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   KUR - Programme to Preserve and Restore Mobile Cultural Assets. The museums, libraries and archives in Germany are storehouses of knowledge that safeguard our country's art and cultural treasures. However, very few realize that many objects in numerous collections are in dire need of preservation.

Adverse environmental effects, poor storage conditions and material deterioration are threatening invaluable ancient and contemporary cultural assets - from medieval manuscripts to modern paintings and video installations. From 2007 to 2011, the Federal Cultural Foundation and the Cultural Foundation of the German Länder will collaborate on a programme to restore and preserve Germany's mobile cultural assets. The aim is to inform the public about Germany's valuable cultural heritage and the danger it faces, as well as develop innovate ways to preserve these threatened cultural assets.



This programme funds projects which best achieve the following goals:



• safeguard acutely endangered objects and collection complexes of paramount historic or artistic relevance,

• develop innovative and applicable solutions in one or more areas of prevention, conservation and restoration,

• publicize the project's results to both experts and the greater public,

• have one or more organizations cooperate with national or international research institutes.

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II. Eligibility



To be eligible for funding, the applicants must have publicly accessible collections in Germany with projects in the area of mobile cultural assets. Consequently, funding cannot be granted to project proposals in the area of immobile historical buildings and landmarks, or archaeological excavations. As a rule, this programme funds projects with a financial volume of at least 100,000 Euros. To anchor the responsibility of our cultural heritage as widely as possible in society, at least 30 percent of the total expenses should be co-financed either by public and private sponsors or by the applying institution itself. Binding written confirmation by the co-financers must be submitted no later than the second phase of the application process.

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III. Application process



The application process is divided into two phases. By 15 June 2007, applicants should submit a short proposal that briefly describes their project and general goals, as well as includes the names of the participating partners. Furthermore, applicants must provide an initial cost estimate listing the planned expenditures and proceeds, as well as the names of the planned financing partners. Based on these brief proposals, the curatorial panel will make their decisions by September 2007. The selected applicants will then be asked to develop their proposals further in a second phase. These detailed concepts and binding written confirmations from all the financing partners must be submitted to the curatorial panel before it makes its final decisions in an additional session at the end of 2007.

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IV. Curatorial panel



The programme's curatorial panel is responsible for making all the decisions concerning funding allocation. The members of the panel are:



Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Böcker

Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, Berlin (Federal Laboratories for Materials Research and Testing)



Dr. Renate Eikelmann

Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich



Kornelius Götz

Verband der Restauratoren, Bonn (German Association of Art Restorers)



Prof. Martin Koerber

Fachhochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft, Berlin (University of Applied Sciences)



Prof. Dr. Armin Zweite

Kunstsammlungen NRW, Düsseldorf (Art Collections of NRW)



Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schießl

Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden (College of the Fine Arts)

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V. Application



Applications must include the following documents:



1. by 15 June 2007



a) completed application form which can be downloaded from the Federal Cultural Foundation's website www.kulturstiftung-bund.de or the Cultural Foundation of German Länder's website www.kulturstiftung.de.

b) brief proposal providing a general description of the project and the names of the participating partners (five pages max.)

c) cost estimate listing the planned expenditures and proceeds

d) written statements of intention by all the partners who have agreed to participate in the project or its financing.



2. If the curatorial panel selects your proposal, the following documents must be submitted during the second application phase (beginning in September 2007):



a) a full-length project proposal that provides a detailed description of each stage of the project and a complete list of all participating partners

b) A comprehensive cost and financing plan (CFP) in Excel format that completely lists the planned expenditures and proceeds, subdivided into types of expenditure. The CFP must also include the amount of financing requested from the Foundation and the co-financing already secured.

c) Binding written confirmation from all the project participants about their involvement.

d) Binding written confirmation from all financing partners listing the type and amount of co-financing which they have agreed to contribute.

e) Additional documents and materials may also be submitted to better explain or illustrate the character of the project (e.g., catalogues, documentation of successfully completed projects, info about the participants, etc.)



Since mid- April 2007, Ms Dorit von Derschau is the KUR project manager at the Federal Cultural Foundation in Halle. Please mail one copy of all pertinent documents to:

German Federal Cultural Foundation

KUR - Programme to Preserve and Restore Mobile Cultural Assets

Franckeplatz 1

06110 Halle an der Saale

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Partner for the KUR - Programme to Preserve and Restore Mobile Cultural Assets is the Cultural Foundation of the German Länder (Kulturstiftung der Länder).