California Humanities
/OVERVIEW: California Humanities supports arts and culture, film, libraries and other humanities topics throughout the state of California.
IP TAKE: This is an accessible and approachable California-centric funder with clear requirements and deadlines. New grantseekers will want to plan ahead to ensure their materials are in order when the application window opens for the program in which they are interested. If your project does not exclusively focus on California, look elsewhere for support. A
PROFILE: Established in 1975, California Humanities is an independent nonprofit organization and partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It has locations in Oakland and Los Angeles, California. The organization aims to “connect Californians to ideas and one another in order to understand our shared heritage and diverse cultures, inspire civic participation and shape our future.” California Humanities supports, produces and creates humanities-type projects and cultural experiences that encourage the exchange of ideas and expanding an understanding of the world. There are funding opportunities for film documentaries, libraries and local humanities projects. In general, grantmaking interests include arts and culture, literature, media, immigrants and storytelling.
Grants for Film
California Humanities supports “the research and development and production stages of film, audio, and digital media projects that seek to document California in all its complexity” through its California Documentary Project Grants. Funded film projects should focus on the humanities and target broad audiences via diverse types of media including radio and television broadcasts, podcasts, online distribution and interactive media, community screenings and discussions, in classrooms and libraries, at cultural centers, and film festivals.
Documentary funding falls into three categories. Research and Development Grants are for up to $10,000 and support documentary projects in the early stages of development. Funded projects must engage at least two humanities advisors to assist with research and help contextualize subject matter. Production Grants fund up to $50,000 and support projects in the production stage. Grants are awarded based on review of works-in-progress, and past funded production grant projects can be found here.
NextGen Grants fund projects up to $15,000 and support documentarians age 18 and under. Applications must come “from California-based nonprofit organizations and public agencies with established track records in youth media programming to provide training and support to emerging mediamakers in the creation of short, insightful nonfiction films and/or podcasts that tell original stories about life in California today. Previously funded NextGen projects are listed here.
Grants for Libraries
California Humanities’ Library Innovation Lab Grants fund works to “provide welcoming experiences for immigrants and foster more inclusive communities” by “provid[ing] a nine-month practice-based professional development experience (and cash grants of up to $5,000) to ten participating library programmers each year.”
See a list of previously funded Library Innovation Lab projects here.
Grants for Humanities Research
This funder’s Humanities for All Project Grants seek “to promote understanding and empathy among all our state’s peoples in order to cultivate a thriving democracy” by encouraging “greater public participation in humanities programming, particularly by new and/or underserved audiences.” The programs project grants are awarded twice a year and provide up to two years of support. Grants fund projects from $10,000 to $25,000 in a variety of formats, including: “virtual and in-person interpretive exhibits, community dialogue and discussion series, workshops and participatory activities, presentations and lectures, conversations and forums, and interactive and experiential activities.” View past grant recipients here.
Humanities for All Quick Grants are micro grants of between $1,000 and $5,000, awarded to smaller public humanities projects across a variety of formats. Applicants’ projects must be “grounded in the humanities, show potential to provide high quality humanities learning experiences for participants and audiences, and demonstrate capacity for successful implementation.”
Aside from grant amounts and project duration, a significant difference between Project Grants and Quick Grants is that the former “must be matched with an equivalent amount of cash or in-kind resources over the life of the project” and the latter do not have this requirement.
Important Grant Details:
Grant amounts vary across programs, and each has its own deadlines, FAQ, and requirements, so new grantseekers should look over the program pages carefully. Current application deadlines are as follows:
CDP Production. Applications open on September 1 and close on November 1.
CDP Research and Development. Applications open on September 1 and close November 1.
CDP NextGen grants. Applications open January 1 and close March 1.
Humanities for All. Applications for the first grant cycle open on June 1 and close on August 1. Applications for the second grant cycle open on December 2 and close on February 1 of the following year.
Humanities for All Quick grant. Applications for the first cycle of grants open on May 14 and close on June 15. Applications for the second cycle open on September 15 and close on October 17.
Library Innovation Lab grant. Applications open on January 1 and close on March 1.
Application deadlines are subject to change. Apply via the online Grant Portal.
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