The humanities in our everyday lives: a special “connections” emphasis in program grant awards
The humanities help us make connections in our lives: connections between people, generations, ideas, the past and the present, and academic subjects and everyday life.
Humanities Nebraska’s strategic plan emphasizes ways in which we want to help people make connections:
- Prioritizing experiential, participatory approaches
- Empowering voices to share new (or new to us) stories
- Forming human connections across differences through well-facilitated, positive community dialogue
- Reaching new audiences and sectors
- Engaging more people through enhanced digital offerings
Humanities Nebraska is encouraging nonprofit organizations to apply for program grants that explore humanities connections in new and active ways.
We will prioritize well-planned project proposals that have a strong humanities focus and address at least one of the following connections:
- Connecting a traditional humanities subject area (like history, literature, culture, philosophy) with a non-humanities subject area (like environmental science, healthcare, agricultural science, law enforcement). These lists of topics are not exclusive. Please note: we consider pairing the arts with the humanities to be a traditional connection.
- Connecting a traditional humanities organization (like a museum or college/university) with a nontraditional project partner (like a social service organization or community club).
- Connecting audiences with humanities topics through hands-on, experiential programming.
- Connecting people with varying backgrounds and perspectives through well-facilitated, structured dialogue across differences.
- Connecting people and stories through innovative digital engagement, such as new media, virtual reality, interactive maps, or Artificial Intelligence.
Examples of recently-funded connections projects include:
- An arts organization organized a hands-on cooking demonstration paired with a facilitated cultural conversation.
- A college hosted an artist talk with a photojournalist in conjunction with an exhibition that included an interactive component allowing visitors to explore the editorial process of photo selection.
- Multiple partners including universities, food banks, and faith organizations hosted a films-and-discussion series and a visit to a community garden.
- A summer honors course for high school students used Artificial Intelligence to explore philosophy.
- A community festival hosted living history reenactors who demonstrated horseback cavalry drills, participated in audience Q&A, and held one-on-one conversations with visitors at a period encampment.
- An economic and community development organization partnered with a historian to develop an exhibit on the history of a redeveloping neighborhood.
Usual grant requirements apply
Please refer to the Grant Application Requirements page for full details on grant requirements, for a link to the online grant application system, and for contact information for Humanities Nebraska grants staff members, who are happy to answer your questions.
While applications exploring the connections theme will be given priority, HN grants will remain competitive and open to other humanities projects.
Humanities Nebraska embraces inclusive grantmaking. We encourage submissions of projects that address the experiences of diverse and underrepresented groups in Nebraska public humanities programming. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, marital status, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, or sexual orientation.
Updated 8/2026
