Illinois Humanities COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants
Illinois Humanities COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants provide funding to humanities and cultural non-profit organizations that are experiencing financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Illinois Humanities COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants
View a list of the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants Award Recipients
Program Description
Illinois Humanities is committed to ensuring access to free, high-quality humanities experiences throughout Illinois. COVID-19 has put an unprecedented strain on non-profit organizations in Illinois and on the people who make public humanities happen. With the support of funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities through the CARES Act, Illinois Humanities COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants will provide $635,000 in general operating and program support to humanities and cultural nonprofits throughout Illinois. The deadline for general operating support is May 15th at 5 PM and the deadline for program support is June 15th at 5 PM.
The main goals of the Illinois Humanities COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants are to:
1) Provide emergency relief support for humanities-based organizations throughout the state who are impacted by COVID-19;
2) Help enable humanities-based organizations to innovate, adapt, and strengthen access to their programming;
3) Support humanities-based efforts to make community experiences during the pandemic visible and highlight resiliency throughout the state.
If you have further questions, reach out to Mark Hallett, Director of Grant Programs, at mark.hallett@ilhumanities.org.
General Operating Support
Illinois Humanities will provide $475,000 in emergency relief general operating grants for humanities and cultural non-profit organizations with budgets up to $1.5M impacted by COVID-19. Two funding pools are available: one designated for organizations based within Cook County and one designated for organizations based outside Cook County. The deadline for general operating support applications is 5 PM on May 15th.
Guidelines
Eligibility
Apply
Program Innovation and Adaptation
Deadline: June 15th at 5 PM
Illinois Humanities will be awarding $100,000 in program innovation and adaptation grants to support the efforts of humanities-based organizations to innovate, adapt, and strengthen programming. Examples of this type of support include (but are not limited to): efforts to digitize or archive content; moving programs to virtual platforms; community engagement; closed-captioning, translation, and other accessibility efforts for digital and virtual content; involving humanists to develop new content or public programs. The deadline for program innovation and adaptation support is 5 PM on June 15th.
Guidelines
Eligibility
Apply
Community Resilience
Deadline: June 30th at 5 PM
Illinois Humanities will be awarding $60,000 in Community Resilience project grants. The goal of this grant category is to support organizations in using the humanities to make visible the experiences of residents during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight stories of community resiliency throughout the state. Grant funds may be used to cover operating, documentation, and program accessibility expenses, and to pay storytellers, scholars, writers, humanists, artists, musicians, photographers, interviewees, or other individuals participating in the project. Ten projects will be funded across the entire state of Illinois.
Examples of this type of support include (but are not limited to): Pairing artists and writers to capture stories and create a poster series; creating a photo essay with reflection questions; engaging a storyteller to implement a program that enables members of a community to reflect on their experiences during COVID-19; publishing an Instagram series paired with quotes from community members; pairing existing local history and cultural artifacts with reflective prompt questions that help people reflect on our current moment; creating a listening station and curating an audio series. Funded projects need to document their story-capturing process and resulting projects must be available to the public and shareable.
This grant takes inspiration from community history and public humanities and art efforts including Paper Monuments; One Poem at A Time; Fill the Walls with Hope; the Pulitzer Center’s “Mother of Mothers”; and the national Works Progress Administration posters.
Strong applications will be informed by the history and specificity of each place or community and draw on local and/or community assets. The deadline for community resilience support is 5 PM on June 30th.
Guidelines
Eligibility
Apply
Frequently Asked Questions
What sorts of activities will the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants support?
What do you mean exactly when you say a humanities organization?
How do you define the humanities?
How are you defining community?
Are groups able to apply to more than one COVID-19 Illinois Humanities Emergency Relief Grants opportunity?
Are individuals eligible for any of the grants being announced at this time?
If a group is a nonprofit but not a 501c3, will it qualify for support? ?
What will be the reporting requirements for COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants?
Will Illinois Humanities continue with its normal grants programs during this period?
Additional Resources
Additional COVID-19 Relief resources for humanities and cultural organizations include:
Illinois Arts Council Agency CARES Act Grants
Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity – Emergency Small Business Grants and Loans
Forefront COVID-19 Philanthropic Fund List
The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events: COVID-19 Arts Community Resources includes an extensive list of national funders and resources.
Artist Relief: Emergency Grants for Artists
National Endowment for the Humanities – CARES Act: Cultural Organizations Funding Opportunity