Mellon welcomes inquiries from organizations whose work aligns with our current strategies

Theaster Gates, shown here, wants local Memphian hero Tom Lee to be remembered as “a human who saw other human lives as equally valuable, if not more valuable, than his own.”

A Black man identified as the artist Theaster Gates wearing a white shirt and dark pants sits on a stool covered with a tarp

An “Anti-Monument” Explores History by Asking for Dialogue

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The organization’s multi-discipline approach to civic planning merges the fields of architecture, urbanism, political theory, as well as visual arts and the humanities.

The structures featured in all four of the program’s community stations are co-designed with learning provided by the occupants and students that utilize the spaces.

Partnerships with non-profits well-invested in the stations’ unique habitats provide connections to building materials beneficial to the environment and the local economy.

The university’s proximity to challenges faced along this border allows its students to be on the forefront of climate resilience issues that increase as temperatures rise.

Each station features structures and programming specific to the community it serves; all are described as sanctuary spaces for the protection of both people and nature.

The project’s programming focuses on young people as the cross-border citizens of the future.

A low rectangular building with a window sits in front of a deep blue painted wall with a door and security camera on it

Building Borderland Resources with Each Other in Mind

Built by Arthur George Gaston, the A.G. Gaston Motel welcomed travelers and also became a site of change and advancements of civil rights for all Americans. Courtesy of The Historical Preservation Authority of the City of Birmingham

A vintage gas motel sign featuring a bright neon display that reads "A.G. Gas Motel" against a night sky backdrop.

Reviving a Historic Site in Alabama’s Fight for Racial Justice

Team members from the Asian Arts Initiative, a multidisciplinary arts center located in Philadelphia’s Chinatown North. Photo: Alexander Saladrigas for Mellon Foundation

Five people stand together for a photograph. They are laughing and smiling. 

Multivocality

The Mellon Foundation announced more than $14 million in funding to support thirty colleges and universities across the nation to develop humanities-grounded research and curricular projects.

Mellon Foundation Awards 14M+ for Humanities-Grounded Research and Curricular Projects

The home and studio of Robert T. Coles was designed and built in 1961 to be oriented away from Humboldt Parkway—the parkway-turned-highway along which it sits. 

A front view of a yellow and gray two storied modern rectangular house 

Mid-Century Marvel

Major arts organizations and philanthropists today announced the LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, an emergency relief fund for artists and arts workers impacted by the Los Angeles fires. 

Mellon Moves with Coalition to Activate LA Fire Relief Fund

The Video Lab at the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Center processes moving images recorded on aging VR2000 Quad and Sony ½” EIAJ VTRs. Photo: Stefan Ruiz for Mellon Foundation

An interior room filled with audio and video equipment 

Expanding Public Knowledge

Photos and artifacts from the Shorefront archive. Photo: Dino Robinson 

Photos and artifacts from the Shorefront archive

The Mellon Foundation invites community-based archives in the United States and its territories to submit applications for general operating support.

Call for Proposals to Community-Based Archives

It took more than a decade to rehabilitate the home that had once been targeted for demolition. They were able to do so thanks largely to a $1.6 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.



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Trailblazing lawyer and activist’s legacy is preserved inside a historic home in Durham, NC

The University of Memphis (UofM) and University of South Florida (USF) have announced $4.9 and $4.8 million grants each from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in support of humanities programs.

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Mellon Foundation awards grants for humanities majors, undergraduates

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Arts Groups and Donors Create Fire Relief Fund for Los Angeles Artists

The Mellon Foundation announced a $1 million grant to Under the Radar, the trailblazing experimental theater and performance festival to support continued artistic and institutional growth.

Under the Radar Festival Receives $1 Million from Mellon

Mellon makes grants to support communities through the power of the arts and humanities

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Sean Sherman

If we start to learn from diverse Indigenous communities … that have deep connections to our land, there is a future for our humanity.

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NATIFS is an organization that asks: What would it look like to decolonize our diets? 

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Where Is All the Native Food?

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Artists as Catalysts

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Beyond Incarceration

A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.

Borderlands Cultures

In portrait orientation, an aerial view of a major highway running parallel to a large border wall set on a hilly landscape

Civic Engagement

A man in a brown jacket stands in front of blue bulletin board that is covered with papers and advertisements  

Evolving Higher Education

A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.

Monuments and Memory

A multicolored painted totem pole set in front of a foggy forest landscape

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 

Where Is All the Native Food?

Mellon makes grants to support communities through the power of the arts and humanities

Our community in focus

An “Anti-Monument” Explores History by Asking for Dialogue