The Maryland Humanities Council Announces The Humanities Fund for Baltimore

November 9, 2015

The Maryland Humanities Council (MHC) is pleased to announce that it is now accepting applications to its new special grant program, the Humanities Fund for Baltimore.

The Humanities Fund for Baltimore will:

  • Support Baltimore nonprofits to create public programs that use the humanities (e.g. history, literature, poetry, ethics, sociology, philosophy, criminal justice) to respond to, interpret, and shed light on the unrest of April 2015 and to bring people together to understand the many contexts for the unrest.
  • Support humanities programs that educate young people and adults about the history and the roots of economic and racial inequality in communities of color in Baltimore City (e.g. housing discrimination, de-industrialization) and give opportunity and space for telling their stories.
  • Tap into and build on work already being done by others in the community. More specifically, we want to inspire new work that uses the humanities to explore the complex problems that plague our city.

Phoebe Stein, Executive Director of the Maryland Humanities Council, said: “Both the peaceful protests and the violence in Baltimore that followed the death of Freddie Gray in police custody this past April responded to decades of structural racism and inequity in housing, education, and economic opportunities. The Maryland Humanities Council believes that the equity that needs to be created here in Baltimore, and across much of the nation, can begin with the humanities. The humanities—especially history, the law, ethics, and philosophy—can give us the contexts for understanding and addressing these problems. Through the Humanities Fund for Baltimore, we hope to inspire new partnerships that move Baltimore to a better future.”

Nonprofit organizations, community associations, and faith-based organizations are eligible to apply for funding. All projects must be rooted in one or more disciplines of the humanities; engage communities impacted by structural racism in Baltimore; enlist the participation of humanities scholars or experts; be free and open to the public; and occur between January 29 and July 1, 2016 or between April 15 and September 15, 2016.

To learn more about MHC’s Humanities Fund for Baltimore, including full eligibility requirements and application information, visit www.mdhc.org/grants/humanities-fund-for-baltimore.

The Humanities Fund for Baltimore is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the “Common Good,” an NEH initiative that seeks to bring the humanities into the public square and foster innovative ways to make scholarship relevant to contemporary issues. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this release do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Press Release