21st Century Museum Professionals Program

Deadline: November 15, 2024
Application: The FY 2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) (PDF, 841KB) is now available.
Grant Amount: $100,000–$500,000
Grant Period: One to three years
Cost Share Requirement: You must provide funds from non-federal sources in an amount that is equal to or greater than the amount of your IMLS request.

Program Contact:
Mark Isaksen
Supervisory Grants Management Specialist
misaksen@imls.gov
202-653-4667

Program Overview:
The 21st Century Museum Professional (21MP) grant program supports projects that offer professional development to the current museum workforce, train and recruit future museum professionals, and identify and share effective practices in museum workforce education and training.

IMLS recognizes the important role of strong local and regional networks in providing peer-to-peer learning, training, and mentoring opportunities for the museum workforce. Partnerships among museums, museum-serving organizations, and institutions of higher education are vital to expanding career pathways for broad groups of museum professionals throughout a city, county, state, region, or the nation. The 21MP Program encourages applications from museum associations, museum studies programs at institutions of higher education, and museums that serve as essential parts of the professional learning and training environment.

We expect successful 21MP projects to:

• reflect a thorough understanding of relevant theory and effective practice in workforce training and professional development for the museum field;
• involve partnerships that build career pathways and strengthen professional networks beyond a single institution;
• employ inclusive and equitable recruitment and selection strategies to reach target audiences; and
• engage museum staff, leadership, or volunteers at any stage of career development.

Interested in learning more about this grant program? Here are a few resources to look at next:

1. View selected examples from recently funded projects posted on the Sample Applications webpage.
2. Search awarded grants to find similar projects, you can search by location or keyword.
3. Watch the informational video (below) for specific details about this grant program and the process of preparing an application.
4. Schedule a counseling call with a program officer. Find an available time on the calendar using this link.

To schedule a time to talk to Mark Isaksen, click here.

Webinars:
We invite you to view two pre-recorded webinars.

Getting Started With IMLS Museum Grants for FY 2025 is a general presentation on IMLS museum grant programs. We recommend that you view this presentation for an overview before considering a specific grant program. Click here to access the recording or to read the transcript.

FY 2025 21st Century Museum Professionals Grant Program provides detailed information about the goals of this specific grant program and how to apply. Click here to access the recording or to read the transcript.

*All grant programs are subject to the availability of funds and IMLS discretion. Deadlines are tentative.