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

Letras Boricuas fellows Margarita Pintado (left), Joserramón “Che” Melendes, and Sergio Gutiérrez gathered in Puerto Rico for a fellowship convening. Credit: Alberto Bartolomei, courtesy of Flamboyan Foundation

An elder writer sits on a couch speaking to a young woman on his right and a young man on his left.

The $25,000 Fellowship will begin accepting applications in March 2024. The Fellowship is projected to support 100 writers over five years, awarding over $2.5 million in total.

Five Years & 100 Writers: Letras Boricuas Fellowship Expands 

How can intellectual and imaginative communities transcend the experience of incarceration?

Event Imagining Freedom

Originally livestreamed on February 23, 2023. This event included Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander, Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Mitchell S. Jackson, and Jesse Krimes.

Imagining Freedom

Ask difficult questions. Think deeply and critically about the answers. Keep looking for more. Listen to others. Don’t stop investigating. The words matter.

I have to understand how politicians think, what sorts of policy outcomes are plausible, what the best current science tells us.

I know that lived experience is the result of interconnectivity. My studies in the humanities enabled me to think through these connections and take them seriously.

Literature has moved me, transfixed my spirit, and helped me feel seen.

Listen to your biggest questions. Let them surface. Play with them in various modalities and contexts with those you trust.

Even people who might have loathed studying history in textbooks in classrooms often display a natural curiosity once immersed in a story.

My humanities studies shaped my perspective, deepened my understanding of social issues, and influenced my commitment to public service.

Photo: Michael Tyrone Delaney for Mellon Foundation

Three students in a college library stand in the stacks of books with a large book covering their faces

From a CNN senior editor to a museum president, meet seven professionals making waves in the world who say they’ve succeeded thanks to their advanced humanities degrees.

Where Can a PhD Take You?

By providing valuable dollars that invest in early-career scholars, we are lowering the risk of engaging in transformational research about the human condition.

PPFP really is a very powerful engine for transforming the professoriate of the future.



Mark A. Lawson directs the University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, which promotes advancement of diverse faculty across the UC system. He was also a fellow himself. 

A person in a navy suit and gray tie and a fedora hat with a brown and gray beard and black shoes sitting beside a lampost on the steps of a columned building

Proof of Concept at the University of California

Headshot of Paul Farber

The Mellon Foundation announced that curator, historian, educator, and Monument Lab Director Paul M. Farber will join its Board of Trustees.

Monument Lab Director Paul M. Farber to Join Mellon Foundation’s Board of Trustees

Mellon M Logo Haymarket Announcement 2024

Announcing the inaugural cohort for the newly established Writing Freedom Fellowship—a program to support writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction impacted by the criminal legal system.

Introducing the Inaugural ‘Writing Freedom’ Fellows

Photo: courtesy of Xavier University of Louisiana

An African American man with a beard in a cap and gown holding up his diploma at a graduation ceremony

The second cohort of ten institutions has received more than $14 million in grants to support undergraduate humanities study.

“Humanities for All Times” Initiative Surpasses $30 Million in Funding

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

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Crystal Wilkinson 1 Poem

Crystal Wilkinson 32 Carsen Bryant

I hate that she always reminds me of all she’s done for Love.

Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

Marcelo Hernandez Castillo 1 Yolanda Herrejon

You called it cutting apart, I called it a song.

Michele Scott

Michele Scott 02

Within these moments of observation, I am not thinking about this place . . . I’m distracted from the truth that another year has passed in this place.

A hand holding a pen reaches toward a piece of paper set among a design with flowers and birds on a black and dark purple background

Freedom, Put in Writing

Artists as Catalysts

Artists as Catalysts Navigation Image

Beyond Incarceration

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

Civic Engagement

Civic engagement navigation image - A large crowd of people who are far away and anonymous

Evolving Higher Education

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

Expanding Public Knowledge

Expanding Public Knowledge Navigation Image

Monuments and Memory

A large statue of a confederate general is covered in markings and graffiti. 

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" 