The AICCM offers a limited number of $1,000 Emergency Assistance Grants to conservators working in private practice to help triage, salvage, and stabilise small public or community collections affected by natural or man-made disasters.
The funds can be used by the recipient to help cover the cost of their time, the cost of materials and supplies, or any other expenses incurred as part of disaster response and recovery work.

Eligibility requirements:

  • The applicant must be a member of AICCM.
  • The applicant must have an existing request for help from an organisation or community group.
  • The collection will be damaged or further damaged if no intervention occurs – grants are not available to treat items that are already stable.
  • The work will help a collection or group of objects, rather than individual items – though exceptions may be made for items with particular significance and/or complexity.
  • The collection involved must be public or community-based, but not a State or Federal cultural collection.
  • At this stage, grants are not available to assist with material belonging to private individuals or businesses.
  • If the demand for Emergency Assistance Grants exceeds the funds available, AICCM may preference requests from AICCM Professional Members or use other criteria to prioritise the applications received.

To apply, please complete the application form and send it to the secretariat.

If a grant is available, recipients will be asked to complete an AICCM claim for payment form. Payments then generally take a week or two to come through.

AICCM will request a short written acquittal of the grant within the following year, focusing on how it was used and providing feedback on the scheme. Receipts or evidence of expenditure will not be required.

To support the AICCM Emergency Assistance Grant program, please consider donating to the AICCM Public Fund:

To find a conservator, consult the AICCM list of professional members in private practice