Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester has encouraged not-for-profit community groups to apply to the Community Heritage Grants Program to help preserve significant collections. Grants of up to $15,000 are available for community organisations such as public libraries, museums, historical societies, Indigenous and multicultural groups to preserve and protect nationally significant collections. “These grants help local communities to preserve and display culturally important material such as artefacts, letters, diaries and photographs. The grants help to keep these items intact and available to the wider community,” Mr Chester said.“The program also offers collection management training workshops to assist staff and volunteers preserve significant items.” Minister for the Arts Mitch Fifield said the Community Heritage Grants Program helped small community groups manage natural, historical and Indigenous heritage collections and enabled collaboration with national cultural institutions such as the National Library of Australia. “The program is an important way of protecting culturally significant items in our regions and connecting community groups with our national institutions to share their knowledge and expertise.” The Community Heritage Grants Program is administered by the National Library of Australia, with support provided by the Department of Communications and the Arts, the National Archives of Australia, the National Film and Sound Archive and the National Museum of Australia. Applications close Monday, May 8, 2017. The guidelines and application forms are available at: www.nla.gov.au/awards-and-grants/chg