Museums Empowered: Professional Development Opportunities for Museum Staff

Grants starting at $5,000 to USA and territories nonprofit organizations and agencies for professional development of museum staff. Applicants are advised that required registrations may take several weeks to complete. Funding is intended to improve the ability of a museum to serve the public through professional development activities that cross-cut various departments to generate systemic change within the museum.

As centers of innovation and discovery, as well as catalysts of community revitalization, museums are at the forefront of change in our communities. Like any other institution, museums need to remain dynamic to respond to fast-evolving technological advances and changing demographics. Museums also need to generate and share outcomes-based data and demonstrate results of their community impact efforts. In addition, they need to develop sustainable organizational structures and strategies for continued growth and vitality. Professional development is critical for museums to deliver on these areas of need.

IMLS encourages applicants to invest in the professional development of museum staff, leadership, and volunteers to enhance their skills and ensure the highest standards in all aspects of museum operations. This includes, but is not limited to, creating opportunities to encourage a more inclusive and diverse museum professional and volunteer workforce, and building the skills of museum staff at all levels with emphasis on the development of the next generation of museum professionals.

To support and empower museums of all sizes and disciplines in responding to the evolving needs of the museum profession and changes in their communities, this MFA special initiative has four project categories for professional development:

• Digital Technology: For museum staff to fully explore, understand, adopt, and optimize the use of digital technology in museums
• Diversity and Inclusion: For museum staff to develop cultural competency and support museum relevancy in their communities
• Evaluation: To expand museum staff’s capacity in conducting formative and summative evaluation of programs, practices, and products that can help the museum yield indicators and measurable outcomes
• Organizational Management: For museum staff to learn best practices in organizational management, strategic thinking, innovation, and managing change

Potential projects will address one of these four project categories and help strengthen the ability of an individual museum to better serve its public. Projects will utilize comprehensive strategies and frameworks to support professional development. Projects should cross-cut various departments and result in systemic change within the museum.

Special interests can be found at https://www.imls.gov/sites/default/files/fy20-oms-me-nofo.pdf#page=4.

A detailed description of the project categories can be found at https://www.imls.gov/sites/default/files/fy20-oms-me-nofo.pdf#page=6.