Conservation Assessment Program

The Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) is a program for small to mid-sized museums of all types, from art museums to zoos, that provides a broad assessment of the museum's collections, environmental conditions, and historic buildings by a conservation professional. Following the assessment, the conservation professional provides a written report recommending priorities to improve collections care. This report assists museums in developing strategies, long-range planning, and fund-raising activities to improve the care of their collections.

In addition to receiving a conservation collections assessment, museums with buildings older than 50 years are also offered an architectural assessment to identify priorities for the care of the building(s). Museums with small to mid-sized collections are most appropriate for the CAP program, which is limited to a two-day site visit. Larger museums are encouraged to contact IMLS for information on the Conservation Project Support (CPS) grant. CPS grants fund a variety of conservation projects, including general conservation surveys that can accommodate a lengthier visit by a conservation professional.

CAP is administered through a cooperative agreement between Heritage Preservation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and they have announced changes to the program for FY 2006, which will allow more museums to participate and streamline the application process. Two modifications to the eligibility requirements include the numbers of days per year a museum must be open to the public. This will change from 120 days to 90 days and a second assessment ( a re-CAP) will be available to organizations who participated in CAP prior to 1999.

Applications will be available (October 7, 2005) on the Heritage Preservation's website at http://www.heritagepreservation.org. Applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis until the postmark deadline of December 1, 2005.

It is recommended that potential applicants request a sample application to review eligibility requirements and prepare for the application process. More information and the sample application are available on the Heritage Preservation Web site at http://www.heritagepreservation.org/programs/capover.htm.

You can also receive information from Kate Marks, Conservation Assessment Program, Heritage Preservation, 1012 14th Street, NW, Suite 1200, Washington, D.C. 20005, 202-233-0800 or 202-233-0831 or kmarks@heritagepreservation.org.