National Endowment for the Humanities Awards $31.5 Million in Grants

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today revealed that it would award $31.5 million in grants to 226 humanities projects across the United States. The tranche marks the third and last round of peer-reviewed grants for fiscal 2022. Funding is dispersed across fourteen categories, among them media projects, the preservation efforts of small institutions, the National Digital Newspaper Program, the conservation of cultural heritage, and the preparation of scholarly texts.

Among the projects gaining support through this round of grants are a new traveling exhibition mounted by the New Orleans Museum of Art and centered on African American painter Jacob Lawrence’s “Nigeria” series of 1964–65 that will examine the artistic exchange between Lawrence and his contemporaries in West Africa. Pennsylvania State University will receive funding toward its continued development of a digital method of comparing and classifying features in paintings, with a focus on Barbizon, Realist, and Impressionist works, while the Brooklyn Children’s Museum will be assisted in its efforts to create a permanent exhibition on four hundred years of Brooklyn history. The University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, will get support for its conservation assessment of fourteen outdoor sculptures occupying its campus. The works are by local and regional artists, including Carmen Inés Blondet, José Buscaglia, Rafael Ferrer, María Matos, and Julio Plaza.

“NEH is proud to support the many scholars, curators, storytellers, filmmakers, and teachers who are helping preserve, examine, and share the country’s rich and expansive history and culture,” said NEH chair Shelly C. Lowe. “From books and documentaries to the preservation of cultural heritage materials, these 226 exceptional projects will foster the exchange of ideas and increase access to humanities knowledge, resources, and experiences.”

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