As a result of the National Recording Preservation Plan's focus on the nation's audio heritage, both federal and private funders have made grant funds available for caring for and reformatting these significant collections, which are often unique recordings in deteriorating condition.
Several of these grants will also be included in our other Funding Sources pages, but for your convenience, we have gathered the sources for working with audio collections here.
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Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)
Washington, DC
www.clir.org
Grant amounts: $10,000 to $50,000
ELIGIBLE GRANT ACTIVITIES:
Digitization of audio and/or audiovisual materials
Learn More
Recordings at Risk is a national regranting program administered by CLIR to support the preservation of rare and unique audio and audiovisual content of high scholarly value through digital reformatting.
Audio and audiovisual recordings document vital, irreplaceable aspects of twentieth and twenty-first century life, but if the current generation of professionals fails to act, vast amounts of this history will be lost. Digital reformatting is currently the best available solution for ensuring the survival and utility of recorded content stored on fragile or obsolete media such as magnetic tape, grooved discs, cylinders, or film.
Open Competitions: Audio and/or Audiovisual Media
Recordings at Risk encourages professionals who may be constrained by limited resources and/or technical expertise to take action against the threats of degradation and obsolescence. The program aims to help institutions identify priorities and develop practical strategies for digital reformatting, build relationships with partners, and raise awareness of best practices.
Awards from the open competitions will range from $10,000 to $50,000 and will cover costs of preservation reformatting for audio and/or audiovisual content by eligible institutions working independently or with qualified service providers.
CLIR’s review panelists will assess:
- the potential scholarly and public impact of proposed projects
- the urgency of undertaking the reformatting to avoid risk of loss
- the viability of applicants’ plans for long-term preservation
- the overall cost-effectiveness of the proposals
For Complete Information and Guidelines, visit CLIR Recordings at Risk
Interested in working with NEDCC
on a CLIR Recordings at Risk grant project?
Contact:
Bryce Roe, NEDCC Director of Audio Preservation Services
978-470-1010 ext. 237
Grant Amounts: US organizations and US-led partnerships may request any amount between $50,000 and $350,000 (USD)
Canadian organizations and Canada-led partnerships may request any amount between $50,000 and $350,000 (CAD)
ELIGIBLE GRANT ACTIVITIES:
Digitization
Learn More
Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices is a national grant competition administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) for digitizing rare and unique content stewarded by collecting organizations in the US and Canada.
In 2021, the call for applications will focus on projects that propose to digitize materials that deepen public understanding of the histories of people of color and other communities and populations whose work, experiences, and perspectives have been insufficiently recognized or unattended.
These often “hidden” histories include, but are not necessarily limited to, those of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other People of Color; Women; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Non-binary, and other Genderqueer people and communities; Immigrants; Displaced populations; Blind, Deaf, and Disabled people and communities; and Colonized, Disenfranchised, Enslaved, and Incarcerated people.
The program is generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Eligible Formats
This program supports the digitization of rare and unique historical and cultural materials in a variety of formats and the creation and promotion of online access to those materials. Any expenditures of program funds must be directly related to these purposes. The range of media that can be termed special collections or archives is not restricted. Increasingly, valuable collections are composed of many formats, from paper, moving images on film or video, all types of sound recordings, ephemera, specimens, electronic files or data sets, works of art, to myriad types of artifacts.
What does "Hidden" mean?
For the purposes of this program, applicants must convincingly argue that their materials are “hidden” in the sense that they cannot have a meaningful impact on public understanding of people, communities, and populations whose work, experiences, and perspectives have been insufficiently recognized or attended in the past until those materials are digitized, discoverable, and accessible in ethical, respectful, and legal ways.
For complete grant information and eligibility requirements:
See the Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices APPLICANT HANDBOOK.
QUESTIONS?
For questions which are not answered in the application guidelines, which includes a handy fill-in form for your draft application, contact CLIR program staff at [email protected]. During the application period, CLIR accepts inquiries by e-mail only; no phone calls, please.
National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)
Grant Amount: Up to $100,000 for one or two-year projects
ELIGIBLE GRANT ACTIVITIES INCLUDE:
All types of historical records are eligible, including documents, photographs, born-digital records, and analog audio and moving images. Projects may preserve and process historical records to:
- Create new online Finding Aids to collections
- Digitize historical records collections and make them freely available online
Learn More
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission seeks projects that ensure online public discovery and use of historical records collections. The Commission is especially interested in collections of America’s early legal records, such as the records of colonial, territorial, county, and early statehood and tribal proceedings that document the evolution of the nation’s legal history.
ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS INCLUDE:
- U.S. nonprofit organizations or institutions
- U.S. colleges, universities, and other academic institutions
- State or local government agencies
- Federally-acknowledged or state-recognized Native American tribes or groups
QUESTIONS about the grant?
Contact:
Nancy Melley
Director for Technology Initiatives
NHPRC
202-357-5101
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
Division of Preservation and Access
www.neh.gov
Grant amount: up to $350,000 for Implementation Projects
ELIGIBLE GRANT ACTIVITIES:
- Planning
- Assessments
- Digitization
- Rehousing
- Conservation treatment leading to enhanced access
Learn More
Program Overview:
The NEH Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program supports projects that provide an essential underpinning for scholarship, education, and public programming in the humanities. Funding from this program strengthens efforts to extend the life of collections materials and make their intellectual content widely accessible. Awards are also made to create various reference resources that facilitate the use of cultural materials. Applicants may request support for implementing preservation measures, such as digitization; preserving and improving access to born-digital sources; rehousing; and conservation treatment for collections, leading to enhanced access.
The grants could also support digital reformatting of analog sound recordings, such as those appropriate for the IRENE3/D technology, as well as initial planning and prototyping activity that might be important in certain cases, in order to establish a clear blueprint for full implementation.
NEH HCRR Foundations Grant Category
To help in the formative stages of initiatives to preserve and create access to humanities collections or to produce reference resources, grants of up to $50,000 will support planning, assessment, and pilot activities that incorporate expertise from a mix of professional domains. These projects might encompass efforts to prepare for establishing intellectual control of collections, to solidify collaborative frameworks and strategic plans for complex digital reference resources, or to produce preliminary versions of online collections or resources.
Match: Not required, but in most cases, grants in this program cover no more than 80% of project costs for Foundations projects, and no more than 50-67% of project costs for Implementation projects.
Complete guidelines
QUESTIONS about the grant?
Contact NEH's Division of Preservation and Access at:
(202) 606-8570 or [email protected]
Grammy Museum
Los Angeles, CA
Grant amounts:
Preservation Assistance: Up to $5,000
Preservation Implementation: Up to $20,000
ELIGIBLE GRANT ACTIVITIES:
Museum grants are offered for:
- Preservation Implementation
- Preservation Assistance, Assessment, and/or Consultation
- Scientific Research
Learn More
The GRAMMY Museum is now accepting Letters of Inquiry for their 2021 grant cycle. With funding generously provided by the Recording Academy®, the GRAMMY Museum Grant Program awards grants each year to organizations and individuals for audio preservation projects, as well as scientific research efforts. The program’s aim is to advance the archiving of the recorded sound heritage of the Americas and to explore the impact of music on the human condition.
Grant funds have been utilized to preserve private collections as well as materials at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian and numerous colleges and universities. Research projects have studied the links between music and early childhood education, treatments for illnesses and injuries common to musicians, and the impact of music therapy. To date, more than $7 million in grants have been awarded to over 400 recipients.
Preservation Projects
The GRAMMY Museum Grant Program awards grants to organizations and individuals to support efforts that advance the archiving and preservation of the music and recorded sound heritage of North America.
The Preservation area has two funding categories. To determine under which category of preservation grant you should apply, please click here.
A. Preservation Implementation: $20,000 Maximum Award
B. Assistance, Assessment, and/or Consultation: $5,000 Maximum Award
ELIGIBLE GRANT ACTIVITIES INCLUDE:
- Preservation of original, pre-existing media and source material.
- Preservation projects which follow the recommended methodology
- Projects of historical, artistic, cultural and/or national significance
- Archiving projects including the rescue, organization of and access to pre-existing media and materials
Complete Guidelines for Preservation Projects
More Information about Grammy Museum Grants
The National Recording Preservation Foundation (NRPF)
The National Recording Preservation Foundation offers grants to non-profit archives, libraries, museums, universities and other entities engaged in the preservation of audio materials that demonstrate cultural or historical importance and are held within the United States of America.
ELIGIBLE GRANT ACTIVITIES:
- Preservation and/or archiving
- digitization
- collection appraisal and planning
- material or professional conservation
- creation of means for public and or research access to collections
FOR MORE INFORMATION, write to NRPF at [email protected].
Put in the subject line: Request for Grant Application Details. They will send by return email full information on how to apply.
New York State Library
Division of Library Development
Albany, NY
The purposes of the Conservation/Preservation program are to encourage the proper care and accessibility of research materials, to promote the use and development of guidelines and technical standards for conservation/preservation work, and to support the growth of local and cooperative activities within the context of emerging national preservation programs.
ELIGIBLE GRANT ACTIVITIES
The Discretionary Grant Program supports the preservation of library research materials with significant research value. As defined in the Commissioner's Regulations, library research materials mean informational materials in print, non-print, manuscript or any other format or medium. Eligible materials may therefore include books, journals, newspapers, documents, photographic prints and negatives, sound recordings, maps, architectural drawings, and other materials whose primary value is informational.
Complete 2021-2022 information and guidelines
