Wyoming Humanities: Spark Grant

Overview

ABOUT WYOMING HUMANITIES

Wyoming Humanities is our state’s affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and an independent 501(c)3 non-profit governed by a board of private citizens who believe the humanities can help us better understand the issues of our times.

Founded in 1970 in response to the National Arts and Humanities Act of 1965 enacted by President Lyndon B. Johnson, we are one of 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils. Wyoming was one of the first states to implement this independent nonprofit model to provide public humanities programs for our citizens.

Our purpose is to use the humanities to strengthen our democracy, enhance the Wyoming narrative, and promote engaged communities. We bring together public and private funding to accomplish our goals and are a statewide organization that strives to serve all 23 counties and 99 communities of Wyoming every year.

SPARK Grants

Projects may start a minimum of 30 days after grant application due date. Applicants will hear decision within approximately 15 days of due date.

The project must be humanities centered. The humanities encompass the study of all our forms of human cultural expression: our history, arts, literature, philosophy, religion, laws, cultural studies, and languages. These break down further into subsets such as ecological humanities and gender studies. However, projects like arts performances that do not have a Q&A or talk-back session to delve into the meaning and context of the experience of art fall into the realm of Wyoming Arts Council funding.

The program must be built around a public event. If the project isn’t about directly engaging a public audience (through outreach components like lectures, documentaries, digital medias, curated exhibits, moderated film series, etc.) then it is probably not a fit for Wyoming Humanities funding. For the same reason, Wyoming Humanities strongly prefers to support public events that do not charge admission.

Examples of SPARK Grants projects include

* A storytelling circle at the Big Horn Folk Festival.
* A live play reading and discussion series by Relative Theatrics.
* A panel discussion with two Apsaalooke (Crow) tribal members and two Wyoming lawyers to discuss the Apsaalooke religious connection to Heart Mountain and how that relationship plays out today in legal and social justice work in Wyoming.
* Humanities scholars accompanying a regional tour of a dance interpretation of Ellis Island oral histories. The scholars gave lectures at high schools and facilitated post-performance discussions on immigration, both broadly and specific to Wyoming’s rich immigrant history.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

* You must have a state or federally recognized nonprofit group or state agency (library, school, college, museum), with a valid tax EIN and DUNs number to receive funds to sponsor the grant and manage the funds. We can only fund registered non-profits.
* The project must have a humanities professional in a central role. The humanities professional’s expertise should be appropriate for the project.
* All Wyoming Humanities grant funds must be matched 1:1 with non-Federal dollars. This match can be both in cash and in-kind.

Ineligibility

* We will not fund research projects.