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

With AR, you can just build your own monuments and place them wherever you want.

Kinfolk Executive Director idris Brewster (left); Chief Strategy Officer Micah Milner, right. 

Two people in a sunlit room. One person with a beard is perched on a stool; the other is standing next to the seated person. On the wall are framed works of art showing different figures.

New Technology Opens Doors to Meet People and Places of Our Past

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

The Ireichō, a sacred book that records the names of over 125,000 persons of Japanese ancestry who were unjustly imprisoned during World War II. On the wall behind the book are sotoba (wooden markers) with the names of and soil from each incarceration site. The installation is at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Carlos Jaramillo for the Mellon Foundation

A book sits open on a table in front of a navy blue wall with Japanese writing written on wooden planks

Launched in 2020, the Monuments Project supports projects that promote a fuller telling of the American story in public commemorative spaces.

The Monuments Project

The philanthropy will add to its ongoing initiative to tell diverse stories with new monuments in public spaces over the next five years.

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Mellon Foundation Doubles Funding for U.S. Monuments, Pledging a Total $500 Million

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Richmond Public Library to expand, modernize memory lab with new grant

Shonda Rhimes to honor Emmett Till's story

A $500 million funding initiative by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation aims to change the narrative told by America’s national monuments.

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A country’s monuments tells its stories. A $500M donation could diversify that history.

An initiative from the Mellon Foundation dedicated to creating monuments that tell diverse stories recently pledged to double its funding for the project.

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A foundation has doubled their $250 million pledge to diversify monuments in the U.S.

With support from Mellon, PRX announces “Monumental,” a podcast documentary series exploring how monuments reflect the story and realities of America

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New Podcast Documentary Series Explores How Monuments Reflect the Story and Realities of America

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

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An African American wearing blue glasses and a pastel patterned shirt Dr. Marvel Parker, Executive Director, Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley Institute, sitting at their desk with hands folded.

When Emmett went to Mississippi in 1955, he had no idea that he was going behind an invisible iron curtain.

Three Landmarks and a Story Forever Protected

A memorial wreath on a chair at the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, Illinois.

Three chairs set next to each other. The two on the ends have dark green fabric cushions. The middle is draped in a white cloth with a decorative floral wreath sitting propped up on it.

A series of historically significant sites relating to the Till family are now federally protected. To those who fought for this designation for years, it’s a monumental victory.

Forever Connected: The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument

A view inside a courthouse room set with rows of wooden chairs and sunlight coming in from the tall windows on the right side of the room

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.

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

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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" 