Public Humanities Projects supports Exhibitions, Historic Places interpretation, and Public Lectures and Discussion Forums that bring the ideas of the humanities to life for general audiences.

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 varied 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.

NEH especially encourages applications exploring the following topics:

• Western civilization and America's place in it
• Great works of literature, history, philosophy, and theology and their relevance to contemporary questions
• The 250th anniversary of the American Revolution
• Civic education; civil discourse; cultural literacy, and the practice of close reading

Public Humanities Projects supports two categories, Exhibitions and Historic Places, at two funding levels (Planning and Implementation). Support for the third category, Public Lectures and Discussion Forums, is available at the Implementation level only. Proposed projects may include complementary components: for example, a museum exhibition might be accompanied by a website or mobile app.

Award Amounts:

• Planning: up to $75,000.
• Implementation: up to $500,000 (up to $2,000,000 for Chairman’s Special Awards)

Eligibility

Eligible applicants include:

• state and local governments and their agencies
• nonprofit organizations recognized as tax- exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
• accredited institutions of higher education (public or nonprofit)
• federally recognized Native American Tribal government

Match Requirement

There is not Cost Sharing or Match Requirement for this grant.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted through the Grants.gov listing, which requires accounts for both Grants.gov and SAM.gov.

If you need help with Grants.gov, you can call 800-518-4726 or email support@grants.gov.

If you need help with SAM.gov, you can call 866-606-8220.

Webinar

There will be a live Q&A session on Tuesday, November 10, at 2pm ET. Click here to register.

Contact

If you have questions about the program, contact:
Division of Lifelong Learning
National Endowment for the Humanities
400 Seventh Street, SW
Washington, DC 20506
learning@neh.gov

Deadline

The deadline for applications is December 16, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.