You Are Now Entering a Democracy Reimagined

Elizabeth Alexander led a discussion about what the humanities can offer us in the upcoming presidential election and the crucial role they play in driving civic engagement in American communities.

Civic Engagement and the Determined Hope of the Humanities

Portrait of Claudia Peña

Sometimes we argue. But that’s an important part of the work, right? We insist on that collaborative approach, and I think that’s why we make pretty awesome things.

It’s a Multivocal America. What Does That Mean to You?

Archiving Student Activism Means More than You Think

Living History From One Generation to the Next with the SNCC Legacy Project

For CNN.com, Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander writes about the legacy of voting and civic engagement across generations.

Op-Ed: My family taught me ‘the act of voting is democracy made manifest’

A Nonpartisan Initiative Empowers College Students to Go ALL IN as Voters and Engaged Citizens

Explore how our grantees honor our multivocal national identity

In 2018, the artist collective For Freedoms commissioned billboards in all 50 states to encourage voting. The pictured billboard, installed in New Orleans, reconceives illustrator and painter Normal Rockwell’s Four Freedoms series by depicting a more inclusive American electorate. Photo: courtesy For Freedoms

A highway billboard stands above a tree line and depicts four artist-created images that reference a set of historical illustrations

Multivocality

National Arts and Humanities Month

Follow us as we explore the idea of “Multivocality” and how it could change the way we think about democracy.

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

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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. 

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" 

University Everywhere

Two scholars dressed in all black face the camera.

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Mission

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History

Grantmaking areas

Grantmaking Areas

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People

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Financials

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News

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Events