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Grants Overview and Guidelines

FRAME’S Grant Program

FRAME supports programs at member museums in North America and France with the goal of serving FRAME’s mission to promote cultural exchange in the context of museum collaborations. FRAME’s Project Support program promotes the incubation of initiatives, exhibitions, and educational and public programs that are the result of joint interests, research, planning, or the sharing models of best practice among FRAME member museums.

Project Support is available for the following activities:

  • The development of scholarly and/or innovative exhibitions. Exhibitions can cover any topic of interest to an encyclopedic museum and are not limited to Western art.
  • The development of educational and public engagement programs.
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Pilot Programs.
  • Professional exchanges among museum staff.
  • Audience development initiatives.
  • Online programs.

Grant Guidelines

EXHIBITIONS AND CATALOGUES
Funding will support costs associated with the planning and presentation of exhibitions between two or more member museums including: research; travel for studies and/or to look at artwork and/or negotiate loans; documentation; translation; shared costs for artist commissions, such as in case of a contemporary art project; and other costs associated with the planning and research of an exhibition or of written materials, such as exhibition catalogues. Preference will be given to exhibitions that are expected to travel to FRAME museums in both France and North America.

EDUCATIONAL AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS
Funding will support the development and planning phases of educational and public programs, including programs that address issues related to Social Justice, Community Life, or Health and Wellness, which are being replicated or adapted at member museums. Funding will support research, travel, documentation or other costs associated with planning and investigation. Preference will be given to programs that include collaborations with FRAME museums in both France and North America.

DEI PILOT PROGRAMS

This pilot program addresses the dual need to reverse the lack of diversity in FRAME art museums and to reassess the traditional narratives used to interpret our collections. Grant support can be used for projects that run for a period of two months to two years. The projects should have a leveraging effect for all museums and the diverse communities they serve. Grantees are encouraged to publish the results of their work in the FRAMEworks compendium. All DEI project support proposals must include a transatlantic partnership between two or more French/American FRAME museums. To access the guidelines for DEI pilot project grants, click here.

PROFESSIONAL EXCHANGES
Funding will support up to three weeks of travel for FRAME museum professionals among member museums with the goal to meet colleagues, explore collections and observe educational programs in order to foster exchanges of professional practices or scholarly expertise. These travels shall help to implement scholarly or public projects thereafter. Funding will support transportation, hotel and per diem expenses on both sides of the Atlantic, and meeting or workshop costs, as needed. Only one professional at any given FRAME institution will receive funding per year. Professional exchanges must be between FRAME museums in both France and North America.

AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT 

Funding will support research and travel for the exploration, planning and implementation phases of audience development initiatives, including those designed for digital platforms or social media strategies that can be replicated at member museums.

ONLINE PROGRAMS

Funding will support the development of a variety of innovative online projects, including exhibitions, educational programs, lectures, gallery tours, and more, that provide remote access to the museum’s communities as well as to a global audience. Preference will be given to online programs that include a collaboration with FRAME museums in both France and North America.

For all categories above, funding from FRAME cannot support salaries, administration, or fundraising.

Pierre Bonnard, Nursemaids' Promenade, Frieze of Carriages, 1895, Color Lithograph, Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Nancy and Joseph P. Keithly
Pierre Bonnard, Nursemaids’ Promenade, Frieze of Carriages, 1895, Color Lithograph, Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Nancy and Joseph P. Keithly