21st Century Museum Professionals Program

Deadline: November 13, 2026*
Application Instructions: The FY 2027 Notice of Funding Opportunity is now available.
Apply Here:  https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/363769
Grant Amount: $100,000–$500,000
Grant Period: One to three years
Cost Share Requirement: You must provide funds from non-federal sources in an amount that is equal to or greater than the amount of your IMLS request.

Program Overview

The 21st Century Museum Professional (21MP) grant program supports projects that build career pathways, strengthen professional networks, and identify and share effective workforce education and training practices in the museum field.

The goals of the program are to:

• Support the professional development of the current museum workforce; and
• Recruit and train future museum professionals.

IMLS recognizes the important role of strong local and regional networks in providing peer-to-peer learning, training, and mentoring opportunities for the museum workforce. Partnerships among museums, museum-serving organizations, and institutions of higher education are vital to expanding alternative career pathways for people in the museum workforce throughout a city, county, state, region, or the nation.

We encourage 21MP projects to:

• Involve partnerships that generate opportunities for career development, including alternative pathways to upskill early-career professionals, and strengthen peer networks beyond a single institution;
• Engage museum staff, leadership, or volunteers at any stage of career development, including providing opportunities to encourage non-traditional applicants and emerging professionals to enter the museum workforce; and
• Reflect a thorough understanding of relevant theory and effective practice in workforce training and professional development for the museum field.

The primary audiences for this program are museums, museum service organizations and affiliated nonprofits, and museum professionals. Secondary audiences include museum visitors and future museum professionals.

Interested in Learning More About This Grant Program?

1. Watch the informational video below for details about this grant program and the process of preparing an application.
2. Schedule a counseling call with a program officer. Find an available time on the calendar using the link below.

Program Contact

Mark Isaksen
Supervisory Grants Management Specialist

misaksen@imls.gov
202-653-4667

To schedule a time to talk to Mark Isaksen, view the available appointment times.

Webinars

The FY 2026 pre-recorded webinars are available for reference:

Getting Started With IMLS Museum Grants for FY 2026 is a general presentation on IMLS museum grant programs. We recommend that you view this presentation for an overview before considering a specific grant program. Access the recording or read the transcript.

Preparing a Budget and Budget Justification provides information to help you prepare these two required parts of the grant application—the IMLS Budget Form and the Budget Justification. The information in this video supports the instructions in the Notices of Funding Opportunity for each grant program. Access the recording or read the transcript.

*All grant programs are subject to the availability of funds and IMLS discretion.