Kress Foundation: Grants
Overview
Grants are awarded to institutions only.
Kress Foundation grants are concentrated on projects and programs that promote the understanding and enjoyment of European art and architecture, especially in relation to its historical context.
Grants are awarded to projects that create and disseminate specialized knowledge, including archival projects, development and dissemination of scholarly databases, documentation projects, museum exhibitions and publications, photographic campaigns, scholarly catalogues and publications, and technical and scientific studies.
Grants are also awarded for activities that permit art historians to share their expertise through international exchanges, professional meetings, conferences, symposia, consultations, the presentation of research, and other professional events.
History of Art
The History of Art Grants program supports scholarly projects that will enhance the appreciation and understanding of European works of art and architecture from antiquity to the early 19th century. Grants are awarded to projects that create and disseminate specialized knowledge, including archival projects, development and dissemination of scholarly databases, documentation projects, museum exhibitions and publications, photographic campaigns, scholarly catalogues and publications, and technical and scientific studies.
Grants are also awarded for activities that permit art historians to share their expertise through international exchanges, professional meetings, conferences, symposia, consultations, the presentation of research, and other professional events.
Eligibility
Grants are awarded to non-profit institutions that have 501(c)3 status in the United States, which includes supporting foundations of European institutions and foreign institutions that have obtained recognition of exemption from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The project being pursued can be the work of a single individual or a team affiliated with the organization applying for support, but the Foundation does not pay grants directly to individuals.
This grant program does not typically support the documentation (cataloging, photography, research and publication) of the object collections of individual art museums.
International applicants must identify a U.S. non-profit as the fiscal sponsor for their proposal, and provide a copy of that organization’s IRS Determination Letter to confirm its 501(c) 3 status.
This fiscal sponsor must also confirm, in a letter to the Foundation, that they have independently vetted the proposed project, approved it as appropriate to their mission and are therefore willing to accept and administer full or partial funding, if awarded, without taking any overhead or indirect expenses from the grant. For more information, see the “Add a Fiscal Sponsor” section of the Letter of Inquiry Portal Guide.
These are competitive grants. Please see the Past Grants page and their Annual Reports for past awards and typical levels of funding and review the Grants FAQs for answers to common application questions about project eligibility.
Conservation
The Conservation Grants program supports the professional practice of art conservation, especially as it relates to European works of art from antiquity to the early 19th century. Grants are awarded to projects that create and disseminate specialized knowledge, including archival projects, development and dissemination of scholarly databases, documentation projects, exhibitions and publications focusing on art conservation, scholarly publications, and technical and scientific studies.
Grants are also awarded for activities that permit conservators and conservation scientists to share their expertise with both professional colleagues and a broad audience through international exchanges, professional meetings, conferences, symposia, consultations, the presentation of research, exhibitions that include a prominent focus on materials and techniques, and other professional events.
Eligibility
Grants are awarded to non-profit institutions that have 501(c)3 status in the United States, which includes supporting foundations of European institutions and foreign institutions that have obtained recognition of exemption from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The project being pursued can be the work of a single individual or a team affiliated with the organization applying for support, but the Foundation does not pay grants directly to individuals.
Support for conservation treatments is generally limited to works from the distributed Kress Collection, and is typically coordinated through the Kress Program in Paintings Conservation at the Conservation Center of the New York University Institute of Fine Arts.
These are competitive grants. Please see the Past Grants page and their Annual Reports for past awards and typical levels of funding and review the Grants FAQs for answers to common application questions about project eligibility.
Digital Art History
The Digital Art History Grants program is intended to foster new forms of research and collaboration as well as new approaches to teaching and learning. Support may also be offered for the digitization of important visual resources (especially essential art history photographic archives) in the area of pre-modern European art history; of primary textual sources (especially the literary and documentary sources of European art history); for promising initiatives in online publishing; and for innovative experiments in the field of digital art history.
Eligibility
Grants are awarded to non-profit institutions that have 501(c)3 status in the United States, which includes supporting foundations of European institutions and foreign institutions that have obtained recognition of exemption from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The project being pursued can be the work of a single individual or a team affiliated with the organization applying for support, but the Foundation does not pay grants directly to individuals.
This grant program does not typically support the digitization of museum object collections.
These are competitive grants. Please see the Past Grants page and their Annual Reports for past awards and typical levels of funding and review the Grants FAQs for answers to common application questions about project eligibility.