News

Grants and awards | March 12, 2018

Kealy - Community heritage grants now open

The National Library of Australia has announced the 2018 Community Heritage Grants Program, which is providing grants of up to $15,000 to assist in the preservation of Australian cultural heritage collections that are locally held, publicly accessible and nationally significant.

The Nationals Member for Lowan, Emma Kealy MP said the program recognises that all over Australia significant traces of the nation’s history are deteriorating despite the best efforts of local communities to preserve them.

“The program is very broad and focuses on not-for-profit incorporated organisations that own or manage a collection of nationally significant material that is accessible to the general public,” Ms Kealy said.

“The Lowan electorate has a rich and diverse history with many important stories to share and preserve for future generations.

“I encourage eligible organisations from across our region to visit the website to find out more about the program and how they can apply”, she said.

Examples of organisations that are being encouraged to apply include historical societies, art galleries, community groups, regional museums and indigenous groups. Other organisations such as public libraries may also be eligible to apply.

A wide range of activities are covered by the grants including engaging a consultant to undertake a significance assessment of the collection to understand its meaning and value, followed by a preservation needs assessment to look at the physical condition of a collection and how it would be best stored and preserved.

Other activities that may be funded include:

• The purchase of archival quality storage materials
• Conservation treatments such as cleaning, boxing, framing and other protective measures
• The purchase of systems to control temperature, humidity, light and air quality
• Digitising or reformatting of original materials
• Cataloguing or collection management software.

Applications close on 7 May 2018.

Guidelines and the application form are available at nla.gov.au/chg/guidelines.

For further information or to discuss your application email [email protected] or phone 02 6262 1147.