Audio Preservation Grants Webinar

Jesse Johnston: Hi again, everyone. I know a few more folks have joined us from the waiting room and we’re just gonna get started in about 30 seconds. Uh And uh welcome to everybody. Ok. So I think we’re about ready to go. Um Allison, are we good to go with the recording and all of that?

Allison Schein: We are.

Jesse Johnston: Ok, great. Ok. Well, um I will start off and then um we’ll introduce our co-host and our presenters. Um First of all, uh welcome. And um we’re really happy to see um a very um healthy interest in this webinar. Um There’s over 100 people on the waiting list and it looks like we have at least over 50 who are here. So, um it’s really great to see you all. Um My name is Jesse Johnston and I’m representing the National Recording Preservation Foundation, um which is a nonprofit uh that works to promote and preserve audio collections. Um And I’m also representing the University of Michigan School of Information, which is um my day job where I’m a clinical assistant professor in the School of Information. So I’ll be co-hosting the webinar today. And um since we set up the Zoom through the University of Michigan Zoom instance. Um I will also be trying to handle as many technical issues that may come up as well.

Allison Schein: And I’m Allison Schein representing the Radio Preservation Task Force. Uh I am another co-host with the webinar along with Jesse. And we’d like to welcome you to this uh webinar “Audio Projects and Ways to Fund Them,” a topic that we feel is very important and very near and dear to all of our hearts.

Jesse Johnston: Definitely. Um So just a few logistical things as we get going. Um So please feel free to use the um video if you are comfortable sharing your screen or uh video camera. Um But do keep in mind that we are going to be recording the first um part and there is a chance that Zoom will capture any video streams that are part of the Zoom. Um Also please stay on mute uh during the presentations. Um There will be a chance for Q and A later and um you’re welcome to unmute or to post questions. Um If you do have any technical difficulties, please send me, send me a direct message or Allison, a direct message in the chat or um our emails are also here on the slide and um I’ll share that to chat as well. Um We do have some structured presentations that we’ll start off with. So if you have a question that you’d like to share, please use the Q and A feature that should be um available to you. So if you put a question there, while people are speaking, we can save it for the end um or you can save it and unmute later. Um And finally, uh as I said before, we’re, we are recording the first part of the session um with permission from the presenters. So please note that any video or audio that is shared during the recording may be recorded. Um OK, so um all of that out of the way.

Jesse Johnston: I again, I’m really happy to welcome you all. Um And I’m very happy we’ll introduce shortly our speakers um Erin Barson from IMLS Sharon Burney from CLIR, and Josh Sternfeld from NEH. um Just as a little bit of background. This webinar is the first one that the NRPF hosting uh and co-hosting with the Radio Preservation Task Force. So it is real, a real privilege to welcome you all. And um we really appreciate our guests sharing their time and uh insights uh with all of us.

Allison Schein: And for those of you not familiar with the Radio Preservation Task Force, the RPTF seeks seeks to support collaboration between faculty researchers and archivists towards the preservation of radio history. Develop an online resource of radio collections, identify and save endangered collections. Just to mention a few of our goals. We are born out of the Library of Congress’s National Recording Preservation Plan, and this webinar is co-sponsored by the Education Division.

Jesse Johnston: And, um, I’ll tell you a little bit about the NRPF. Uh So some of you may be familiar with the NRPF. It’s the National Recording Preservation Foundation, but we’ve been relatively quiet for the past few years. Um However, as of January of this year, the librarian of Congress appointed a new slate of directors for the foundation. Um, and we’re working to revise and make the foundation a little more active again. Um We are still pursuing the same mission which is to promote and preserve the preservation of significant at risk historical sound recordings of all types and genres. Um I was appointed as executive director in January and um we have a board of seven other directors um who are sort of in charge of the foundation and it’s our priority uh alongside uh kind of reviving the foundation um for it to act as a community catalyst. Um And we hope that we can do that in concert with groups like the RPTF and offer some useful capacity-building opportunities to the audio community around things like grant application and grant support, um which is what brings us together today. Um I will say as a caveat NRPF is not currently offering any active grant programs, but we may have some announcements uh later in the year. So please stay tuned to our website. I’ll share that in a follow up email. Um But for now, we want to move on to our formal program.

Allison Schein: Yes, so great. Thank you. And we’re so excited that the uh NRPF has come back to life. We’re excited to see what they do in the future. All right, we have three speakers who will each speak for about 10 minutes. Then there will be time for moderated questions and last a chance to move out into breakout groups, if you have questions for a specific funder. First, we’ll hear from Erin from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Um Erin, please take it away.

Erin Barsan: Absolutely. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. Um My name is Erin Barsan. I am a senior program officer at the Institute of Museum and Library Services. I am going to quickly share my screen. Um There we go. All right. Wonderful. Um So as I said, I’m a senior program officer at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, also known as IMLS. Um And I my portfolio deals mainly with archives and special collections as well as digital stewardship. So, um audio preservation is very much in my wheelhouse here. Um And so I’m quickly just going to give any of you who maybe are not familiar just a quick intro to IMLS. Uh then the funding opportunities we have for libraries and archives. Um And then if I have time, I even have a few practical, quick tips for applying um which I could also save ’til the end if need be and then I’ll end my section with how to get in touch with us. Um And I’m also happy to provide a copy of the slides after the meeting for anyone if you’re interested. I’m happy to send it along to the hosts. Um I will also just note that I’m uh at a conference currently, so I’m working off two computers.

Erin Barsan: So if it looks like I’m jumping from screen to screen, it’s because I am. Uh ok. So, uh so the Institute of Museum and Library Services or IMLS is an independent grant-making agency and the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. Uh IMLS helps ensure that all Americans have access to museum and library services across the country and in every geographic corner. uh As a federal agency that administers discretionary programs, uh IMLS is funded through the annual federal appropriations process. Uh You can see here from, uh this is the most recent information on our website. Um But the majority of funds for our agency are distributed directly to um state library administrative agencies under the grants to states program that’s on, on the screen, on the far left. Those funds are then redistributed by the policies and procedures of each state. Um So if you work in a public library or any library, you’re interested in learning more about the way your state delivers these funds. Um Please take a look at our website under the grants to state section. Um And then, and there you can find the five-year plan of your state library. Um Every state administers their funds differently. Some use those funds for re-granting. Um So you can see these five-year plans and kind of get a sense of whether you might want to contact your state library to learn more about potential funding opportunities for your institution um via those state library funds. Um And then second, from the left on the screen are the grants programs administered by the Office of Library Services, which is where I uh sit. Um And these represent really the majority of what I’m going to be covering here today.

Erin Barsan: Uh So let’s go over the most relevant funding opportunities specifically to the Radio Preservation and National uh Preservation Recording Foundation. I probably got that wrong, but let’s go to the most relevant funding opportunities for your communities um which are the two main discretionary programs that we have here for libraries and archives. Uh So the first is the National Leadership Grants for Libraries program, um which we refer to as NLG for short. Um And so this grant program really supports projects that address significant challenges and opportunities facing the library and archives fields and that have the potential to advance library and archives practice. Uh The second of the two programs I’m covering today would be the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian program, which we call LB21. Um And this one is less about collections. It’s really uh supporting projects that help support education, training and retention of a diverse workforce. Um So, this can include introducing potential members of the field from as early as say middle school or through high school through undergrad graduate students in library and information science programs, early career faculty all the way through supporting the ongoing training and retention of faculty and prac practitioners in the field. Um So grants in this area would be, it would be less about maybe preserving collections and more about professional development for staff or inspiring more people to take an interest in audio preservation while they’re at library school or, or things like that. Um In fact, my first salary position in the field was actually through an LB21 funded program called the National Digital Stewardship Residency. So I’m forever grateful to uh the LB21 program.

Erin Barsan: So no matter which of the two library programs you might be interested in Um there are some key things to keep in mind when developing a proposal. Um so successful NLG and LB21 projects both address key needs, high-priority gaps, and challenges that face libraries or archives. Um They’re timely and address a critical emergent issue facing libraries and archives. They involve key stakeholders and partners that are would be necessary to ensure that it can succeed and have far-reaching impact from a variety of domains and sectors, and they articulate a thorough understanding of current theory and practice.

Erin Barsan: Just to give you a better sense of the scale, here are the minimum and maximum dollar amounts uh you may request in both programs currently. Um And these are based on the funding category. So there is as you can see some flexibility within the funding levels. Um But we always say, keep in mind that we have limited funding for both of our programs and they’re highly competitive. Um So we fund very, very few million-dollar projects. I think I only know of one in the past couple of years. Um So there really is a value proposition that comes into play. The higher amount that you’re asking for, the more compelling your case must be for how your work will impact the entire field and really represent a significant return on investment. Um And the the notices of funding opportunity or no NOFOS also spell out these funding caps, along with any cost share requirements.

Erin Barsan: Um So the NLG and LB21 programs have four funding categories to choose from as you saw. Um So planning grants are for preliminary project activities. So many people think about these as planning for say, a larger grant. Um but that’s not actually a requirement. Um Planning activities can include conducting preliminary research, conducting an environmental scan, rapidly prototyping a new program or service or working on creating partnerships to support larger future activities. Forum grants are for convening experts and stakeholders around an issue of national significance. Um This could be to support one large meeting or several meetings focused on a particular area to establish a shared agenda or framework. Uh Implementation grants and Applied Research grants support project implementation or development activities, as well as investigating key research questions in library and archives practice. Um And then one that’s not listed here, it’s it falls under the umbrella of Applied Research is the Early Career Research Development grants that we offer only in the LB21 program. So if your institution has a School of Library and Information Science, um this grant specifically supports the research of tenure track faculty in those programs.

Erin Barsan: Just quick note about cost share. It’s not considered in the review of applications, but it is an eligibility criterion. Um So generally a 1 to 1 cost share is required for both programs. With a few exceptions. Applicants in the Applied Research funding category and those requesting under $250,000. So $249,999 or less um are exempt from this requirement. Uh Additionally, LB21 applicants are not required to cost share funds budgeted for what is what we call student support um which you can read more about in our notices of funding opportunity, what the definition of that means. Um And then one last thing to note would be um Remember that if a cost is unallowable for IMLS funds, it’s also unallowable for cost share. Um Meaning for instance, our, um, appropriations prohibit our funds going to construction. So if you wanted to, you know, cost share, some construction funds that actually wouldn’t be allowed.

Erin Barsan: Um So these are some important dates that you need to be aware of during the application cycle. As you can see, these are from fiscal year 23. Um uh But you know, we anticipate the timing is pretty similar the past few years, and we anticipate it to be relatively similar this coming year, fiscal year 25. Um So the first thing I’d like to highlight is the optional draft deadline. Um I highly encourage applicants to take advantage of that. Um It’s not something that is super well published on our website. Um So in order to know, really keep an eye on the notice of funding opportunity and contact any of the program officers at IMLS, and they can let you know when that draft deadline is. Um Then you may also notice that currently our grant cycle is two phases. So, first applicants submit preliminary two-page narrative proposals in the fall and then those go through peer review, and then some of those preliminary proposals, roughly about half um are then invited to submit full 10-page narrative proposals the following spring. Um So for instance, we are currently in fiscal year 24 and we just got in the 10-page proposals for all the invited um applicants uh just a couple of weeks ago. Um And whenever you’re thinking about applying, you definitely want to read through the notice of funding opportunity um for that program to carefully ensure that you’re meeting eligibility criteria and have fulfilled all those application requirements. Speaking of which, um so speaking of the notice of funding opportunities or NOFOS for short, uh our next funding cycle which will be fiscal year 25, Uh the NOFOS will be out this summer in early July. Um And the best way to be notified the minute that they’re public is to subscribe to our newsletter, which you can uh do via the URL here on the screen. Um I’m making a point of mentioning this now because although the NOFOS are still in development, you can expect some bigger changes this year related to both equity and access. Um This includes taking an approach that could create more opportunities for different scales of projects rather than just large scale projects which are often kind of associated with NLG. I mean, we’re really, really excited about these changes, and that’s all I’m allowed to say currently. Um And then the other piece is that we’re really trying to simplify the application process and guidance overall. So um there are some other changes uh just in terms of what’s required and things. So really, I encourage everyone, even if you’ve applied to IMLS in the past few years to definitely take a look over those new NOFOS closely once they become public. Um And again, the best way to know when they become public is by signing up for a newsletter.

Erin Barsan: So let’s see. I think I’m running out of time. So I’m just gonna quickly mention a couple of things. Um The first is one of the best ways to get a sense of the kind of proposals we’re getting in is to peer review. We are always looking for peer reviewers. Um The success of our grant programs really depend on the quality of the peer review process. Um In each year, hundreds of experts throughout the nation serve as peer reviewers. Um We’re about to be looking for peer reviewers for this round this uh spring. So if you’re interested, definitely go to the website, there’s um two categories, one for museums, one for libraries. So um definitely uh on the library side, we’re looking for museums right now. So it would be if you’re interested in potentially submitting a project next year, this would be a great opportunity to kind of get a sense of what the reviewers are looking for and the kinds of the scale of projects that we’re getting in. Um We also have on our website, a search awarded grants page. Um And this is another great place to find out more information on our grant programs. Um And you can kind of explore the archive of grants that we have awarded in past years. Um So you can do it using a variety of criteria like grant program, name, institution, name, keyword. I will warn you, it’s not the greatest search functionality at the moment, we’re working on it. Um But um you can search that and get um, and then you will be able to pull up a brief description of the project. And, in with most of the projects we’ve avoided since about 2019, you’ll actually be able to find links to the actual PDFs of both the preliminary and full proposal narratives um, which can be extremely helpful as you’re putting ideas together for your own project. Um And the other links up here on the screen would be just our website and then where you can go to find the notices of funding opportunity. Um So I will also quickly just skip through these application tips, happy to talk more about them during the Q and A.

Erin Barsan: Um But I’ll wrap up by just mentioning. Um I think I’ve already said it a few times, but program staff are available to assist with any questions you have about the proposal process um to discuss your project ideas with you even to look over as I mentioned the draft of your proposal. Um Here are some topical areas reflected in each program, officer’s expertise, and funding portfolio. Most of you would likely fall into my portfolio. So please do email me. Um And it’s not a comprehensive list here. So, if you have a project that you feel like maybe falls between two categories, certainly reach out to anyone on this list. We’re a very close tight-knit team. So we’d be happy to make sure you’re, you’re speaking with the person who has the best expertise to evaluate your project idea. Um So with that, I will say thank you for having me. Um look, looking forward to the Q and A and looking forward to hopefully hearing from some of you soon.

Allison Schein: Great. Thank you so much, Erin. That was very, very helpful. Next up, we have Sharon from the Council of Library and Information Resources. Sharon. Please join us.

Sharon Burney: Thank you. Let me share my screen. Mm There you go. Ok, so um good afternoon. My name is Sharon Burney, and I’m a program officer for the Council on Library Information Resources uh we fondly refer to as CLIR. uh Our work is accomplished by a relatively small team of geographically distributed individuals across uh the United States, but the greatest concentration living in the DC area. The grants team is made up of me, Alyson Pope, Jada Wright-Greene, Jane Larson, and supervised by Louisa Kwasigroch. Um Together we administer our two active re-granting programs from application to final report. Um We have two re-granting programs uh that I’m going to refer to today, and they are generously supported by funds from the Mellon Foundation. Our current cycle of uh 11, of Recordings at Risk Grant application is open until April 17th of this year. And we will have another opening for Recordings at Risk. Um On January 15th, 2025. The QR code will take you to our home page for the, the Recordings at Risk. Recordings at Risk was uh created from a recognition that there are unique challenges facing those performing audio and audio-vis visual digitization and description. And one of the first and biggest of these is that much AV content is at high risk of being lost due to physical de degradation and changing environmental conditions. And as the materials disappear, so does cultural history. A second major challenge is that specialized training is often necessary to address description, storage, and maintenance needs for these materials which um you know, and some staff may not possess. Third storage costs post digitization can be prohibitive. Organizations may not have the digit, the existing digital infrastructure to store and maintain the preservation, copies, production copies, and access copies of the materials. And one of the final challenges that we uh recognized was the often tricky intellectual property situations surrounding AV content.

Sharon Burney: So, all of the projects that have been funded through the Recordings at Risk have had to go through some, if not all, of these challenges. And through the program CLIR aims to help organizations identify priorities for digital reformatting, build relationships with partners, raise awareness of best practices, and develop practical strategies for addressing all of them. To date, CLIR has completed ten award cycles for Recordings at Risk. Funding a total of 164 projects involving more than 142 unique institutions and awarding over $5.1 million dollars. Recording at Risk projects are one year and the awards range from $10,000 to $50,000.

Sharon Burney: So, in light of the challenges that are unique to AV collections, Recording at Risk program was developed with 4, 4 primary um assessment criterias. Impact. So, urgency, potential for preservation, and approach to a access. The impact we’re um doing a criteria on the potential scholarly and public impact of the project. The urgency would address the urgency of undertaking the reformatting to avoid risk of loss, the potential for preservation. We wanna understand the viability of the work plan and deliverables for preserving the content over time. An approach to access, the approach to legal and ethical concerns affecting access. And these are different from our sibling re-granting program, Hidden Collections, as the emphasis for Recordings at Risk is grounded in the need for preservation through digitization and the recognition that materials will have varying levels of appropriate access, giving legal and ethical concerns. Recording at Risk uh awards are smaller with shorter timelines, and they have a very narrow focus on the activities directly related to the digitization work.

Sharon Burney: So, we typically get quite a few of the same questions about whether your projects are eligible. So we created a flow chart of our most frequently asked questions to determine if your proposed project is a good fit for the Recordings at Risk program. The first one is, is your organization a US nonprofit, academic research, or cultural heritage organization? Both the application and its collections must be located in the United States for an associated entity, i.e. the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or American Samoa. Grants, however, may be made to government units and their agents, agencies, or instrumentalities provided that cultural heritage is your primary function and grant funds will be used for charitable purposes within the scope of the Recordings at Risk program. Indian tribes, Alaskan native villages, regional corporations, and village corporations are eligible to apply for funding. So, generally speaking, to be eligible for this program, you must be recognized by the IRS Service as a tax-exempt under one of the following: 501C3, IRS code section 115, or IRS code section 170C1. Grants that may be made to their uh government units and their agencies um not organized under the 501C3 provided that the collecting and disseminating um scholarly and cultural resources are among the primary functions of the unit and grant funds will be used for the charitable charitable purposes.

Sharon Burney: Second question, we get a lot is, is your um is your collection located in the US or an associated entity? So both the applicant organization and its collections must be located within the United States or an associated entity. And the third question we get a lot is, is your collection owned and held by your organization? So, the materials nominated for digitization must be owned and held by the eligible organization and cannot come from an individual’s personal collection or one held by a for-profit organization. The la- and, and attached to that is always questions about eligible formats. So, basically the recordings at risk is for non-born digital formats. So that could be quite a few things: open reel-to-reel audio tape, compact cassettes, vinyl lacquer disc, wax cylinder, wire recordings, micro cassettes, DATs, compact disc, mini disk, VHS, U-matic eight millimeter, Betamax, Betacam, Digital 8, DV, mini DV, and film. Eight millimeters 16,35 or Super 8. The list goes on and on as long as it’s not born digital.

Sharon Burney: OK. I’m gonna finish talking briefly about our Digitizing Hidden Collections, Amplifying Unheard Voices program that launched in 2021. Uh Right now, we’re in the midst of the final application phase of the current cycle, and we don’t have any information to share about additional granting cycles, but typically, calls for new proposals are announced in the fall. So if you sign up for the CLIR grants and programs newsletter for the latest information in updating calls. Um The Amplifying Unheard Voices has a thematic focus, and it aims to fund program uh projects that propose to digitize materials that deepen public understanding of the histories of people of color and other communities and populations whose work, experiences, and perspectives have been insufficiently recognized or unattended in digital collections. These often hidden histories include but are not necessarily limited to those of, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color. Women, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, and other genderqueer people and communities. Immigrants, displaced populations, blind, deaf, and disabled people and communities. And colonized, disenfranchised, enslaved, and incarcerated people. The Digitize Hidden Collections AV program awards range from #50,000 to thir $300,000 and our 1 to 3-year projects.

Sharon Burney: Unlike the Recordings at Risk, it does uh allow for the digitization of other formats of uh other than audiovisual. The program coheres around five core values. The first one is Public Knowledge. The program fuels the creation and dissemination of digitized special collections and archives as a public good. Broad Representation. The program supports digitization projects that will thoughtfully capture and share the untapped stories of people’s communities and populations who are underrepresented in digital collections in ways that contribute to a more complete understanding of human history. Authentic Partnerships. The program prioritizes projects that foreground meaningful engagement with the underserved communities whose stories the source materials tell, and that build inclusive teams across institutions and geographic boundaries. Third is Sustainable Infrastructures. The program promotes forward-thinking strategies ensuring the long-term availability, discoverability, and interconnectedness of digitized content. And the last uh core value is Community centered actions, access. This program advocates for approaches to access, description, and outreach that make digitized content as widely available and useful as possible within legal and ethical constraints, considering digital inclusion and respect for materials and legal contexts.

Sharon Burney: And I know that was a lot, It was really brief, but I’ll be happy to ask any specific questions that you have for that during the Q and A session. I want to thank you for having me here and here you will see the link to sign up for the um the grants program and newsletter for upcoming calls. And you can always contact us for each program at hiddencollections@clir.org or recordingsatrisk@clir.org. Thank you.

Allison Schein: Thank you so much, Sharon. That’s always so, so great to hear about those uh those digitization initiatives. That is very exciting. Next up, we have Josh from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Did I screw up? No, I didn’t. All right, National Endowment for the Humanities.

Joshua Sternfeld: Just give me a second here. Can you see that?

Allison Schein: with notes?

Jesse Johnston: We’re seeing your notes too.

Joshua Sternfeld: Oh,no. Oh, gosh. All right. Uh Let’s try that. Is that better? Ok. All right. Hello everyone. I’m Josh Sternfeld. I’m a senior program officer um from the National Endowment for the Humanities and our Division of Preservation and Access. Um I of course, want to thank um foremost our um hosts, Allison and Jessie for uh bringing us here together. It’s always great to see colleagues at other um funding agencies. I always learn a lot. Um So, um why don’t we get right into it? Um I would first like to say, of course, that as many of you already know, audiovisual preservation has been a special interest of our division and of uh NEH um overall for well over a decade, uh we firmly believe that the 20th and 21st century uh history of the US and of the world cannot be told fully without considering media collections. And that includes uh public broadcasting, live performances, ethnographic field work. Um The list goes on. So uh NEH’s Division of Preservation and Access is the home for grant programs, supporting audio and radio collections preservation. We consider our work foundational to the work of the humanities uh, including academic and independent scholarship um uh along with educational and public programming. Um and um and uh all of the other kinds of humanities activities that go within those um broad categories.

Joshua Sternfeld: Um So, for that reason, the grant programs offered in our division serve as a broad constituency of eligible 501C3 institutions, including libraries, archives, colleges and universities, arts organizations, historical societies, museums, tribal organizations, HBCU’S, and Community colleges. We offer a suite of programs that together cover the life cycle of audio-visual preservation um, from basic assessments um and infrastructural improvements uh to storage environments to collections processing, cataloging, and digitization. We have programs that support work on improving environmental conditions, enhancing preservation and access of a single collection as well as conducting research and development and training to advance the preservation field. So, I want to jump right in and talk about our grant programs here. If you have an uh if you aren’t affiliated with uh an heritage institution such as an historical society, museum library, or archive, we offer two programs that support improvements to the environmental and storage conditions of your audio collections. Our preservation assistance grants program is tailored specifically for smaller institutions, including community colleges and minority-serving institutions. It offers support for basic services such as hiring a consultant to conduct a preservation assessment of your collection, staff training, or the purch- purchase of preservation supplies.

Joshua Sternfeld: For audiovisual collections a PAG award can be used to obtain better understanding which portions of your collection are most at risk and to rehouse fragile formats. As an example of a recent PAG award um, Experimental Sound Studio, hired a consultant uh to conduct a pre professional assessment of the current condition of the digital and physical holdings within their Creative Audio Archive. And that in assessment resulted in detailed plans for improving physical preservation storage and environmental conditions, standardizing and updating the preservation and processing of digi digital and digitized collections, as well as creating clear systems, procedures, and training guides for processing and managing uh incoming materials at every stage of their life cycle. Our Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections program complements our pre preservation assistance grants program by supporting a range of sustainable preservation strategies commonly referred to as preventive conservation. There are various levels of funding for this program that, depending on your needs, can uh reevaluate environmental parameters for collections and establish realistic and achievable targets. Uh install storage systems or renovate your HVAC system, fire suppression, and security systems. But the key is uh that you should tailor the scope of your project with an eye toward mitigating deterioration, prolonging the useful life of collections, and strengthening institutional resilience. SCHC projects have three different levels of activities.

Joshua Sternfeld: Uh The example you see here is of a planning project by the University of Alaska Fairbanks to construct a climate-controlled storage vault for their audio-visual materials. Our program, Humanities Collections and Reference Resources is designed to support work on a specific collection across a range of activities. From preliminary arrangement and description processing, cataloging or planning um, or planning to the creation or expansion of complex digital resources. I should note that collections needn’t be held by a single institution. You may consider collaborating with other institutions to develop an aggregate collection around a single humanities subject or topic. For example, the University of Maryland collaborated with the University of Wisconsin Madison to reunite early recordings of the National Association of Early Broadcasters with its paper records.

Joshua Sternfeld: So, for this grant program, we offer two levels of funding. The lower planning level is uh for up to $50,000 and is useful for developing a plan for how to process and reformat a large audiovisual collection or for assessing multiple holdings spread across an institution or campus. Our implementation level um, for up to $350,000, should be reserved for the labor-intensive work. Uh involves with cataloging, digitizing, and reformatting your collection. You do not need to have uh you, you do not need to have received a planning award to apply for an implementation project. However, you should be able to de demonstrate extensive planning in preparation for your work.

Joshua Sternfeld: Our division also offers two programs that together uh strengthen the preservation field by educating and training new or uh mid-career professionals or conducting research and um research to advance preservation methods, standards, workflows, software or equipment. Although these complementary programs target preservation practices, they rely heavily upon interdisciplinary collaboration represented by unique combinations of practitioners, humanities professionals, and scientists. R and D may support activities that range in scope from planning and preliminary work. Um discrete case studies, applied research, or an areas study with national or international impact. An example of a recent uh R and D award for audio preservation comes from the Northeast Document Conservation Center, which is developing open-source software and workflows for the reliable transfer of audio data on DAT tapes into more stable digital preservation storage environments. Our education and training program, meanwhile can support continuing education opportunities. Uh Student and early career programs, uh internships and residencies, curriculum development, and much more. For example, uh WGBH received an award in 2021 to conduct an English and Spanish language Spanish language PBcore webinar series and in-person workshops that targeted archivists and media professionals from small heritage institutions.

Joshua Sternfeld: So, I’d like to provide a, a couple of few um strategies and tips. Um And, of course, we can go over this much more um in the Q and A section. For nearly all of our grant programs, a successful application balances a discussion of the collection’s significance to the work of the humanities with a feasible and well-skilled work plan and methodology quite often that can be represented in the makeup of the project team um representing a range of interdisciplinary expertise, the participation of humanity professionals, including historians, media scholars, curators, and documentarians and strengthen a project. And many of our programs offer multiple levels of funding. We often receive questions about uh whether to apply at a planning or implementation level. So for an AV preservation project, it often boils down to whether you can adequately describe uh the scope of content on your recordings. A planning project can go a long way toward developing a feasible work plan that strikes the right balance between prioritizing assets that require uh critical treatment while also enhancing your intellectual control. Your project may be stronger. If you consider processing or digitizing documentation associated with your audio collection. We’ve seen several successful projects that include the business records, scripts, programs, correspondence, and other production materials for radio program or broadcast station. Including those materials usually expands the potential humanities use value of the recordings by enabling researchers, students, and educators to contextualize the recordings. Often, we are asked whether it is necessary for a project preserving a local broadcast program to make a case for national significance, and it may depend on the nature of the program. Uh But our best advice would be to consider the localness of coverage actually as a strength. Local programs provide unique cultural, social, and geographic perspectives that may be missing from nationally broadcasted programs. And for radio broadcasting collections may also want to consider addressing how your collection fits within both a media studies context and one of more uh and one or more broader historical contexts. Thinking about your current and potential audience is key here. Uh Will researchers want to study a program for its contribution to radio or broadcasting history, or will they be more interested in the topics and themes the programs covered?

Joshua Sternfeld: And finally, before I wrap up, uh I do want to emphasize that several of our audio preservation awards specifically supported preservation of historic radio programming. Um projects have gone on to preserve the early years of the program, “All Things Considered.” Um uh the University of Missouri’s Marr Sound Archives holdings of transcription discs from the Kansas City Station KNBC. Uh 1500 hours of WNYC’s broadcast from 1938 to 1970. Um at the iconic program, “Music Time in Africa,” uh housed at the University of Michigan and the Radio Haiti Archive held by Duke University. So for all the programs that I’ve covered here, uh our program staff is available to assist you in preparing your application. And for nearly all of them, we will also read draft narratives. On the info- there are uh information pages for each of the grant programs that you may find on our website neh.gov and you will see a deadline for submitting a draft uh to our division. Um But if you have any questions, um uh in the meantime, please please feel free to email me. Um And my email address is there JSternfeld@neh.gov uh or our main preservation inbox, which is preservation@neh.gov. So thank you.

Allison Schein: Thanks, Josh. That was great. Shout out to a previous project, ESS and CAA so I’m really glad you were able to help them out. I’m sure they were very much appreciative. And thank you to Sharon and Erin as well for spending your time with us. And uh now we will open it up for the Q and A.

Jesse Johnston: Yeah, and I would also like to just um amplify that. Thank you to the presenters. It’s uh you know, I know much of this is public information, but I think it’s one of the things I would uh emphasize for everybody here is that it’s really important to kind of hear how the programs talk about this and to understand who’s gonna be receiving your application. I think it really makes it um much easier as a potential or even you know, interested applicant. So, thank you again to the three of you. Um We can allow participants to unmute if you’d like to share questions or comments directly. Um And I would ask if you want to do that, please use the raise hand function so you can click the little reactions box um I’m not sure where that is on the mobile interface, but there should be a raised hand option, and then we will see your request. Um uh The other option is, please type your question into the Q and A box or, if you like into the chat, and um we will be able to see it there, and I will speak at it so we have it on Um so folks who may not have the visual interface can