National Endowment for the Humanities

Description

Grants for America’s Media Makers support projects in the humanities that explore stories, ideas, and beliefs in order to deepen our understanding of our lives and our world. The Division of Public Programs supports the development of humanities content and interactivity that excite, inform, and stir thoughtful reflection upon culture, identity, and history in creative and new ways. Grants for America’s Media Makers should encourage dialogue, discussion, and civic engagement, and they should foster learning among people of all ages. To that end, the Division of Public Programs urges applicants to consider more than one format for presenting humanities ideas to the public.NEH offers two categories of grants for media projects: development grants and production grants. Development grants enable media producers to collaborate with scholars to develop humanities content and format and to prepare programs for production. These grants cover a wide range of activities that include, but are not limited to, meetings and individual consultations with scholars, research, preliminary interviews, preparation of program scripts, designs for interactivity and digital distribution, and the creation of partnerships for outreach activities and public engagement with the humanities. Development grants should culminate in the refinement of a project’s humanities ideas, a script, or a design document for (or a prototype of) digital media components or projects. Sample narratives from successful development grant applications are available under the Program Resources section of the sidebar on the first page of the guidelines. You may request additional samples by sending an e-mail message to publicpgms@neh.gov. Before applying, applicants must have a solid command of the major humanities scholarship on their subject, have clarified the ideas that the project will consider, and have consulted with a team of scholarly advisers to work out the intellectual issues that the program will explore. Applicants must also have made preliminary decisions about the format and storyline and located essential materials for the program(s). Finally, they must have recruited the appropriate media professionals, especially the producer, writer, or interactive designer. Production grants support the preparation of a program for distribution. Applicants must submit a script for a radio or television program, or a prototype or storyboard for a digital media project, that demonstrates a solid command of the humanities ideas and scholarship related to a subject. NEH also supports Chairman’s Special Award projects. These projects are more complex and would be of compelling interest to the general public; they have the capacity to examine important humanities ideas in new ways and promise to reach large audiences. These goals can often be accomplished through combining a variety of program formats, forming creative collaborations among diverse institutions, and expanding the scope and reach of a project. The Chairman’s Special Award is offered at the production stage, but not at the development stage.

Who can apply

• State governments
• County governments
• City or township governments
• Special district governments
• Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
• Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
• Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (other than higher education)
• Private institutions of higher education

Contact

Division of Public Programs <br/>National Endowment for the Humanities <br/>Room 426 <br/>1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW <br/>Washington, DC 20506 <br/>202-606-8269
publicpgms@neh.gov