Editor's note: Please double check deadlines and availability.
Aid for Museum Workers in Ukraine
The Museum Crisis Center is a Ukrainian grassroots initiative aimed at helping museum workers in emergency regions and evacuating artworks. The Center raises funds to support the basic needs of museum workers whose work and salaries have been interrupted, in the hope that they will have the capacity to rebuild the country's heritage organizations after the war. They also supplement the government's quest to save artifacts by evacuating objects from small museums, artists’ studios, private collections, and art centers. Read more.
New Data Show Economic Impact of Covid-19 on Creative Sector
In 2020, arts and culture added $876.7 billion, or 4.2 percent, to national GDP. Between 2019 and 2020, the U.S. arts economy shrank at nearly twice the rate of the economy as a whole: arts and cultural production fell by 6.4 percent when adjusted for inflation, compared with a 3.4 decline in the overall economy. While the size and diversity of the arts and culture sector helped it to remain a major contributor to the economy, certain arts industries saw enormous declines. Read the analysis from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
New COVID Impact Data Outlines Ongoing Financial Hardship Across Cultural Sector
Nearly 300 nonprofit cultural organizations across Massachusetts lost $192.7 million during the second year of the coronavirus pandemic, with 90% of those losses stemming from earned revenue that never materialized, according to a report issued by the Mass Cultural Council. Read the report here.
Maine Nonprofit Reports
Nonprofit Annual Corporate Reports are due to the Maine Secretary of State by June 1 each year. (Secretary of State Bellows is warning Maine nonprofits of a misleading solicitation offering to file annual reports on their behalf. Learn more.)
2022 Report on Nonprofit Wages & Benefits
The biennial Report on Nonprofit Wages & Benefits in Northern New England is now open. This survey and the accompanying report is a collaboration between the Center, Common Good Vermont, the Maine Association of Nonprofits, and the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. The submission deadline is June 8, 2022. Full details can be found here.
Blue Star Museums 2022
Registration is now open for Blue Star Museums 2022! Each summer, the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families work with museums across the country to provide free admission to the nation’s active duty military personnel and their families. It will begin on May 21, Armed Forces Day, and run through September 5, Labor Day. More than 2,000 museums across America participate each summer, including children's museums, fine art museums, history and science museums, zoos, and nature centers. For more information and to register, visit arts.gov/bluestarmuseums, and don't forget to check out #bluestarmuseums on Twitter and Facebook.
International Museum Day
The worldwide community of museums will celebrate International Museum Day on and around May 18, 2022. With the theme “The Power of Museums”, International Museum Day 2022 invites museums to explore the potential to bring about positive change in their communities through three lenses: The power of achieving sustainability; The power of innovating on digitalization and accessibility; and The power of community building through education.
Commemorating America’s Semiquincentennial
The United States will commemorate its 250th (or “Semiquincentennial”) anniversary in 2026. Our friends at AASLH are monitoring national, regional, and state commemoration plans at https://aaslh.org/programs/250th/. A Massachusetts based group, Revolution 250, operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Massachusetts Historical Society with 30+ partners. In Vermont's there is the 250th Anniversary Commission.
New Long-Term "Participatory Mapping" Project
COSTEP MA (Coordinated Statewide Emergency Preparedness), in coordination with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and the Boston Office of Emergency Management (Boston OEM), announced a new long-term “Participatory Mapping” project that will help improve response and recovery efforts for institutions with cultural resources in the event of serious or large-scale disasters. All cultural heritage institutions (broadly defined) in the Commonwealth are invited to create a listing on the following “Cultural Heritage Facilities Survey.”
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Nonprofit employees and other eligible borrowers have until October 31 to take advantage of the Limited Waiver for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which provides for forgiveness of eligible federal loans after 120 eligible payments while working for 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits and government employers.
Small Business Health Insurance Premium Relief Program
The Small Business Health Insurance Premium Relief Program provides premium payment relief to Maine small businesses who are enrolled in a fully-insured, community-rated small group comprehensive health insurance plan. A small group plan is a plan that covers 50 or fewer employees. More information and answers to questions can be found on the Bureau's Information Sheet (PDF) about the program.
2023–2025 Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards
The Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards is an exciting, multi-year matching grant opportunity bringing the joy of free outdoor concerts to small to mid-sized towns and cities with a population of up to 250,000 people. For the 2023–2025 grant cycle, the Levitt Foundation has expanded the Levitt AMP program from an annual matching grant of $25K into a three-year matching grant of $30K per year, for a total grant award of $90K. The deadline to apply is June 30, 2022.
Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants
The purpose of the NEH Challenge Grants program is to strengthen the institutional base of the humanities by enabling infrastructure development and capacity building. Awards aim to help institutions secure long-term support for their core activities and expand efforts to preserve and create access to outstanding humanities materials. Deadline is May 17, 2022.
Preservation and Access Education and Training
NEH Preservation and Access Education and Training supports the development of knowledge and skills among professionals responsible for preserving and establishing access to humanities collections. Thousands of libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations across the country maintain important collections of books and manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings and moving images, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, art and material culture collections, electronic records, and digital objects. The challenge of preserving and making accessible such large and diverse holdings is enormous, and the need for knowledgeable staff is significant and ongoing. Deadline is May 17, 2022.
Digital Projects for the Public
The NEH Digital Projects for the Public program supports projects that interpret and analyze humanities content in primarily digital platforms and formats, such as websites, mobile applications and tours, interactive touch screens and kiosks, games, and virtual environments. All projects should demonstrate the potential to attract a broad, general, non-specialist audience, either online or in person at venues such as museums, libraries, or other cultural institutions. Deadline is June 8, 2022.
NEH and IMLS Offer Digital Humanities Advancement Grants
Digital Humanities Advancement Grants (DHAG) support digital projects at different stages throughout their lifecycles, from early start-up phases through implementation and sustainability. Experimentation, reuse, and extensibility are hallmarks of this program, leading to innovative work that can scale to enhance scholarly research, teaching, and public programming in the humanities. Deadline: June 24, 20221.
Collections and Reference Resources
The NEH Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program supports projects that provide an essential underpinning for scholarship, education, and public programming in the humanities. Thousands of libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations across the country maintain important collections of books and manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings and moving images, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, art and material culture, and digital objects. This program strengthens efforts to extend the life of such materials and make their intellectual content widely accessible, often through the use of digital technology. Deadlines is July 19, 2022.
Grants for Arts Projects
Grants for Arts Projects is the National Endowment for the Arts’ principal grants program for organizations based in the United States. These grants support arts projects that use the arts to unite and heal in response to current events; celebrate our creativity and cultural heritage; invite mutual respect for differing beliefs and values; and enrich humanity. Applicants may request cost share/matching grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. A minimum cost share/match equal to the grant amount is required. Deadline is July 7, 2022.
National Trust for Historic Preservation Emergency Funds
Intervention funding from the National Trust for Historic Preservation is awarded in emergency situations when immediate and unanticipated work is needed to save a historic structure, such as when a fire or other natural disaster strikes. Funding is restricted to nonprofit organizations and public agencies. Emergency grants typically range from $1,000 to $5,000, but unlike the majority of our grant funding, a cash match is not required for intervention projects. Contact the NTHP if you believe your project qualifies for this type of funding. Funding is very limited.
National Trust Offers Preservation Grants
Grants from National Trust Preservation Funds (NTPF) are intended to encourage preservation at the local level by providing seed money for preservation projects. These grants help stimulate public discussion, enable local groups to gain the technical expertise needed for particular projects, introduce the public to preservation concepts and techniques, and encourage financial participation by the private sector. A small grant at the right time can go a long way and is often the catalyst that inspires a community to take action on a preservation project. Deadline: June 1, 2022.
CT Humanities Quick Grants
CT Humanities’ Quick Grants award up to $4,999 to help organizations create small-scale humanities programs that have big impacts on their communities. Upcoming deadlines are June 3 and August 5, 2022.
Rhode Island Mini Grant Program
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities' Mini Grant Program for requests up to $2,000 invites individual researchers, nonprofit organizations, and schools to apply for funding in support of public humanities projects. Deadline: August 1, 2022.
Rhode Island State Council on the Arts’ Project Grant for Organizations program provides grants of up to $3,000 in support of arts and culture projects that are relevant and meaningful to a Rhode Island community or communities. Deadline: October 1, 2022.
RISCA’s General Operating Support for Organizations Program (GOS-O), formerly called the Investments in Arts and Culture (IAC) Program, provides multi-year unrestricted operating support to arts and culture organizations* and culturally specific organizations* across Rhode Island that meaningfully engage and inspire their community through arts and culture programming. Organizations in this program make important contributions to the diversity and vitality of our communities, the economy of our state, the enrichment of all Rhode Islanders, and our quality of life. Deadline: October 1, 2022.
RI Organizational Development Grants
The Rhode Island Foundation offers organizational development grants that can be used to fund activities that strengthen and improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness. This may include strategic planning, business planning, feasibility studies, fund development planning, marketing and communications planning, planning for reorganization, streamlining, and/or mergers, financial management planning or systems adoption, and transition or succession planning. Upcoming deadline: July 15, 2022.
Reading Frederick Douglass Together Grants
Reading Frederick Douglass Together Grants support public readings and discussions in Massachusetts of Frederick Douglass’s famous Fourth of July address, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” A group of people take turns reading parts of the speech until they have completed it. Readings can take place anywhere, from virtual spaces to community centers to historical societies and town greens. Upcoming deadline: July 11, 2022.
Massachusetts Roving Archivist and Archival Supplies
Through generous funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the Massachusetts Archives is pleased to provide funding for the Roving Archivist program and funding for the purchase of supplies and materials needed to arrange, describe, preserve, and make accessible archival collections.
New Hampshire Community Project Grants
New Hampshire Humanities Council awards two types of Community Project Grants. Mini Grants offer up to $2,000 to support simple, single-event or short-series projects, and are available in as little as six weeks from submission. Mini grants are on a rolling basis. Major Grants of up to $10,000 enable organizations to design and carry out larger projects that attract diverse audiences, engage minds, and stimulate meaningful community dialogue. Draft proposal deadline: June 15, 2022.
A More Perfect Union
The New Hampshire Humanities (NHH) has announced New Hampshire Humanities Special Initiative "A More Perfect Union,” supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Mellon Foundation. In 2026, the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s proclamation. In anticipation of the upcoming commemorations New Hampshire Humanities (NHH) will engage Granite Staters in conversations around what it means to “build a more perfect union” throughout 2022. A new Focus Grant to support public humanities programs that align with the goals of the A More Perfect Union initiative: to support community engagement with the history of our nation’s quest for a more just, inclusive, and sustainable society; broaden participation in the documentation and telling of our shared American experience; and deepen the public’s knowledge of and commitment to our nation’s principles of constitutional government and democracy. We encourage proposals that explore any of the following topics: civic education and knowledge of our core principles of constitutional government and democracy; questions of racial justice and gender equality; the United States’ quest to become “a more perfect union” and its place in the world; the American landscape; and the experiences of under-represented communities within American history. For more information on the A More Perfect Union initiative, please visit www.nhhumanities.org/union, or contact NHH staff at programs@nhhumanities.org.
Public Value Partnership Grants
New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Public Value Partnerships for general operating support of nonprofit cultural organizations are an investment in the cultural infrastructure and creative economy of New Hampshire. A limited number of competitive and matching grants will be awarded to nonprofit arts and cultural organizations that demonstrate excellence in planning, administration and programming. Grantees are expected to provide high quality and broadly accessible arts experiences, activities and services for New Hampshire citizens. They are also expected to promote the arts as integral to the local economy by developing and maintaining close relationships with other community-based organizations and businesses and policy makers. Deadline is May 13, 2022.
Capacity Building Grants
Vermont Nonprofit Capacity Building grants offer $2,500 each to support the cost of consultants to facilitate discussions related to strategic planning, development of an organizational fundraising strategy, or orchestrating a merger. Ongoing application process.
Arts Impact Grants
Vermont Arts Council’s Arts Impact Grants support nonprofit organizations, municipalities, and schools in their efforts to add vibrancy to Vermont communities by providing equal and abundant access to the arts. To further support our creative sector, the Arts Impact Grant program is also expanding this round to include small operating grants to arts organizations. Eligible applicants may only apply for one grant—either a project grant or an operating grant. Application deadline is June 13, 2022.
Maine Humanities Council Mini Grants: up to $2,000
Funding to non-profit organizations in Maine for humanities programs and projects that have broad public outreach. We are excited to support programs and projects with rich, well-developed humanities content, strong participation from a scholar or topic expert, and robust support from partners in the community. Applications open July 2022; Proposals due August 2022
Arts & Humanities Grants: up to $1,000
Arts & Humanities grants, a partnership between the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine Arts Commission, support innovative community projects that have BOTH arts and humanities components. Proposals due May 17, 2022