Public Humanities Projects

Funding Opportunity for Organizations

Maximum award amount Planning: $75,000 Implementation: $750,000

Expected Output Exhibitions; Interpretation Plans

Period of performance Planning: Up to 24 months Implementation: 12 to 48 months

Application available October 15, 2026

Deadline December 9, 2026

Expected notification date July 30, 2027

Project start date October 1, 2027 April 1, 2028

Apply Now on Grants.gov

Notice The deadline for this cycle has passed. Updated guidelines will be posted in advance of the next deadline. In the meantime, please use these guidelines to get a sense of what is involved in assembling an application.

About the Program

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:

1. The 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence
2. American Military Valor
3. The American Dream and Economic Freedom
4. America’s Role on a Global Scale

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.

Which level of funding is right for your project?

Contact

Division of Lifelong Learning learning@neh.gov If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

Program Statistics

NEH received an average of 64 applications per competition

This grant has a 20% funding ratio

NEH made an average of 13 Awards per competition

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 Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence for NEH Grant Proposals

Sample Application Narratives

Historic Places Planning Project: Emily Dickinson Museum, Comprehensive Interpretive Planning Historic Places Implementation Project: The Owens-Thomas House, Interpreting the Dynamics of Urban Slavery in the South Historic Places Implementation Project: Lower East Side Tenement Museum, The Joseph and Rachel Moore Tenement Home Exhibitions Planning Project (single site, temporary): National Museum of American Jewish History, Leonard Bernstein Exhibitions Planning Project (traveling): University of California Los Angeles, The Art of African Blacksmiths Exhibitions Implementation Project (traveling): Walters Art Museum, Ethiopia at the Crossroads Exhibitions Implementation Project (single site, temporary): LACMA, Beyond Line Exhibitions Implementation Project (permanent): Heard Museum, The American Indian Boarding School Experience

Step 1

Review your application package

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

Program Resources

Step 2

Register for a SAM number and an account on Grants.gov

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.

Register with Grants.gov Grants.gov Applicant Registration Guidance Download Adobe Reader Tips for making PDFs

Step 3

Complete your application package

Follow the instructions outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and in the Grants.gov instructions.

Step 4

Submit your application package on Grants.gov

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.