The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation—the nation’s largest funder of the arts, culture and humanities—announced a call for concepts to institutions of higher learning exploring curricular projects or research in three distinct social justice-related categories, including:
- Civic Engagement and Voting Rights: Projects that explore current and historical challenges to realizing broad participation in the democratic process.
- Race and Racialization in the United States: Projects exploring the past and present effects of racial differentiation across the spectrum of national life.
- Social Justice and the Literary Imagination: Projects aimed at advancing revelatory, reparative, and imaginative literary work that helps lay foundations for more just and equitable futures.
This call for concepts underscores the Mellon Foundation‘s ongoing commitment to building just communities empowered by critical thinking and seeks to support the critical need for more justice-oriented research, curricula, and academic programming at institutions across the country. It serves as the first step in the Foundation’s process for inviting grant proposals ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 for a period of up to three years. Institutions interested in being part of the process, or learning more, are encouraged to register HERE by 3 PM ET on Wednesday, April 20. For eligible registrants, applications will be due by 3 PM ET on Monday, May 16.
“This call is designed to support the essential function of the humanities in clarifying and addressing some of the most intractable issues confronting US society: past and present,” said Phillip Brian Harper, Mellon Foundation Higher Learning Program Director. “We seek to highlight and enhance the humanities’ capacity, not only for incisive analysis but also for the sort of visionary creativity that engenders more just and equitable futures, while recognizing the wide range of institutions that foster this valuable work.”
For consideration, registrants must be from a US-based four-year, non-profit, accredited, degree-granting institution that offers degrees in humanities or humanistic social sciences, and enrolls more than 1,000 full-time, degree-seeking undergraduates. Institutions are limited to submitting no more than three (3) concepts. Invitations for full proposals will be issued during the summer of 2022, and final grant recommendations will be presented for consideration by the Foundation’s board of trustees in December 2022.
Complete guidelines for the preparation and submission of concepts can be found HERE.
About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.
