Section officer, Museum-I Section Room No 333A-C wing, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-110115 Phone No: 23387108..

As a part of the 14-point museum reforms agenda of the Ministry of Culture, professional development of museum personnel has been given due importance. At present, there is a vital need to up-grade the human resources in Indian museums in order to broaden their vision, upgrade their skills and leadership management qualities to international standards. At present, India has very few in-service skill development and training opportunities for museum professionals. Such capacity building in-service programmes will help bring about key changes in our museums to make them more enjoyable, educative and popular for visitors; accessible for all sections of our society and manage and preserve our priceless art collections with up-to date systems and best practices. The Scheme is also being envisioned to create expertise and specializations in various fields of museum work such as collection management, design, education, marketing which are found lacking in most Indian museums.

It has been understood, that at present, such in-service training needs can only be fulfilled by collaborating with reputed, experienced and well known international museums and institutions. Here it is also emphasized that in order to impact the entire museum sector in the country the scheme should be extended to all types of museums- government museums at national level, state level, regional and local level as well as other museum institutions that are not-for- profit and are open for the public.

It is expected that this scheme for capacity building within the museum sector will enable a wholesome development of the Museum sector in the XII five year plan.

The scope of this scheme will be to support institutions who wish to depute their professionals for intensive capacity building, training programmes in order to upgrade their expertise/skills in the following and related fields, as identified in the 14 point Museum Reform Agenda, 2009 and in collaboration with national and internationally well-known museums and institutions:

1. Collection management: documentation, preventive care and storage
2. Museum/ Exhibition design: display, lighting, interpretation and access
3. Museum management, marketing and Leadership training
4. Museum education and outreach
5. Preservation and conservation of museum collections/ scientific study for better conservation of museum collections

Under this Scheme, funds will be provided by the Ministry of Culture in the form of financial grants to museums (Govt museums of national, state, local and regional level and other not for profit bodies) directly, or through Nodal Institutions nominated by the Ministry of Culture, such as National Museum Institute, National Culture Fund or any other institution who have a mandate for undertaking training programmes in the museum sector in order to:

1. Support in-service museum professionals for their participation in well structured training programmes/internships/
   fellowships/workshops in collaboration with reputed international institutions.
2. Assistance will not be provided for participation in international conferences or seminars under this scheme.

Financial assistance under this scheme (subject to a maximum of Rs. 1 Crore per year) may also be provided to organisations of the Ministry of Culture like the National Museum Institute and Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) for organising workshops within the country for the training and development of Museum professionals.

All museums under the Central and State Governments, museums registered as societies, voluntary institutions or trusts under the Indian Societies Act of 1860 or a similar legislation would be eligible for getting financial assistance under the Scheme.

Applicant Institution should fulfil the following conditions

1. The applicant institution should have been in existence after registration for at least 5 (five) years prior to application. However, this condition can be relaxed in exceptional and deserving cases at the discretion of the Secretary (Culture), the reasons for which should be recorded in writing.
2. It should have a well defined constitution and laid down rules/bye laws for its functioning.
3. It should be in ownership and possession of substantial collection of objects (minimum 500 objects) of historical/cultural/scientific importance that are on public display at all times. The nature and number of objects possessed and displayed by the museum should be clearly indicated in the proposal while applying for financial assistance under the Scheme.
4. The museum should be for public service and not-for profit
5. The Applicant institutions should send a covering letter, forwarding the application describing their suitability for the training, in the light of the plans that the museum has developed for the upgradation in their museums.

Candidates nominated by applicant institutions should fulfil the following conditions

1. The candidate should be an Indian national
2. The candidate should have a basic qualification of Graduation in any subject
3. The candidate/s proposed to be sent on training by the institution should have at least 5 years experience working in/for a museum and should produce relevant documents to support the same even in cases where he/she has not worked with the applicant institution for 5 years.
4. Individuals who do not work with a museum/institution and only undertake freelance work will not be supported through this grant.
5. In case of candidates from non-government museums registered as trusts/ societies as per eligibility criteria at a) above, the Museum should acknowledge the support from the Ministry under this scheme in the following manner:
   1. The Ministry of Culture logo and name should appear at a prominent place at the Museum’s entry and remain there for a period of 3 years from the date of release of grant to acknowledge its support.
   2. The Ministry’s support should be acknowledged in the final report of the training prepared by the Museum/candidate.
   3. The international institution/museum being collaborated with should provide a letter of acknowledging the contribution of the Ministry of Culture towards supporting the candidate.

1. The maximum amount of financial assistance which may be given under this scheme would be 80% of the total estimated cost of training programme subject to a maximum of Rs. 30 lakh per museum in case of Central/State Government Museums. Financial assistance in respect of museums registered as Societies, Voluntary Institutions or Trusts under the Indian Societies Act of 1860 or a similar legislation would be 70% of the total estimated cost of training programme subject to a maximum of Rs. 20 lakhs per museum. The balance cost will have to be managed by the museum concerned themselves.
2. Financial Grant for the purpose of capacity building and training of museum professionals will be given to a museum once in 3 years.
3. The grant will cover expenses towards
   1. Training fee to host institution
   2. Foreign and domestic travel for purposes of training
   3. Subsistence costs (lodging and boarding) for the duration of training,
   4. Purchase of books or other intellectual material necessary for such training,
   5. Costs for purchase of stationary and teaching aids,
   6. Travel insurance for foreign travel (wherever mandated by foreign countries)
   7. Costs for Visa fee and similar permits.
4. Applicant institutions may nominate their candidate/s for capacity building and training programme in the prescribed format at Form I.
5. The proposed international institution/museum with which partnership for training is proposed should have agreed in writing to host the museum candidate or provided invitation letter expressing interest in hosting the participant prior to making application for this grant.
6. The sanction and release of grant shall be subject to submission of original confirmation letter of admission received from the foreign institution/museum and a valid passport (not expiring within 6 months of making this application) for undertaking foreign travel, if necessary for such training.
7. The applications received for financial assistance under the scheme will be scrutinized in Ministry of Culture and grants will be sanctioned after approval of the competent authority.

1. The Financial Grant under this scheme will be released by the Ministry of Culture in two installments. The first installment will be 75% of the Ministry’s share. This amount will be sanctioned and released after obtaining approval of competent authority
2. The second installment of the remaining 25% of the Ministry’s share will be released after i. The grantee has utilized 100% of the grant given under the first installment by the Ministry of Culture along with its own contribution (20% in case of Central/State Government Museums and 30% in case of other museums). The release of the second installment would also be incumbent upon the receipt of a utilization certificate and statement of accounts audited by a firm or chartered accountants in respect of the previous installment of grant given by the Central Government as well as matching share of the museum; and ii. The candidate has submitted a full report on his/her training.
3. The Ministry of Culture may undertake a review at the end of one year to assess the success and impact of such training initiatives at the Grantee institutions and the institutions may cooperate with Ministry officials for such review.

The duration of any capacity building or training programme may range between a minimum of 2 weeks to a maximum of 2 years.

A three member committee comprising of Joint Secretary (Museums) as Chairman and Director/Deputy Secretary (Museums) & Director/Deputy Secretary (Finance) as Members will monitor the grant-in-aid to be released by the Ministry to the institutions under the scheme.

The scheme is open throughout the year and there will be no fixed last date for submission of proposals. Applications will be processed and appraised on first-come-first-serve basis under the scheme in the Ministry of Culture. In addition to the prescribed application form, Form-I with Annexures mentioned therein, the applicant should submit the proposal in the form of detailed project report containing detailed estimates regarding the training programme to be attended.