UPDATE
All Programs Suspended
Following the abrupt termination of federal NEH funding, California Humanities has suspended all programs and grant cycles until further notice. This includes our core initiatives:
- Humanities for All
- California Documentary Project
- Library Innovation Lab
- Literature & Medicine
- Emerging Journalist Fellowships
- Civics & Humanities
We’re doing everything we can to protect the future of the humanities in California. Learn more and get involved by visiting our Advocacy page.
Programs:
California Documentary Project
What do a Latina bicycle brigade in East LA, a young poet’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in Richmond, CA; Howard Jarvis, Proposition 13 and California 1970’s tax revolt; iconic photographer Dorothea Lange; and the reintegration of thousands of “lifers” following California’s amendment of its Three Strikes Law have in common?
Civics + Humanities Middle Grades
In 2022, the launch of two new grants for educators seeking to plan or implement civics and humanities projects with middle grades students marked a new milestone for California Humanities in empowering youth in their neighborhoods and classrooms.
Humanities for All is a new grant program that supports locally-initiated public humanities projects that respond to the needs and interests of Californians, encourage greater public participation in humanities programming, particularly by new and/or underserved audiences, and promotes understanding and empathy among all our state’s peoples in order to cultivate a thriving democracy.
America’s public libraries have played an important role in welcoming newcomers throughout our history. This program will build on that legacy by building capacity within California libraries to develop creative and innovative programs that will respond to the needs and circumstances of today’s immigrants and immigrant communities and foster more inclusive communities within our state.
Literature & Medicine is a nationally recognized humanities-based professional development program for health care workers that engages clinical staff members in reading and discussion programs facilitated by humanities scholars.
Initiatives:
In 2023 The National Endowment for the Humanities
named California Humanities as a funding recipient for its United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture initiative, which will support local programming to help combat the destructive effects of hate on our democracy and public safety.
Past Programs & Initiatives:
The Art of Storytelling exhibit series celebrates California’s rich cultural and artistic histories and dynamic changing demographics. Multi-generational storytelling and testimonials articulated in this exhibit through a variety of visual media. We launched this exhibit series in August 2016 in celebration of our first year in historic Swan’s Market in Oakland.
Through California on the Ballot, a series of virtual events, we reflect on what civic engagement currently looks like in California, examine its roots, and ask what changes might soon be in store.
To support the public humanities field and promote its recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, California Humanities organized and delivered a series of free online learning sessions in 2020-2022 aiming to build and rebuild the capacity of individuals and organizations to provide relevant, responsive, and engaging humanities programs.
To celebrate over 40 years of grant making, programming, and partnerships that connect Californians to each other, we invited a group of prominent Californians to explore what the humanities mean to them.
