Manhattan museums and educational centers will be receiving more than $2 million in federal grants to enhance their programs, U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced Friday.
The grants come from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to strengthen humanities projects and organizations. The funds will pay for resources, curricula, and advanced research and writing projects by humanities scholars at these higher education institutions.
In all, New York state was rewarded 27 NEH grants totaling $4,859,096, but much of the resources are going toward Manhattan, which is receiving $2,352,200. An additional $764,350 in NEH grant money is being allocated to programs and organizations in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.
New York state’s NEH awards account for over 13% of the total funding awarded to humanities projects across the country, the senators noted.
“From Bayside to the Bronx, this critical investment in educational programs and organizations across New York City will not only promote research and learning in the humanities, but also promote job creation and economic growth,” said Senator Schumer in a statement. “With the NEH’s help, the reach of our cultural organizations and research institutions will significantly expand, touching the lives of countless families across the city.”
“The lives of New Yorkers are richer because of our commitment to education, humanities, the arts, and preserving the history and culture of our state,” said Senator Gillibrand. “This $3 million in federal NEH funding will keep this proud tradition alive and help ensure our communities can continue learning from New York’s many wonderful educational and research institutions.”
The grant recipients for Manhattan are as follows:
- The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is receiving $207,000 outright, and $105,000 in additional matching funds, for the ACLS China Studies Research Fellowships for 2024-2027, which provides three fellowships per year for three years, and covers associated costs.
- The Center for Jewish History is receiving $213,238 for its Long-Term Research Fellowships project in New York, which offers one fellowship per year for three years, and includes a contribution towards the cost of selecting fellows.
- Charlotte Walker-Said of CUNY Research Foundation, John Jay College, is receiving $6,000 to research and write a book on the history of martial and spiritual entrepreneurship in Central Africa during the modern period.
- The Clemente Course in the Humanities is receiving $99,000 for its Providence Clemente Veterans Initiative: Extending the Reach project, which involves holding four 12-week seminars on the Experience of War for veterans and civilians, preceded by a preparatory program for discussion leaders.
- The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is receiving $75,000 to plan a traveling exhibition, community conversations, and online resources exploring the origins and legacy of the Declaration of Independence in their project, The Long Struggle for Equality: The Declaration of Independence at 250.
- The Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum is receiving $337,050 to upgrade infrastructure and allow public access to the sick bay, post office, barber shop, and berthing/torpedo handling spaces on the historic aircraft carrier Intrepid in New York City.
- The La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is receiving $51,480 to install climate-control equipment and plan long-term storage solutions for archives from their theater club in New York City.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art is receiving $400,000 for their project Public Humanities: Africa & Byzantium, which implements a traveling exhibition exploring the global impact of the art and culture of Byzantine-era North and East Africa, including public programs, online media, and a scholarly catalog.
- The Modern Language Association of America is receiving $60,000 for their project, Reimagining Humanities Coursework for Career Readiness: A Virtual Workshop for Teachers of Languages and Literature, a two-year development workshop series for faculty to integrate humanities study, career readiness, and applied humanities in their teaching and mentoring of underserved students.
- The Museum of the City of New York is receiving $100,000 for their short-term exhibition, The New York Century: 100 Years of Imagining the City, 1923-2023, which examines how New York City has been depicted in arts, media, and culture over a century.
- The New York Public Library is receiving $309,996 for their Long-term Research Fellowships at The New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, which provides two-three fellowships per year for three years, and covers associated costs.
- The Rubin Museum of Art is receiving $400,000 for their Gateway to Himalayan Art project, which implements a traveling exhibition geared towards university galleries to introduce essential concepts of Himalayan art and culture, as well as a digital educational platform.
- The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is receiving $349,524 for their Jewish Labor and Political Archives Project, which involves arranging and describing 122 linear feet of archival materials from four collections documenting Jewish immigrant involvement in the U.S. labor movement, as well as digitizing 293,000 pages from those collections.
