NASA Space Shuttle Artifacts Available for Libraries

The Institute of Museum and Library Services invites museums and libraries to apply for free NASA space shuttle artifacts, including small items such as astronaut helmets, gloves, and boots, and large items such as shuttle motion-based simulators and crew compartment trainers. NASA will retire the Space Shuttle Program at the end of 2010, and seeks to help the public learn about space exploration through museum and library exhibitions.

The artifacts are free, but eligible recipients must cover shipping and special handling fees. Shipping fees on smaller items will be relatively inexpensive, while larger items may involve extensive disassembly, preparation, shipping, and reassembly costs.

Date due: November 29, 2009; January 2010 (TBD)

For more information, click here.

Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) invites applications to the Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants program. These grants should result in plans, prototypes, or proofs of concept for long-term digital humanities projects prior to implementation.

Amount: $5,000 - $25,000 (Level I); $25,001 - $50,000 (Level II)

Date due: March 23, 2010

Two levels of awards are available: (1) Level I awards are small grants designed to fund brainstorming sessions, workshops, early alpha-level prototypes, and initial planning; (2) Level II awards are larger grants that can be used for more fully-formed projects that are ready to begin implementation or the creation of working prototypes.

For more information, click here.

Institutes for Advanced Topics in Digital Humanities

These NEH grants support national or regional (multistate) training programs for scholars and advanced graduate students to broaden and extend their knowledge of digital humanities. Through these programs, NEH seeks to increase the number of humanities scholars using digital technology in their research and to broadly disseminate knowledge about advanced technology tools and methodologies relevant to the humanities.

Amount: $50,000 - $250,000

Date due: February 17, 2010

The projects may be a single opportunity or offered multiple times to different audiences. Institutes may be as short as a few days and held at multiple locations or as long as six weeks at a single site. The duration of a program should allow for full and thorough treatment of the topic.

For more information, click here.

National Museum of the American Indian Grants Programs

The National Museum of the American Indian's Indigenous Contemporary Arts Programoffers support to a wide range of arts activities with the goal of increasing the knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of contemporary Native American arts. The NMAI considers the recognition of living artists of the Western Hemisphere and Hawaii to be of primary importance and will give awards to projects that strengthen the scholarship in this underserved field and create opportunities for new and innovative work.

Amount: $7,500 - $15,000

Date due: January 11, 2010

NMAI's Exhibitions and Publications program awards grants of $7,500 to $15,000 to support exhibitions, installations, publications, and critical writing that interpret and present the work of contemporary Native visual artists to the public and encourage dialogue and critical commentary. At least one-half of the proposed project team (artists, authors, curators, etc.) must be Native American or Native Hawaiian.

NMAI's Expressive Arts program awards grants of up to $10,000 to support the creation and presentation of new works through the collaboration of two or more Native artists. Awards will specifically support the creation of new works for public performance that may include, but is not limited to, music, dance, spoken word, electronic media, costume design, mask making, set design, performance art, photography, painting, and other forms of expressive culture. The award is open to all indigenous peoples who hold citizenship in the Americas.

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Interpreting America's Historic Places: Planning Grants

Interpreting America’s Historic Places grants support public humanities projects that exploit the evocative power of historic places to explore stories, ideas, and beliefs that deepen our understanding of our lives and our world. The Division of Public Programs supports the development of humanities content and interactivity that excite, inform, and stir thoughtful reflection upon culture, identity, and history in creative and new ways. Interpreting America’s Historic Places projects may interpret a single historic site or house, a series of sites, an entire neighborhood, a town or community, or a larger geographical region. Grants for Interpreting America’s Historic Places should encourage dialogue, discussion, and civic engagement, and they should foster learning among people of all ages. To that end, the Division of Public Programs urges applicants to consider more than one format for presenting humanities ideas to the public.

Amount: $40,000 - $75,000

Date due: January 13, 2010

Planning grants are available for those projects that may need further development before applying for implementation. This planning can include the identification and refinement of the project’s main humanities ideas and questions, consultation with scholars in order to strengthen the humanities content, preliminary audience evaluation, preliminary design of the proposed interpretive formats, beta testing of digital formats, development of complementary programming, research at archives or sites whose resources might be used, or the drafting of interpretive materials.

For more information, click here.