Public Humanities Programs: What’s Next?
Since June 2021, we have featured eight blog stories about the impact of the SHARP grant funding in communities throughout Tennessee. The nearly one million dollars awarded to 91 organizations made a difference by supporting cultural sector jobs, sharing untold stories, exploring ways our environment can provide historical insights, including new audiences in humanities programs and so much more.
As we shared in December, these funds were in many ways intended to help set the stage for future growth and sustainability. So, what’s next?
In part, that answer may be found in 2023 grant and scholarship opportunities available through Humanities Tennessee.
- HT’s 2023 general grant program will award a total of $100,000 to support public humanities projects designed to serve Tennesseans who are not employed by, or enrolled in, colleges and universities. One award-winning example of a previously funded project includes the Morton Family Exhibit at Nashville Zoo’s Grassmere Farm.
- Applications for Humanities Tennessee’s scholarships to attend the 2023 Tennessee Association of Museums (TAM) Conference are now available. TAM will host the conference in person March 15-17, 2023, at Holiday Inn University of Memphis in Memphis, TN. Email melissa@humtn.org to request a link to the online scholarship application. Submission deadline: February 3, 2023.
- Opportunity grants of up to $2,500 continue to be available to Tennessee non-profits with a committed interest in using public humanities projects to further their missions, and that have an annual budget of $150,000 or less. These projects are opportunities to educate, build, and coalesce Tennessee communities around the issues that propel a nonprofit’s mission. Email melissa@humtn.org for more information.
In coming months, we look forward to sharing the recipients of these opportunities, as well as spotlighting new partnerships across the state. For now, perhaps Manuel Mesa with the Campbell Culture Coalition in LaFollette, TN says it best:
“With the pandemic, our organization (which is based in community service) had to evaluate, define who we are in this new world, and secure the foundation to grow our future. Most crucially, our organization had to maintain our finances and get back into the community. These SHARP funds were the first step.”