Apply for a regional museums grant

To apply for the grant your organisation must be a museum, keeping place or community art gallery that is:

• legally constituted and incorporated in the NT
• not for profit (find out more about your legal structure on the Australian Tax Office website)
• open to the public or developing travelling exhibitions to regional parts of the NT
• committed to the preservation of cultural heritage by actively conserving, researching and interpreting collections for visitors’ education and enjoyment
• submitting a project which is exclusively based in the NT
• submitting a project related to the moveable cultural heritage aspect of the organisation’s activities.

Who can't apply

The following can't apply for funding under this program:

• individuals
• state and federal government departments
• political organisations
• tertiary education institutions, schools, school councils or student groups
• organisations not registered and/or based in the NT
• organisations with outstanding government grant acquittals
• organisations not compliant with the NT Associations Act or other relevant authority
• organisations that do not meet the department’s definition of a museum, keeping place and/or community art gallery.

Examples of eligible projects include:

• exhibition, display and collection development
• development of best practice collection care policies and plans including:
  • conservation plans
  • interpretation plans
  • collection management
  • disaster preparedness plans
• employment of consultants or contractors with specialist skills and knowledge such as conservators or Traditional Owners
• digitisation of materials for preservation and access purposes
• improvement of collection and conservation management practices
• significance assessments and preservation needs assessments
• accessioning and cataloguing of museum collections which may include:
  • the purchase or leasing of office equipment
  • he purchase or leasing of computer database software
  • the employment of project specific contract curatorial staff
• storage and conservation material
• outreach work with the local community
• training and professional development for museum staff, professionals and volunteers.

What can't be funded

The following can't be funded:

• private enterprise or for profit business activities
• fundraising or charitable events
• purchases or acquisition of objects or collections
• activities that are the exclusive responsibility of other funding bodies or government agencies
• capital works or the restoration and maintenance of buildings
• projects that relate to objects which are not owned by the applicant
• establishing new museums, keeping places or community art galleries
• staff salary and wages
• utility costs such as power and water
• capital equipment or real estate purchases
• multiple applications for the same project/activity are not accepted to this program.

Organisations may apply for more than one project if the combined annual value is no more than $50,000 and all projects can be completed within one year.

You can apply on GrantsNT.

Before you submit your application you should:

• Check that all previous funding from Arts NT is acquitted.
• Speak to an arts broker to check if you are eligible.
• Include appropriate permissions, consultations, acknowledgements and communication in your application when working with Aboriginal peoples or their content, and/or when working with children. Read more on protocols at the Australia Council for the Arts website.
• Ensure that all support material uploaded to the GrantsNT website is current and compatible with Microsoft Office.
• Ensure that you have included all of the required support material.

If you have accessibility requirements

If you have accessibility needs that affect your ability to apply for a grant using the above method, you can discuss flexible application methods with an arts broker.

This may include applications by interview or by video for small grants.

Alternative application methods must be pre-approved by the senior arts broker.

To speak to an arts broker contact Arts NT.

Each grant application is assessed on its own merits and in the context of other applications, against the assessment criteria listed below.

Assessment criteria

1. Meeting the grant objectives.
2. Benefit to the museums, keeping places or community art gallery.
3. The historic, social, spiritual, cultural and/or heritage significance of the collection in addition to sound provenance and interpretive potential.
4. Effective planning, use of resources and viability of budget.
5. Capacity and skills of the key participants.
6. Demonstrated understanding of, and adherence to, appropriate protocols.

You will receive an email to let you know about the outcome of your application.

Successful applicants will receive:

• a letter of offer
• a funding agreement outlining the conditions of funding
• a fact sheet outlining funding acknowledgement requirements
• a fact sheet outlining self-acquittal where applicable
• a request for your payment details (vendor form).

The funding agreement must be signed and returned to Arts NT before your grant can be paid.

You shouldn't start any activities that are dependent on grant funding until the funding agreement is signed.

How to acquit your grant

You will need to submit an acquittal report online through GrantsNT no later than 13 weeks after your activity has finished.

The acquittal must include:

• a project report with details of key achievements as per the key performance indicators and a statistical report
• a signed income and expenditure statement for the project (for projects that receive funding of $25,000 or less in a year)
• an audited financial statement clearly identifying the funding (for projects that receive funding over $25,000 in a year)
• a report on any special conditions outlined in your funding agreement.

For further information or to discuss your proposal, contact an arts broker at Arts NT.