Fellowships and Financial Aid

 

Children’s museums are leaders in developing and implementing diverse opportunities for young people to engage with and learn from important museum interactions. Small museums are investors in early childhood development and learning, and often establish early childhood dedicated spaces or specialized programs despite having fewer resources than larger museums.

The InterActivity Small Museum Financial Aid Program provides staff who work at smaller museums (annual budget $500,000 or under) with complimentary registration to InterActivity and a complimentary ticket to the evening event. The program’s goal is to offset the professional development expenses for those who would benefit from attending the conference. Awardees will attend the entire InterActivity conference and be asked to participate in the review process to determine awardees for the following year.

The financial aid program is open to museum professionals who meet the following criteria:

· Works for an open ACM member museum in good standing (dues current, check MyACM), with annual income under USD $500,000;
· Has been employed at the museum full-time for six months prior to the date of application;
· Has not received a financial aid award for the two previous in-person InterActivity conferences (2024 and 2025).

Financial aid recipients are required to:

· Attend the full InterActivity 2026 conference, beginning at 5:00 p.m. on April 21, through 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 23;
· Serve on the panel to review applications and select awardees for InterActivity 2027;
· Have the support of their museum for travel, lodging, and meal expenses.

The application for the 2026 awards open October 31, 2025. Applications close on January 9, 2026.

Please be prepared to reply to the following questions in your application:
riefly describe your work and how you would benefit personally and professionally from
attending InterActivity 2026. Limit 300 words
What do you hope to take away from attending the conference and how do you plan to share it with your museum? Limit 300 words

InterActivity 2026 Small Museum Financial Aid Program recipients will be recognized in the InterActivity 2026 Final Program and onsite at the conference during a Plenary Session.

Contact Kristin DeNovellis, Associate Director, Museum Member Services at kristin.denovellis@childrensmuseums.org.