The Alabama Humanities Alliance (AHA) has awarded $800,000 to 83 humanities-based nonprofits across the state.

The one-time grants support many of Alabama’s most cherished cultural landmarks and community resources as they continue to recover from the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

You can view the full list of grant recipients here.

Grant winners include museums, libraries and archives, historic sites, literacy groups, civic engagement organizations and others. Many are treasured institutions that serve as unifying gathering spots for their communities and provide invaluable resources for all Alabamians.

“Robust cultural organizations make Alabama a richer, smarter and more vibrant place to live and learn,” said Chuck Holmes, AHA executive director. “These grants will sustain the humanities in our communities and contribute to the state’s economic recovery in the months ahead.”

The Alabama Humanities Alliance received 125 applicants for these grants.

“It’s clear from the huge interest we saw in these grants that many of Alabama’s cultural organizations remain on tenuous financial ground due to the effects of the pandemic,” said Graydon Rust, AHA grants director. “Over the past year and a half, they’ve lost a lot of their usual streams of revenue and have had more limited engagement with the communities they typically serve.”

Alabama Humanities Recovery Grants will help these nonprofits recover financially and look strategically to the future. Grants were awarded in amounts of $5,000 to $15,000 and were distributed to all corners of the state. In all, organizations in 46 cities, 32 counties and all seven congressional districts received grants. The funding can be used for a variety of purposes including staff salaries, humanities programming, capacity-building efforts, operations and marketing.

Alabama Humanities Recovery Grants are funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities through the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The Alabama Humanities Alliance made the funding available through a competitive process, inviting Alabama-based nonprofits with a demonstrated commitment to public humanities programming to apply.

In the past two years, the Alabama Humanities Alliance has distributed 162 grants totaling $1.3 million, using federal funds through the CARES Act in 2020 and the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021. These one-off grant opportunities are provided in addition to AHA’s own quarterly grants that support humanities-based projects, including workshops, exhibitions, festivals, documentaries and more.

To learn more about AHA grant opportunities, visit alabamahumanities.org/grants.