Kress Conservation Fellowships Grant

Kress Conservation Fellowships Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Last Updated: March 08, 2026

Summary

The Kress Conservation Fellowships, offered by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, support post-graduate training for emerging conservators in various specialty areas like paintings and textiles. The fellowships provide competitive grants to museums for supervised internships, running 9 to 12 months. Eligible applicants must have completed a master's degree in conservation. Preference is given to institutions without recent Kress Fellows, ensuring diverse opportunities across North America and beyond.

Overview

Our Mission Our mission at the Samuel H. Kress Foundation (est. 1929) is to sustain and carry out the original vision of our founder, Samuel H. Kress (1863-1955). We support the work of individuals and institutions engaged with the appreciation, interpretation, preservation, study and teaching of the history of European art and architecture from antiquity to the dawn of the modern era. We serve the field of art history as practiced in American art museums and institutions of higher education, and in an array of research centers and libraries throughout the world. We further support training and research in art conservation as well as the professional practice of art conservation. We make grants in defined program areas and offer professional development fellowships for historians of art and architecture, art conservators, art museum curators and educators, and art librarians. Conservation Fellowships The purpose of the Kress Conservation Fellowship program is to provide a wide range of post-graduate fellowship opportunities that will help develop the skills of emerging conservators. At the crossroads of science and art, the fields of conservation and technical art history demand a complex knowledge of chemistry and materials and an extraordinary sensitivity to artistic intent, as well as physical dexterity, patience, and powers of concentration. Initial training, typically at one of a handful of institutions in North America, provides basic qualifications that must be supplemented with an extended period of specialized concentration on paintings, objects, textiles, antiquities, ethnic materials, photographs, prints and drawings, books and manuscripts, furniture, etc. Within a supervised environment, new conservators can develop the specific skills, the hands-on experience, and the confidence on which to base a future career. Kress Conservation Fellowships provide competitive grants to museums and other conservation facilities which sponsor supervised internships in the conservation of specific objects and onsite training. Most Fellowships begin in late summer or early fall, and run for a term of 9-to-12 months. A report, whether interim or final, will be due from the host institution in September of the year following the award.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Applications must be made by the museum or conservation facility at which the fellowship will be based. Prior to beginning the fellowship, fellows should have completed a masters-level degree in conservation. The fellowship candidate may be identified in advance of application by the host institution or recruited subsequently.The program seeks to support a set of fellowships that offer:A variety of specialty areas (paintings, paper, objects, etc.). Opportunities for graduates from a variety of graduate programs in the U.S. and Canada. Opportunities to work in a variety of institutions, from large municipal museums to university museums and other conservation facilities, as well as sites outside the U.S.Six $37,000 Fellowships are expected to be awarded each year for post-graduate internships in advanced conservation at a museum or conservation facility. The full $37,000 must be allocated as a fellowship stipend. Payroll taxes may be withheld from the $37,000, but any other benefits, travel or education reimbursement, or administrative costs must be met by the institution or other funding.

Ineligibility

Grant funds may not be used for indirect costs.