IHBC members working in the fields of industrial heritage and museums will be interested to know that the Arts Council England (ACE) has announced the opening of its PRISM fund, which can fund conservation of items relating to science, technology and engineering.
Arts Council England (ACE) writes:
The PRISM Fund, which helps to support the acquisition and conservation of heritage objects from the fields of science, technology, industry and medicine, has just reopened for applications.
The fund was established in 1973 in response to the growing concern that technological change was resulting in the loss of much of Britain’s industrial heritage. It has since gone on to help hundreds of non-national museums and preservation groups in England and Wales acquire or conserve thousands of objects of industrial or scientific importance. All fields of science and industry are eligible, including natural history, medicine, engineering and geology.
The maximum grant amount for projects is £20,000, with a match funding requirement of at least 10%. PRISM is open to museums, archives and charitable groups in England and Wales and supports a huge range of objects, including medical instruments, boats, steam engines, archives, trams agricultural equipment and more.
Applicants to the PRISM Fund do not have to be Accredited organisations but they do need to have charitable purposes and exist for the public benefit. Rather than funding on-going maintenance costs we support specific projects; and we are particularly mindful of the long-term sustainability of access and care to the object.
PRISM is a rolling fund and has no deadlines
A parallel fund for the purchase of objects relating to the arts, literature and history is administered by the Victoria and Albert Museum. Corresponding schemes are administered in Scotland and Northern Ireland by National Museums of Scotland and the Northern Ireland Museums Council respectively.
