Memo to Museum Grant Recipients

In the wake of the COVID-19 situation, SaskCulture continues to monitor its impact in the province. We recognize that museums are significantly impacted by this and many of you have called or emailed about changing your plans.

Anyone with a March 30, 2020 follow-up report deadline will now have until May 1, 2020 to submit the report. If additional time is needed, please let us know. We will monitor the situation and will extend future follow-up report deadlines if needed.

We understand that plans will need to change for most museums and that the plan you submitted in your application may change significantly. When developing new plans, please ensure that MGP grant funds, including the matching 50% amount for Stream 2 and 3 museums, are being spent on Eligible Expenses. If you are unsure if an expense is eligible or not, please refer to the Guidelines posted on the SaskCulture website, or contact Catherine at 306-780-9431, or cfolstad@saskculture.ca. A list of eligible and ineligible expenses has also been included below for your reference.

No one is sure how long this will last, but if your museum is significantly impacted and can’t spend the MGP grant this year, any unused grant funds can be returned to SaskCulture.

We will be in touch with those who have already submitted follow-up reports to see if plans and budgets have significantly changed.

Some museums may want to consider developing virtual programming and exhibits, which are eligible costs. If you would like more information about how to develop virtual programming and exhibits, please contact the Museums Association of Saskatchewan: mas@saskmuseums.org or (306) 780-9279.

As a grant recipient, you may also receive additional information from SaskCulture. All memos and information related to COVID-19 will be posted on SaskCulture’s COVID-19 Response Updates page.   The Museums Association of Saskatchewan also has a created a website page, COVID19 & Saskatchewan Museums.

For museums that are registered non-profit corporations, Information Services Corporation has announced suspensions to registration strike off provisions for applicable organizations. As of the time of writing this email to you, they have not yet released information about Annual General Meetings, but SaskCulture will post any information about this if/when it is released. If you are not already doing so, please follow SaskCulture on Twitter, Facebook, or sign up for E-Update.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact me at cfolstad@saskculture.ca or 306-780-9431 and I will respond as soon as possible. As you can imagine, we are receiving numerous phone calls and emails at this time. Please be patient if our response time is a bit delayed because of this.

Take care,

Catherine Folstad, Outreach Consultant

Eligible Expenses

The grant is intended to provide funds to support eligible operating activities. Eligible expenses for the MGP grant includes costs related to:

  • Salaries and Benefits, including honorariums, wages and contract agreements for both regular and contract staff. Please see note under Ineligible Expenses regarding duplication of grant funding.
  • Training, including workshop and conference fees, training materials, and travel costs (i.e. gas, car rental, and hotel accommodation) for staff and volunteers;
  • Administration, including office supplies, postage, insurance, office technology and software;
  • Maintenance, including building rent, taxes, utilities, and minor repairs such as upgrading and improvement projects;
  • Collections costs, including documentation, cataloguing, deaccessions, repatriation, conservation and research;
  • Governance costs, including board meetings, evaluations, strategic and succession planning;
  • Programming, including costs related to activities, services and exhibit development, community outreach, Culture Days and other festivals and events;
  • Communications, including material costs, advertising costs, and event promotion; and
  • Operational costs (excluding ineligible expenses) related to the development of a new museum, the transition of an existing museum into a new format (e.g. from building-based to virtual) or for the permanent closure of an existing museum.

Ineligible Expenses

Ineligible expenses and in-kind contributions will not be considered as matching grant funds. Ineligible and in-kind expenses used in such a manner can potentially make an application ineligible or only eligible for a reduced amount of the total grant request.

The grant cannot be used to for:

  • Capital expenditures, including the purchase of buildings, land, or major renovations;
  • Purchase of artifacts or collections;
  • Cash prizes, gifts, or the purchase of alcohol; and
  • Duplication of grant funds from other sources. If you receive a grant for a summer student or other specific cost, that expenditure cannot be included in your eligible expenses as that would be a duplication.