PHILADELPHIA, PA.- The La Salle University Art Museum has been awarded a Conservation Projects Support Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). This grant will aid the Museum's ongoing commitment to conservation, one of its core responsibilities as an institution connected with a school of higher learning and a mission to foster an understanding and appreciation of art.

The Museum was one of 33 museums out of a pool of 148 applicants to receive the grant. Conservation Project Support awards help museums identify conservation needs and priorities and perform activities to ensure the safekeeping of their collections. The grants are awarded through competitive peer review and require, at least, a 100 percent match by the applicant.

These grants help museums develop a logical, institution-wide approach to caring for their collections. The program is an essential component of the Institute’s goal of sustaining cultural heritage as a means of creating and sustaining a nation of learners. Applicants apply for the project that meets the institution’s highest conservation needs.

This grant will support conservation treatment for one of the La Salle University Art Museum's most vulnerable and threatened artworks from its most important collection area, Landscape with Pilgrims at a Grotto (1620) by important Flemish landscape painter Joos de Momper.

This painting was deemed to be rapidly deteriorating and in need of immediate stabilization in the collection survey conducted in 2009 which was supported by an earlier IMLS Conservation Support Grant. For more information about this work and its condition issues, please the museum website.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.

The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development.