Public Humanities Projects
The Public Humanities Projects program supports projects that bring the ideas of the humanities to life for general audiences through public programming. Projects must engage humanities scholarship to analyze significant themes in disciplines such as history, literature, ethics, and art history. Awards support projects that are intended to reach broad and diverse public audiences in non-classroom settings in the United States. Projects should engage with ideas that are accessible to the general public and employ appealing interpretive formats.
All projects must focus on one of the following topic areas:
Public Humanities Projects supports two categories, Historic Places and Exhibitions, at two funding levels (Planning and Implementation). Proposed projects may include complementary components: for example, a museum exhibition might be accompanied by a website or mobile app.
Projects may be international (but must include audiences in the US and grant funds may not be used to support presentation of content to audiences outside the US), national, regional, or local in focus and should reach a broad public audience. We welcome projects tailored to particular groups, such as families, youth (including K-12 students in informal educational settings), underserved communities, and veterans.
Small and mid-sized organizations are encouraged to apply if their projects address topics of regional or national relevance by drawing connections to broad themes or historical questions. Award amounts offered to successful applicants will reflect the project’s scope and the size of its expected audiences.
Next
Application Instructions
Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity to ensure you understand the expectations and restrictions for projects delivered under this grant and are prepared to write the most effective application.
Application Materials
Notice of Funding Opportunity, 2025 (PDF)
Grants.gov application package
Program Resources
List of recent Exhibitions: Planning awards
List of recent Exhibitions: Implementation awards
List of recent Historic Places: Planning awards
List of recent Historic Places: Implementation awards
List of recent Humanities Discussions awards
Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence for NEH Grant Proposals
Sample Application Narratives
Historic Places Planning Project: Emily Dickinson Museum, Comprehensive Interpretive Planning
Exhibitions Implementation Project (traveling): Walters Art Museum, Ethiopia at the Crossroads
Exhibitions Implementation Project (single site, temporary): LACMA, Beyond Line
Discussion Programs (small): Maine Humanities Council, Afrofuturism
When you are ready to apply, register for an account with SAM.gov and Grants.gov; both are required. If you already have completed the registrations, make sure they are current.
Follow the instructions outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and in the Grants.gov instructions.
You will receive a confirmation from Grants.gov when you’ve successfully submitted your application. Subsequently, you will receive up to five more notices confirming different stages in the application process. Verify that you have received all confirmations. Note that email filters may send these messages to your spam or junk folder.
