$100,000+ Awarded to 14 Tennessee Organizations
Humanities Tennessee makes funding investments in all three Grand Divisions of the state to support the efforts of cultural, educational, and community-based organizations providing public humanities programs. The grant funds awarded to organizations are leveraged for additional community investment, including financial support and volunteer time. The organizers of these projects anticipate engaging more than one million people in Tennessee history, culture, arts, and more.
“We are encouraged and inspired by the thoughtfulness and quality of these projects, especially for the impact they aim to have on communities around Tennessee. Whether they are focused on history, archaeology, performing arts, or popular music, all of these programs will reach audiences with opportunities for deeper reflection on how we experience life and community together. Humanities Tennessee is enthusiastic to support this work in the coming year.” Tim Henderson – Executive Director, Humanities Tennessee
These 14 organizations and their projects are the 2023 general grant awardees. Visit our Calendar for local events related to these projects. Follow HT on social media for updates about these grant recipients and their projects.
General grants are awarded through an annual competition. Any nonprofit, institution, or government agency may apply.
Three Roots of Appalachia: Indigenous, Black, and Scots-Irish
Three Roots of Appalachia will be a year-long exploration of the blend of Indigenous, Black, and Scots-Irish cultures and traditions through literary arts, music, dance, traditional crafts, and documentary films.
Tennessee 101: The History of Tennessee Music, Part 2
Tennessee Historical Society will host eight virtual discussions covering TN music history topics.
Rosenwald School Symposium
The Tennessee State Museum will present a two-day symposium about the history and preservation of Tennessee’s Rosenwald Schools to be developed in partnership with Fisk University’s John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library.
How to Sue the Klan
This is a documentary about a groundbreaking 1982 civil trial that followed the attack of five Black women by the Chattanooga KKK and the innovative legal strategy that paved the way for today’s fight against racial violence.
Museum and Cultural Center at 5ive Points
Native American Heritage Month
In recognition of Native American Heritage Month, the Museum & Cultural Center at 5ive Points will host a traveling exhibition, Savages & Princesses: Persistence of Native American Stereotypes, and a virtual discussion with six of artists with work shown in the exhibit.
Tennessee African American Historical Group
King Iron: The Untold Story of Enslaved Furnace Workers in Tennessee
TAAHG will tour a traveling exhibit to up to nine locations about enslaved workers in the 19th century at iron furnaces throughout the Western Highland Rim in Tennessee.
Creating Inclusive Storytelling through Communication
Cragfont will host the Slave Dwelling Project staff for live streamed overnights in former slave quarters at two properties, and preface each stay with in person group discussions.
The Role of the Replica 
The exhibition at the Parthenon will take audiences through a hands-on adventure that explores how replicas big and small enhance our understanding of the ancient world – and how that understanding continues to evolve today.
WYXR x MoSH: The Way They Play Panel Discussion
WYXR and MoSH are joining forces to uplift the voices of prominent local guitarists in Memphis by hosting a live panel discussion called “The Way They Play,” on July 20, 2023.
The Community Author Experience
The Community Author Experience Project will consist of 10 author events that take place inside the Soddy Daisy Community Library and 3 authors visiting 5 schools each.
Neighborhood Learning Journey Tours
The Neighborhood Learning Journey Tour will stimulate learning about urban neighborhoods and present a perspective of their potential and possibilities as presented by the people who reside there.
The Memphis Museum of Science & History (MoSH)
Gallery of Memphis
MoSH plans to prepare a permanent exhibit inside the Central Avenue complex, which showcases diverse stories about Memphians who promoted change.
Unseen Nashville
The Contributor, a local newspaper written and sold by unhoused Nashvillians, will create street tours offering educational experiences to diverse groups who want to learn from guides with lived experience about the complexity of social ills like homelessness and the systems that make it difficult to escape extreme poverty.
Women of Dickson County
From the opening of the Hotel Halbrook in 1914, which now houses the Clement Railroad Hotel Museum, to the modern day, the building, and the county it is in have been home to fascinating, courageous, and influential women; this project will overhaul how the museum currently displays and tells the stories of these women.