I heartily encourage all small to mid-sized museums and historic sites to apply for a Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) grant.  If you have already had a CAP, you can re-apply if it has been 7 or more years.  The CAP allows a collections conservator (and if you have an historic building, a preservation architect) to comprehensively evaluate the preservation needs of your collections and building.  The CAP report prepared by the assessor(s) is the primary supporting documentation for preservation improvement grants, such as IMLS's Conservation Project Support (CP) grants.  For example, I have worked with one local historic site to obtain more than $500,000 in multiple IMLS CP grants with $0 cash used for the match.  However, none of this would have been possible without their Conservation Assessment in place, as their applications would have been turned down.

The CAP grant requires only a tiny match, totaling a few hundred dollars for most institutions.  It is about as close to free money as possible in the Federal grant world.  Awards are first-come, first-served.  They are NOT competitive.  If you meet the program criteria and complete the rather simple application, you will be awarded a grant as long as funds are still available.

Please fill out an application for this important grant at your earliest convenience, as there is no way of knowing when the funds will run out.  Applications will be available in October at the following link.

http://www.heritagepreservation.org/cap/

Feel free to contact me by email if you have any questions about the CAP program.   I have conducted more than 60 CAPs for many different types of institutions in many different geographic areas and have a significant amount of first-hand knowledge.  

Marc

American Conservation Consortium, Ltd.
     4 Rockville Road
     Broad Brook, CT 06016
     www.conservator.com 

Marc A. Williams, President
     MS in Art Conservation, Winterthur Museum Program
     Former Chief Wooden Object Conservator, Smithsonian Institution
     Fellow, American Institute for Conservation (AIC)

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