Last year, we at the Mellon Foundation looked directly at American society and asked how we could make it more just. As demonstrated across all four of our program areas—Higher Learning, Arts and Culture, Public Knowledge, and Humanities in Place—and through my grantmaking portfolio as Mellon’s president, we are a forward-looking social justice philanthropy, a leading voice in the arts, culture, and humanities, and a problem-solving foundation determined to right historic wrongs in the fields we fund. In 2022, we considered the impacts of the early pandemic phases and sustained democratic upheaval in the United States, and asked how we could best work together, best support our new and ongoing grantees, and best achieve, collectively, justice in our country in the years ahead. 

To do that, we knew we had to get out—out of our Zoom boxes, out of New York City, and out across the land. With rigorous reflection and subsequent action, we upheld a razor-sharp precision in our focus and our funding. We updated and expanded our physical infrastructure, our best practices, and our collaborative partnerships. Just as we looked at the state of our country with a critical eye and interrogative resolve, so too did we look at how we at Mellon operate as an organization. We looked inward, so we could open outward.    

As we opened our doors, the velocity of our determination to do more, and to do better, drove our grantmaking. In Puerto Rico, we reinforced our commitment to funding arts, culture, and humanities institutions and organizations in both the archipelago and the diaspora, including the second cohort of our literary fellow program, Letras Boricuas. Crucially, we also deployed emergency funds in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona. Emergency grantmaking was central to our expansive funding strategies in 2020 and 2021; in 2022 it became more targeted and intentional, so we can continue being responsive and impactful when emergencies among our grantee communities arise.  

We built upon our work in the dynamic borderlands of the United States and Mexico, highlighting Arts and Culture and Higher Learning grantees throughout the region in a public program on *Humanities and the Border*, and affirming our support for indigenous grantees such as the Seven Generations Signature Initiative and the Firekeepers, a program under the auspices of our Public Knowledge grantmaking area that champions indigenous memory keeping. And from Acadia to Zion, under the auspices of Higher Learning and Humanities in Place, we funded postdoctoral fellowships in US national parks, centering multivocality and illuminating the many different stories present in these vital public spaces.


What lessons do Puerto Rico’s creatives and thinkers offer today—and for the future? 

Daniel Lind-Ramos. Courtesy: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

A male artist wearing glasses and a red button down shirt over a black tee shirt stands in front of an art installation

“Ireichō in blue room.” Photo: Doug Mukai

"Ireichō book" sits on a blue pedestal. A series of vertical slats with names of formerly incarcerated people of Japanese descent hangs on the wall.

Kinfolk Foundation. Photo: Stefan Ruiz for Mellon Foundation

Two people, one sitting and one standing, in a living room are using a laptop and VR glasses 

As we opened our doors, the velocity of our determination to do more, and to do better, drove our grantmaking.

We invite you to view a full list of our grantee partners who were awarded grants in 2022.

In her annual letter, Elizabeth Alexander, president of Mellon Foundation, highlights the Foundation's activities in 2022, with related financials, grantmaking, and other notes.

2022 heading

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Pima County, Arizona. Photo: Cassidy Araiza

A fence runs along a sand road with cacti in the distance at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Pima County Arizona. 

Jesse Krimes, “Purgatory, 2009,” detail. Courtesy of the artist

Jesse Krimes artwork, Purgatory, 2009, is a grid of images of faces from the newspaper that are transferred onto prison-issued bars of soap

Joy Harjo. Photo: Julien Lienard/Contour by Getty Images

A portrait of Joy Harjo, a Native American woman wearing all black, with tattoos on her right hand and wearing red boots

Asian Arts Initiative team members. Photo: Alexander Saladrigas for Mellon Foundation

Five people of different genders stand together to post for a photo

A train shed in Shockhoe Bottom in Richmond, Virginia. Photo: Julie Ehrlich for Mellon Foundation

A large, empty train shed with visible beams in the ceiling opens to the outdoors

2021 Annual Report (PDF)

2020 Annual Report (PDF)

2019 Annual Report

Office of the President

Photo: Sharif Hamza for Mellon Foundation

Headshot of Elizabeth Alexander

President

Elizabeth Alexander

The arts, culture, and humanities are liberatory forces that are a means to empowerment and enlightenment.

EA bio audio

A Celebration of the Arts and Humanities

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" 