AIM (Association of Independent Museums) has a range of grants available for collections care and conservation for their members. AIM members care for a huge and significant range of historic objects and collections. They range from fine art collections to locomotives, textiles to ships, decorative art and social and industrial history collections.
Grants for Collection Care Audits are run in partnership with Icon and enable small museums to undertake a basic 3-day collections care audit by a fully accredited conservator. The Collections Care Scheme provides grants for museums to receive specialist advice, purchase equipment, and train staff and volunteers. The Remedial Conservation Scheme provides grants for the conservation of objects from the museum’s permanent collection. Grants are £1,100 plus travel and VAT (if applicable) to cover the cost of a fully accredited conservator undertaking a three-day audit. These grants are a good starting point before making an application to the Collections Care or Remedial Conservation schemes if your museum has not previously had a professional conservation advice.
To be eligible for a collections care audit, your museum should:
- Be an AIM member.
- Be an Accredited Museum or awarded ‘Working Towards’ status.
- Be a registered charity. An associated charity can receive the grant on the museum’s behalf if the museum itself is not a charity.
- Have fewer than 20,000 visitors p.a. Please base your visitor figures on the visitors you have in an average year pre-2020 not those affected by Coronavirus and restrictions.
- Application to this scheme does not prevent museums applying to the Pilgrim Trust for other, unrelated projects.
The full guidance and eligibility criteria is included on the application form. Click here for the collections care audit application form>>
Industrial Heritage Networks 