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

“El Portal del Yunque: Presence and Lichen” by Ivelisse Jiménez is part of the NATURA exhibition placed along the Science and Conservation Trail of El Portal visitor center in the El Yunque National Forest. The artwork brings lichen to enormous scale using acrylic sheeting and paint.

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Natural Selections

Kootéeyaa Deiyí Totem Pole Project 

Two totem poles dot the shoreline and point visitors to Kootéeyaa Deiyí, the Totem Pole Trail, in Juneau, Alaska.

Gif of an intricately painted totem pole in red and green set in front of a harbor with four cruise ships anchored in it

Explore Kootéeyaa Deiyí, the growing totem trail on Alaska’s waterfront

We are able to collectively get all this history together and make context out of it, but we rely on our community for its history.

In centering voices that have often been sidelined and silenced, we challenge the status quo.

The Legacy of Black Life on the North Shore

Father and Son Banquet at the Emerson YMCA, circa 1917. Photo: courtesy of Helen Cromer Cooper

A gathering of African American men and boys seated at a formal dinner in the early 20th century

The Nation’s First Municipal Reparations Program, Grounded in Black History

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Creativity and Cultures in the Borderlands

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The Mellon Foundation announced the Frontera Culture Fund, a $25 million commitment to support the work of artists and cultural leaders in the U.S.- Mexico border region and tribal communities.  

Mellon Announces the Frontera Culture Fund

“Red Flag/Bandera Roja,” 2013, by Veronica Duarte. Photo courtesy of MexiCali Biennial by Ed Gomez

An extra long Mexican flag hanging from a holder on a white wall inside of a gallery space

A Moveable Feast That’s Transforming Boundaries 

The Republic has received $300,000 in grant funding from the Mellon Foundation. Mr. Wale Lawal, the founder of the Republic noted this in a public announcement.

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The Republic Receives $300,000 Grant from the Mellon Foundation

A grant of $800,000 from the Mellon Foundation will support the American Composers Orchestra in expanding its national EarShot activities.

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Mellon Foundation Awards $2.4 Million To American Composers Orchestra & More

People love their histories, their legacies, their knowledge, their questions—and they want to share that…It is an ongoing learning opportunity.

Artist Hugh Hayden’s Brier Patch, installed on the North Vista at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC. Image courtesy of Dumbarton Oaks

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A new report out of Mellon’s Humanities in Place program shares early learning and fresh perspectives from an evolving field of practice: place-based grantmaking.

What’s in a Place? More than Geography 

Supported by a Mellon Foundation grant, a Brown historian teamed up with a Lakotan scholar to illuminate overlooked histories of fossil extraction on Native American lands.

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Studying fossil extraction on Native lands and exploring the depths of untold histories

A cross-section of a book is photographed up close in black and white

Public libraries are spaces to access books, information, and increasingly, critical community services. Emily Drabinski, president of ALA, shares experiences from libraries across the US.

Portrait of Emily Drabinsky

Associate Professor

Emily Drabinski

America’s Saving Spaces

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

Get news about what we are supporting and more by subscribing to our newsletter.

Photo: Camila Falquez for Mellon Foundation 

An aerial view of a major highway running parallel to a large border wall set on a hilly landscape

Borderlands Cultures

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.

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.

Expanding Public Knowledge

An interior room filled with audio and video equipment 

Monuments and Memory

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

Multivocality

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" 