Presidential Initiatives

The arts and humanities can move us closer to justice, lifting up historically underserved and overlooked communities.

An illustration of a person's head with a tree growing out of it.

The Foundation’s Presidential Initiatives support a wide range of creativity, culture, and knowledge production and dissemination in defined topical areas. Our three current initiatives are grounded in the arts and humanities and address some of the most pressing issues of the day. Across our grantmaking, we partner with organizations, governments, and community-based groups to advance projects that elevate multivocal perspectives, facilitate creative expression, and nurture human potential.

Signature initiatives

Imagining Freedom

A $125 million commitment to support artistic, cultural, and humanistic work that centers the voices and knowledge of people impacted by the US criminal legal system.

Learn more about Imagining Freedom

Puerto Rico

An ongoing commitment to strengthen Puerto Rico’s vibrant artistic, cultural knowledge, and memory ecosystems, and the individuals who work within them, both on the archipelago and in the diaspora, with more than $50 million in grants to date.

Learn more about our Puerto Rico grantmaking

The Monuments Project

A $500 million commitment to expand and explore fully the nation’s commemorative landscape by supporting public projects that reflect the breadth and complexity of American stories and communities.

Learn more about The Monuments Project

Grantmaking in focus

A Black man identified as the artist Theaster Gates wearing a white shirt and dark pants sits on a stool covered with a tarp
Riverfront Development Corporation
A ‘Monument to Listening’ Explores History by Asking for Dialogue
Gif of an intricately painted totem pole in red and green set in front of a harbor with four cruise ships anchored in it
Sealaska Heritage Institute
Explore Kootéeyaa Deiyí, the growing totem trail on Alaska’s waterfront

Mellon makes grants to support visionary work in communities.

About our grantmaking process