Activate History Micro-Grants

Are you interested in hosting a public dialogue in your community? Would it bring Illinoisans together to explore and share ideas?

Illinois Humanities launched the Activate History micro-grants program in early 2020 as a quick turnaround funding opportunity, in response to the dearth of available grants for individuals and smaller organizations to host engaging programs featuring archives and collections. *Featured photograph by Rose Blouin

Activate History micro-grants

In early 2020, Illinois Humanities launched a new micro-grants program, Activate History, in order to inspire and help enable those who have local collections of various kinds (archives, texts, photos, stories, etc) to explore creative ways for community members to become more engaged with them. We see this work as encouraging individual curiosity and connections to local history; as celebrating the efforts of amateur and other local historians; and as an avenue for growing the outreach efforts of local collections– all of which helps bolster community identity. Illinois Humanities has designed this micro-grants program to be accessible with a quick turnaround, in response to the dearth of available funds for individuals and smaller entities to host discussions on history and related matters.

For any questions about the grants cycle, please contact Mark Hallett, director of grant programs, at mark.hallett@ilhumanities.org.

Previously Awarded Organizations

To date, Illinois Humanities has made 144 awards through its micro-grants programs.

Note: Some organizations have received more than one micro-grant award.