Final grant reports of completed treatment must be received at Lower Hudson Conference by August 1, 2009.

APPLICATION CHECKLIST:

Please submit 8 sets of the following, in this order:

 Application Cover Sheet (.PDF) (1 with original signature)

 Narrative Project Description (maximum 3 pages)

 Conservator's Condition Report

 Conservator's Treatment Proposal & Cost Estimate

 Conservator's Resume (maximum 2 pages) and

  Letter of Commitment, acknowledging the AIC Code of Ethics, Guidelines and Commentaries.

 Project Budget (1 page) and

 1 set of original visual support material, (a CD or a set of photographs), accompanied by 7 sets of color photocopies or digital prints. Each image, photo and/or CD file must be clearly identified with the name of your institution, the year and title or number of the object.

Submission Format:
Please submit your complete application collated on 8½" x 11" single-sided pages, using type no smaller than 11 points. Number all pages and include your organization's name on all materials. Applications may be clipped, but not stapled. No faxed or e-mailed applications will be accepted. Please mail or hand-deliver to LHC by 5 p.m., June 2, 2008 addressed to:

Conservation Treatment Grant Program
c/o  Lower Hudson Conference
2199 Saw Mill River Road
Elmsford, New York 10523

COMPLETE APPLICATIONS MUST INCLUDE:

= Application Cover Sheet (.PDF)
Completely filled in and signed, Use this one-page form provided here, print and fill it in, or re-create the information in the same order.

= A Narrative Description of the Project
addressing all the following, by number: (max. 3 pp)

1.   Describe your collections, generally.

2.   What object(s) are to be treated?

3.   What is the object's aesthetic, cultural or historical significance? How does the object proposed for conservation treatment relate to your organizational mission?

4.   What is the date of your most recent collections management policy or written conservation plan?

 What is the (brief) history of your institution's conservation activities?

5.   Have reports from Conservation Assessment Program (CAP), Museum Assessment Program (MAPII), or other conservation surveys of your collections recommended or prioritized treatment of the object(s) proposed for conservation in this application? Please note the dates of those surveys/assessments.

6.   Have recommendations from those reports been implemented, or why have they not yet been implemented?  Please attach those pages of survey or consultant's reports relevant to the object(s) proposed for conservation treatment.

7.   What is the urgency for treatment at this time?

8.   How will the proposed treatment impact the interpretation, exhibition and/or public access to your institution's collections? Long range, how will the public benefit from this project?

9.   Describe the physical environment in which the treated object(s) will be housed or exhibited. 

What provisions already exist, or are planned, for preservation-minded storage and/or exhibition of the treated object(s)?

10. What provisions will you make for the proper handling of object(s) to be treated?

What training has your curatorial, volunteer and/or maintenance staff received in conservation principles for care & handling of collections?

Note: Requests for treatment of outdoor sculpture must include the description of an on-going maintenance program already in existence, or one to be implemented, at your institution.

ATTACH THE FOLLOWING TO YOUR COVER SHEET & NARRATIVE:

= The Conservator's Condition Report
noting the object's material(s), construction, size, historical alterations, previous repairs, and the extent and severity of deterioration.

= The Conservator's Treatment Proposal and Cost Estimate
prepared within the last year, including treatment goals and an outline of proposed treatment steps, specifying materials, equipment and techniques to be used.

= The Conservator's Resume and a Letter of Commitment.
Please attach a resume (maximum 2 pp) and a letter of commitment from the conservator who supplies the treatment proposal and cost estimate. The conservator's letter of commitment to the project should be addressed to the applicant, and should acknowledge that all documents and work provided will be in accordance with the AIC Code of Ethics, Guidelines for Practice, and  Commentaries. Include resumes of any other conservation professionals who will participate in the proposed treatment. Eligible conservators may be in private practice or associated with a regional conservation lab.  Note: Conservation professionals cannot be contracted for grant work in their capacity as employees of state or federal agencies.

= The Project Budget
In 1 – 2 pages, submit a project budget incorporating the following eligible expenses:

a A professionally prepared conservation treatment estimate, consisting of direct expenses such as the conservator's or the conservation lab's fees & materials. The cost of obtaining a treatment estimate for this proposal cannot be included in this request.

a Costs of frames, supports or mounts integral to the treatment of the object(s).

a Shipping and insurance fees, and in-state travel.

Note: Matching funds are not required. However, if you expect to receive funding from other sources, or will allocate funds from your operating budget to complete this project, please indicate in a distinct budget column for income, specifying each source.

= Visual Support Material
Submit one original set of photographs or a digital CD, along with 7 photocopied sets containing at least one overall and one detail image of each object proposed for treatment. Images should show the condition problems of the object(s), and each must be labeled to identify the object and the applicant (owner) institution. Color photographs or digital color prints on 8 ½ " x 11" paper are preferred, but not required. Digital images may be submitted on CD, along with 7 sets of prints or color photocopies. Images cannot be returned.

ABOUT SELECTING A CONSERVATOR:
 Qualified conservators who provide work in accordance with the American Institute for Conservation's Code of Ethics, Guidelines for Practice, and Commentaries may be in private practice, or may be associated with a regional conservation lab.

 Conservators are concerned with many factors in preserving an object, including determining structural stability, counteracting chemical and physical deterioration, and performing conservation treatment based on an evaluation of an object's aesthetic, historic and scientific characteristics.

 Conservation professionals have considerable practical experience, a broad range of theoretical and scientific knowledge, and commitment to high standards. They may have been trained at a conservation graduate program or by lengthy apprenticeship.  Conservators usually specialize in a particular type of object such as paintings, works on paper, textiles, sculpture, furniture, rare books, archaeological, decorative or ethnographic materials. All of these object types have been represented in Conservation Treatment Grant requests and all types of expert conservators have been funded to treat New York State's cultural objects.

 The AIC suggests that institutions expect to receive the following from a professional conservator:

• Written preliminary examination report evaluating condition, proposing treatment, describing limitations of treatment and providing an estimate of the treatment cost and duration
• Notification during treatment of major changes in the proposal
• Written and, if appropriate, photographic documentation of the treatment

 RESTORATION vs CONSERVATION:
 Restoration refers to the reconstruction of the aesthetic appearance of an object. Although restoration can be one aspect of conservation, the latter encompasses much more. Conservation involves examination, scientific analysis, and research to determine original structure, materials and extent of loss. Conservation also encompasses structural and environmental treatment to retard future deterioration.

RESOURCES FOR ASSISTANCE IN FINDING A CONSERVATOR:

AIC:
Assistance in locating accredited professional conservation services, regional conservation centers and individual conservators is provided by the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC). A national membership directory identifying conservators by specialty and/or geography, "Guidelines for Selecting a Conservator," and information on professional practices and standards in conservation, are accessible online at: http://aic.stanford.edu. To contact AIC, tel: 202/ 452-9545, ext.1; fax: 202/ 452-9238, or e-mail info@aic-faic.org.

LHC:
Conservation Treatment Grant pages of www.lowerhudsonconference.org offer lists of past funded projects, by grant year, and specify the grantee, type of object treated, and the conservator who performed the treatment. Check those listings, and contact funded institutions for references to their work with individual conservators. Although LHC cannot recommend specific conservators for your project, you are encouraged to contact us by e-mail: lowerhudson@msn.com or phone: 914-592-6726 for further assistance, resources and application clarification.

Extensive information on collections conservation and preservation, help in locating appropriate conservators, and assistance in obtaining conservation treatment estimates are also available through these agencies:

Regional Alliance for Preservation (RAP)
A nationwide cooperative whose members serve cultural institutions and the public.
www.PreserveCollections.org.
RAP's eastern seaboard members include:

Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA)
Philadelphia, PA.
e-mail: ccaha@ccaha.org; www.ccaha.org

National Park Service, Division of Conservation
Harpers Ferry, WVA
e-mail: jane_merritt@nps.gov; www.nps.gov

Peebles Island Resource Center (PIRC)
Waterford, NY
NYS Bureau of Historic Sites/ NYSOPRHP
e-mail: john.lovell@oprhp.state.ny.us; www.nysparks.com

Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)
Andover, MA
Tel: 978/ 470-1010; www.nedcc.org

The Textile Conservation Workshop (TCW
South Salem, NY
Tel: 914-763-5805
e-mail: textile@bestweb.net; www.PreserveCollections.org

Williamstown Art Conservation Center (WACC)
Williamstown, MA
Tel: 413-458-5741
e-mail: wacc@williamstown.org; www.williamstown.org

and from: 

Heritage Preservation / CAP Program 
Conservation Assessment Program (CAP)
e-mail: info@heritagepreservation.org; www.heritagepreservation.org  

Image Permanence Institute, (IPI) 
Rochester Institute of Technology
e-mail:ipi@rit.edu; www.rit.edu/ipi

For related collections care grant sources:

= The Museum Program of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) offers grant support for conservation surveys, rehousing of objects, and the purchase of storage furniture. (March 1^st annual electronic application registration deadline.) For application process, program guidelines and grant information see: www.nysca.org. (212-741-7847).

= Museum conservation grant funding is available from these federal agencies: Institute of Museum & Library Services (IMLS), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Grant guidelines, information and individual application forms are available on line: www.imls.org, www.neh.gov and www.nea.gov. Note: Federal grant programs require preliminary electronic registration and application at www.grants.gov. Please plan to register well in advance of grant deadlines.

= Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) grants are administered for IMLS by Heritage Preservation. CAP guidelines and grant application deadline information are online at: www.heritagepreservation.org.   

= New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials. Preservation grant support for reformatting and rehousing of historical photographs and archival paper collections is available from the New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials (annual application deadline: December 1^st). Contact the New York State Library, Division of Library Development, 10-C-47 Cultural Education Center, Albany, NY 12230. Tel: 518-474-6971; e-mail: blilley@mail.nysed.gov.

Questions? Please contact Lower Hudson Conference (LHC) and direct questions to Executive Director Tema Harnik. Tel: 914-592-6726; Fax: 914-592-6946; or e-mail: lowerhudson@msn.com. Additional museum resource information can be found on line at www.lowerhudsonconference.org.  

2008 CONSERVATION TREATMENT

GRANT PROGRAM SCHEDULE

View Past Grant Recipients