The Hon Rod Kemp was Minister for the Arts and Sport from Friday 23 November 2001 to Tuesday 30 January 2007. This site is available for archival purposes only.

Long term commitment to preserving community heritage

The Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator Rod Kemp, today announced the allocation of grants under the 2004 Community Heritage Grants program to fifty-five community groups around Australia, including museums, libraries, archives and historical societies.

The grants are worth a total value of $201,745.

'Since the program began 11 years ago, 350 grants totalling $1,280,970 have been awarded to organisations throughout Australia,' Senator Kemp said.

'The Community Heritage Grants program has proved so successful since its inception that the Government will commit an additional $200,000 per annum from 1 July 2005.  The expanded program will include workshops to assist community organisations develop strategies to preserve their heritage and for the National Museum of Australia to help regional museums to curate their collection.'

The program is jointly funded and supported by the Australian Government through the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts; the National Library of Australia; the National Archives of Australia; the Australian Film Commission and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous affairs.

Grants of up to $8,000 are awarded annually to community organisations to preserve locally owned, but nationally significant, documentary heritage materials.

The grant money can be used by the groups to meet the particular needs of their collections such as collection assessments, preservation surveys, conservation treatments, digitisation and purchasing quality storage material or environmental monitoring equipment.

A list of successful grantees can be found at: http://www.nla.gov.au/pressrel/2004/chg2004.html.

 

CANBERRA
17 NOVEMBER 2004

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Media contact:Adrian Chippindale, 02 6277 7350 or 0407 208 743