Grants

Past Grant Initiatives

Over the past fifty years, Humanities Texas has launched special grant initiatives with the assistance of the National Endowment for the Humanities to support Texas cultural and educational organizations in times of critical need.

2021 Relief Grants

In December 2021, Humanities Texas awarded over $2.3M in emergency funding to 262 Texas cultural and educational nonprofits affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Our 2021 Relief Grants were made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the American Rescue Plan.

Relief Grant recipients included museums, libraries, preservation organizations and heritage and cultural centers in 145 towns and cities across the state. These organizations administer humanities programs that have significant impact within their communities. Of the recipients, two-thirds had annual budgets of less than $300,000. Nearly half of the grants went to organizations in communities of 50,000 people or fewer.

This was Humanities Texas's second round of COVID-19 pandemic relief grants, the first of which we awarded through the CARES Act in spring 2020.

2021 Winter Storm Grants

In April 2021, Humanities Texas invited Texas cultural and educational institutions that suffered losses or damages to humanities collections or incurred costs related to resuming humanities programming that was postponed or cancelled as a result of the February 2021 winter storm, to apply for fast-track Recovery Grants. The application period for this grant line closed on April 30, 2021.

In July 2021, Humanities Texas awarded Winter Storm Grants totaling $134,352 to nineteen Texas organizations, including the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature (Abilene), the Heritage Museum of Montgomery County (Conroe), the Friends of the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, the Dallas Historical Society, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, the Community Development Corporation of Freedmen's Town (Houston), the Witte Museum (San Antonio), the Teatro De Artes De Juan Seguin (Seguin), the Maya Research Program (Tyler), and the Ellis County African American Hall Of Fame Museum & Library Inc. (Waxahachie).

2020 Relief Grants

In the spring and summer of 2020, Humanities Texas distributed over $1.1 million in emergency funding to 198 Texas cultural and educational nonprofits affected by the coronavirus pandemic. These Relief Grants were made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, received as part of the CARES Act and signed into law on March 27, 2020.

The application period for this grant line closed in June 2020.

2017 Hurricane Recovery Grants

In 2017, Humanities Texas awarded fifty-two Hurricane Recovery Grants totaling $200,000 to Texas organizations and institutions that suffered losses as a result of Hurricane Harvey. Humanities Texas administered the grants as quickly as possible in the aftermath of the storm. Grants supported cleanup, collection replacement, conservation work, professional consultation, and even basic institutional and operational costs, such as purchasing equipment and replacing inventory, shelving, and roofing.

For our work in administering this special Hurricane Recovery Grant initiative and for coordinating meetings and efforts of the Hurricane Harvey Task Force—which included representatives from FEMA, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, the Texas Historical Commission, and the Texas Library Association—the Texas Association of Museums presented Humanities Texas with its President’s Award in April 2018.

2008 Hurricane Recovery Grants

In 2008, with assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman’s Emergency Fund, Humanities Texas awarded $50,000 in grants to Texas cultural and educational organizations recovering from Hurricanes Dolly, Gustav, and Ike. Recovery grants supported collection replacement, conservation work, professional consultation, and institutional expenses such as replacing shelving and roofing. School and public libraries could request support to replace collection materials in such humanities fields as literature and history.

Humanities Texas awarded a total of thirty grants totaling $47,479. Recipients included cultural and educational institutions located along the Texas Gulf Coast from Beaumont to Galveston to San Benito.

2006 Hurricane Recovery and Book Replacement Grants

In 2006 and early 2007, with assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman’s Emergency Fund, Humanities Texas awarded more than $50,000 in grants to Texas cultural and educational organizations recovering from Hurricane Rita.

Cultural and educational organizations requested recovery grants of up to $5,000 for immediate needs resulting from the storm. Recovery grants supported collection replacement, conservation work, professional consultation, and even institutional expenses such as replacing shelving and roofing.

Texas public and school libraries that suffered losses to their collections as a result of the hurricane applied for book replacement grants of up to $1,000 to support collection development in such humanities fields as literature and history. Libraries could request an additional $500 to purchase materials that strengthen the teaching and study of U.S. history and culture. These additional funds were made possible by NEH's We the People initiative.

In all, Humanities Texas awarded thirty book replacement and recovery grants totaling $52,814. Recipients included libraries in Beaumont, Newton, and Port Neches; museums in Orange, Part Arthur and Woodville; and schools in Beaumont, Burkeville, Deweyville, Evadale, Groves, Hardin, Nederland, Orangefield, Port Arthur, and Silsbee.