Time Limited Grant Opportunities

California Humanities accepts applications to the Humanities for All Quick Grants Program three times per year.

Humanities for All Quick Grants support high quality humanities learning experiences for the public that draw upon the methods and insights of the humanities, foster greater understanding among people, and invite thoughtful reflection and consideration of topics important to Californians, in keeping with the California Humanities mission. Projects should be grounded in the humanities, show potential to provide high quality humanities learning experiences for participants and audiences, and demonstrate capacity for successful implementation. Appropriate formats include but are not limited to community conversations and dialogues; lectures, forums, and performances (with interpretive elements); reading- or film-and-discussion programs; story-collection and -sharing projects; hands-on workshops led by humanities experts; and other types of participatory and interactive humanities experiences.

Public humanities programs provide opportunities for people to experience, engage with, and participate in the humanities outside formal academic settings. The humanities encompass a wide range of activities that enable us to understand, explore, and communicate about the human experience, including such common or “everyday” activities as reading, conversation, and reflection, as well as the “expert” practices of scholars, culture bearers, and humanities professionals (curators, researchers, writers, journalists). In academic settings, the humanities most frequently find application in the disciplines of history, literature, art history and criticism, philosophy, folklore, cultural studies, religious studies, ethics, jurisprudence, and the social sciences.

California Humanities has a special interest in expanding public participation and access to the humanities. Accordingly, we encourage efforts to reach and engage new and historically underserved audiences for humanities programs (e.g. young adults, low-income people, communities of color, historically marginalized social groups, rural communities). We are also interested in supporting activities that will bring together people of different backgrounds, life circumstances, and perspectives to explore commonalities as well as differences of experience.