GRAMMY Museum Grant Program 2026 (Research & Preservation)

This is not a grant for making music — it funds research about music, and the preservation of recorded sound. Two tracks run each year. The research track supports studies on how music affects people: mood, cognition and healing, music therapy with populations from infants to the elderly, early-childhood music learning, the creative process behind music, and the medical and occupational wellbeing of music professionals. The preservation track funds archiving and preservation of North America's recorded sound heritage, whether the collection is privately held or institutional; past grants have supported work at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian and a range of colleges and universities.

Both organisations and individuals in the United States can apply. Research awards go up to $20,000. Preservation splits in two: implementation grants of up to $20,000, aimed at libraries, museums and similar institutions that already hold the material and have archiving expertise on hand, and assistance grants of up to $5,000 for individuals and small to mid-sized organisations doing the planning, assessment and consultation that comes before preservation work.

The first step is a letter of inquiry rather than a full proposal, submitted through an online form. For research, the LOI asks for your research question, a methodology outline including subject numbers and control groups, the intended impact, any partners or funding already in place, a plan for disseminating findings, and short biographies of key personnel. Separate guidelines and sample LOIs are published for each track. Priority, the Museum says, goes to projects with strong methodological design and innovative research questions.