Fellowships and Financial Aid

 

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.

The application period for 2027 is now open through December 18, 2026.

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

· Must be staff of an open ACM member museum in good standing (dues current, check MyACM);
· Must be staff of a small museum (defined as small based on criteria in the ACM Trends Data Hub);
· Has been employed at the museum full-time for six months prior to the date of application;
· Have the means or institutional support to pay any travel costs.

Preference may be given to:

· Individuals who have never been to InterActivity previously
· Individuals representing museums who have not received an ACM award within the last two (2) years
· ACM may only accept one application per museum if there are multiple applications from a museum
· Individuals who would otherwise be unable to attend InterActivity
· Individual is not already receiving complimentary registration or funds to travel

Financial aid recipients are required to:

· Attend InterActivity 2027 in its entirety
· Prepare a contribution to the ACM publication Hand-to-Hand highlighting your museum
· Serve as an ad hoc advisor to ACM on ACM’s service to small museums
*Optional invitation to serve as a review for next cycle of award review

The application is now available via myACM.

Please be prepared to reply to the following questions in your application:
Briefly describe your work and how you would benefit personally and professionally from
attending InterActivity 2027. 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 2027 Small Museum Financial Aid Program recipients will be recognized in the InterActivity 2027 Final Program and onsite at the conference during a Plenary Session.

During the review process, the committee looks for applications that express how this award will help the applicant and their museum’s unique work during and after InterActivity, and demonstrate how attending InterActivity will support and advance the individual’s career.

ACM awards and fellowships are reviewed by a panel of three or more individuals from staff of member museums composed of previous award winners and volunteers from the field. ACM staff reviews all applications to ensure they meet the award guidelines and confirms the final recommendation made by the review panel. ACM takes into account regional diversity, professional experience, and museum size in establishing each award cohort

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