GRAMMY Museum — Grants Program (2026 cycle: check back)

This is not money for making records — it is for looking after them, and for research into what music does to people. Funded by the Recording Academy, the programme has two arms. Preservation grants pay for archiving and conserving North America's recorded sound heritage, whether that is a private collection sitting in someone's garage or holdings at a university library. Research grants fund studies on music's effect on the human condition: mood, cognition and healing, the occupational health of working musicians, and the creative process itself.

Both organisations and individuals can apply. Preservation Implementation grants are aimed at institutions — libraries, museums, archives — with preservation expertise on hand and the materials already in their possession. Preservation Assistance grants are the more accessible route for individuals and smaller organisations, covering the planning, assessment and consultation that comes before preservation work proper.

Ceilings are $20,000 for research projects and for preservation implementation, and $5,000 for preservation assistance, assessment or consultation. The published pages do not state whether match funding is required, though the application asks you to list existing partners and financial support.

The first stage is a letter of intent rather than a full application: project overview, a short description covering the research question and methodology or the collection in question, how you plan to disseminate findings, and short biographies of the key people. Full guidelines and a sample LOI are published as PDFs for each strand. Priority in the research strand goes to strong methodological design and original questions.