Application Process and Funding:

MSA Staff and Board of Directors determine the total award amount for each year. The MSA Memorial Scholarship Committee reviews applications and chooses the recipients. The committee determines what portion of this award will be given to each recipient – the amount of each award may vary based on financial need, distance traveled by the recipient, etc.

This year, MSA FORWARD 2025 is headed to Los Angeles, CA, from May 5-9, 2025.

No longer accepting applications. 

All applicants will receive written notification of their selection or non-selection. Applicants who are not selected may be encouraged to apply the next year.

Scholarship award recipients must attend the full program on the date and location specified. In case of a recipient being unable to attend MSA FORWARD, the award must be returned. The applicant may re-apply at any time to attend a future conference. The award is not transferable.

In order to be eligible to receive this year’s scholarship, applicants must meet the following qualifications:

• Must be a first-time attendee of the MSA FORWARD
• Must certify financial need
• Must be an MSA member in good standing

History:

Samuel Julius Greenberg was director of museum shops for the Smithsonian Institution from 1982-89. He felt MSA’s Museum Retail Conference and Expo was a golden opportunity to learn, shop and connect with museum retail professionals. As a speaker, he gave freely of his knowledge and expertise. As a delegate, he was fond of saying that he always learned something new from store managers of both large and small museums. When a member of Sam’s staff deserved recognition for an outstanding accomplishment, Sam presented him or her with a “Dragon Slayer” pin. In honor of Sam’s memory and to embrace his enthusiasm, MSA founded the Sam Greenberg Scholarship Fund, which helps bring museum store personnel to their first MSA Museum Retail Conference & Expo. In recent years the Sam Greenberg Scholarship Fund was renamed the MSA Memorial Scholarship in order to commemorate additional nonprofit retail professionals who served MSA for many years.