Funded Projects

Incubation Grants

Alice Paul Institute, Mt. Laurel Township ($15,000), for additional research and understanding needed to update a permanent exhibit on suffragist and New Jersey native Alice Paul with more inclusive narratives.

Barnegat Bay Decoy and Baymen’s Museum, Tuckerton ($15,000), to lay the framework for an oral history of Tuckerton Seaport that captures the story of its birth, rebirth, and unconventional approach.

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, Morristown ($15,000), to develop a public history-infused public high school curriculum for Thomas Nast’s caricaturamas "The Last Ditch" and "The Palace of Tears.”

Morven Museum and Garden, Princeton ($7,500), for a project that researches the history and genealogy of the people enslaved at Morven and lays groundwork to share these stories with the public.

Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, Madison ($12,150), to create a museum civics literacy program that introduces students to core democratic principles and explores democratic ideals, values, and the role of citizenship.

New Jersey Orators, Bridgewater Township ($15,000), to bring workshops on the art of public speaking, reading and media arts literacy, civic engagement and college readiness, and life skills to youth in more school districts around New Jersey.

Ocean City Arts Center, Ocean City ($10,500), to support research and planning for the development of a listening tour and performance piece on the cultural and demographic changes in and around the South Jersey Shore in Atlantic, Cape May, and Cumberland Counties.

Redhawk Native American Arts Council, South Amboy ($6,390), to support the planning stages of two Indigenous solstice celebrations, in collaboration with leaders of the Ramapough Lunnape and the Nanticoke Leni Lenape Nations in New Jersey and Indigenous student groups from Rutgers University and Ramapo College.

Trenton Historical Society, Trenton ($14,800), to develop and test a searchable electronic database for employee records from the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company, a producer of wire cable that employed thousands of Eastern and Southern European immigrants and African Americans at sites in Trenton and Roebling in the twentieth century.

Action Grants

Clinton Hill Community Action, Newark ($20,000), for a multi-year public history project that will create a collaborative history of Clinton Hill in multiple accessible formats.

Historic Cold Spring Village, Cape May ($3,814), to support an art history-themed free hybrid speaker series held at the Cold Spring Brewery during the winter of 2022-2023.

Hoboken Historical Museum, Hoboken ($20,000), to support “The Hoboken Fires: A History of Gentrification & Arson for Profit,” a partnership with the artist Christopher Lopez that uses community engagement, social justice, and digital practice to revisit Hoboken’s history of the 1970s-80s.

Luna Stage Company, West Orange ($10,000), to support the design and implementation of humanities-based materials that complement creative productions about Underground Railroad Safe Houses and Freedom Routes in Essex County.

Mighty Writers, Camden ($20,000), for a series of activism workshops to teach middle and high school students the crucial power of writing and critical thinking skills to broaden the understanding of themselves, their communities, and their natural and social surroundings.

Montclair Art Museum, Montclair ($16,500), for a performance series to complement “My Home to Yours,” an immersive film and sound installation that centers local and regional Indigenous perspectives on the meaning of home.

New City Kids, Jersey City ($20,000), for professional development activities and workshops that integrate culturally rich humanities work into programming for teens.

New Jersey State Museum Foundation, Trenton ($15,732), to support the exhibition "History Beneath Your Feet: Archaeology in the Capital City,” which will explore the social, cultural, and environmental evolution of Trenton through archaeological artifacts.

The Petey Greene Program, Princeton ($20,000), to build upon its successful pilot of a humanities-based college bridge program for incarcerated and reentering students and expand the program to additional facilities.

Regional Plan Association, Newark ($18,000), to implement a centennial series of public engagement events that will celebrate park and open space initiatives at the Meadowlands, Nat Turner Park in Newark, and Paterson Great Falls.

Roebling Main Gate Museum, Roebling ($18,000), to create an immersive, learning-focused audio walking tour for an upcoming museum exhibit.

Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum, Skillman ($20,000), to create a series of youth historical fiction books that will provide a unique firsthand account of life through the lens of African American children who grew up in the Sourland Mountain region of central New Jersey.

Summit Interfaith Council Anti-Racism Committee, Summit ($13,203), for a presentation and book discussions that use both fiction and non-fiction by authors of color to educate New Jerseyans on the economic, societal, and personal costs of racism.

Truehart Productions, Newark ($19,575), to produce a second 30-minute episode of the documentary series “The Price of Silence: The Forgotten Story of New Jersey's Enslaved People.”

Vietnamese Boat People, Montclair ($20,000), to build out the next phase of a collaborative digital map of stories from the Vietnamese diaspora with enhanced functionality and recruitment/ interactive workshops for users.

Seed Grants

Bloomfield College, Bloomfield ($5,000), to advance the Stories of Newark Oral History Project by focusing the work of this grassroots digital archive upon the theme of social mobility for the upcoming year.

Enslaved African Memorial Committee, Englewood ($5,000), to continue work that enlightens the public about the history of slavery in NJ and presents new findings and programming about recently discovered burial sites located in New Jersey towns, including New Milford, Bergenfield, and Jersey City.

The Jewish Community Center of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties, Inc, Bridgewater ($2,000), for free Holocaust education workshops that use creative and artistic mediums to teach students how to confront hatred and anti-Semitism and promote human kindness and dignity.

Jewish Historical Society of North Jersey, Fair Lawn ($2,500), to develop a multifaceted interfaith initiative focused on the history of Jewish/African American relations in Passaic, Bergen, and Hudson Counties, from the Civil Rights period and beyond.

Merchants and Drovers Tavern Museum, Rahway ($5,000), to support the design and installation of a new permanent exhibit that interprets the almost-40 years during which the building served as a Girl Scout headquarters.

NJ YMCA State Alliance, Trenton ($5,000), to expand a statewide storytelling project on the impact of COVID-19 by documenting and digitally archiving oral histories about the vaccine.

Renaissance Newark Foundation, Newark ($5,000), to create a companion electronic curriculum guide for the critically acclaimed documentary film “Rust” by Marylou & Jerome Bongiorno.

Thomas Fortune Foundation, Red Bank ($3,250), to create a permanent exhibit highlighting journalist and publisher T. Thomas Fortune's leading role in the Black Press in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Ukrainian History and Education Center, Somerset ($3,600), to support an exhibition on Ukrainian and Ukrainian American responses to the Holodomor genocide, an artificial famine perpetrated against Ukrainians in the Soviet Union in the 1930s.

Click here to view FY21 COVID-19 Response Grant recipients

Incubation Grants

The Center for Aquatic Sciences Inc., to record, produce, distribute, and preserve oral histories about the Delaware River and its tributaries, as told by the residents of Camden.

Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience, to continue to develop a plan for compiling and sharing information about Munsee Lunaape (Lenape) Ceremonial Stone Landscapes across New Jersey.

Friends of Yogi, to develop a new data visualization project to capture the unique story of baseball during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, connecting that story to broader social narratives.

The Petey Greene Program, to develop a college-bridge program for incarcerated students in New Jersey, focusing on academic writing and critical thinking.

New Jersey Folk Festival, Inc., to begin work on a podcast, created by Rutgers University students and community scholars, to bring NJ folk cultures to a wider audience.

Ramapo College of New Jersey/Jane Addams Papers Project, to develop curriculum modules to introduce students to primary source research on the history of the Progressive Era.

Regional Plan Association, Inc.,to plan a series of public engagement events about park and open space initiatives in Northern New Jersey.

Roebling Main Gate Museum, to explore the history and interpretation possibilities for a newly acquired building, helping to connect community members to the organization’s history.

Southern Jersey Family Medical Center, to continue work on the Beyond Statistics program, which researches local philosophies behind healthy eating by examining foodways, health, and nutrition.

Truehart Productions, to conduct research for a documentary to explore the prevalence of slavery during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and its lasting effects throughout New Jersey during the 20th century.

Vietnamese Boat People, to digitally crowdsource a collaborative community journey map to explore Vietnamese diaspora stories and journeys.

Woodbury Public Library, to hire a public historian to perform thorough research on the early history of African Americans living in Woodbury.

Action Grants

Bayshore Center at Bivalve to produce a documentary video on the demographic shift of oyster shuckers in the Delaware Bay oyster industry.

Camden County College, to develop a lecture series that will analyze Hollywood films and their impact on politics and society, as well as library-based community discussion groups and a tuition-free course.

Cherry Hill Public Library, to host One Book, One Cherry Hill, a biennial community-wide book discussion and program series that explores topics relevant to the Cherry Hill community in order to bring people together and form connections.

Jazz House Kids, to facilitate free, multimedia videoconference presentations about the nation’s rich African-American musical tradition, focusing on how that history reflects social and moral values.

Literacy Volunteers of Somerset County Inc., to launch a series of discussion-based webinars presented by LVSC students who hail from more than 40 different countries around the world, including the USA.

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, to implement an accessible, interpretive audio guide using technology designed to enhance the patron experience.

Newark Public Library, in collaboration with the Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture & the Modern Experience at Rutgers University-Newark, Aspira New Jersey, and Ironbound Community Corporation, to capture oral histories, artistic expressions, and poetry related to the COVID-19 experiences of Newark youth.

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Foundation, Inc., to produce a series of interviews focused on a more inclusive narrative of the Vietnam War era, with a focus on the experiences of women and minorities and the impact of the war on the homefront through the experiences of military families during this period.

People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos, to provide 8-week literature reading and discussion programs for disadvantaged NJ residents and a 2-day facilitator training workshop for 12 humanities scholars.

Piscataway Public Library, to host a series of public programs inviting participants to consider the concept of community to examine local history, diverse cultures, and shared beliefs and values.

Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts, to support education, community, and public programs for A New View – Camden, an outdoor exhibition of six public art sites in Camden that addresses civic and equity issues related to illegal dumping.

Rutgers University-Newark Queer Newark Oral History Project, to host panel discussions, an oral history bootcamp, and a community listening session to spread awareness of oral history methods and highlight the importance of preserving local LGBTQ+ history.

Save Ancient Studies Inc., to produce a series of archaeogaming video learning modules and pilot a humanities-based education program in New Jersey middle school classrooms.

Talking Eyes Media, to support screenings of and facilitated discussions about a documentary film featuring Maria Lopez-Nuñez, as she fights for environmental justice and works with her Newark community to build a just and sustainable future.

The Theater Project, to host a series of performances and facilitated discussions that explore concepts involving systemic racism from different perspectives, helping participants increase awareness and understanding within their own communities

Trent House Association, to engage teens and young adults in developing digital content about the lives of 17th and 18th century Lenape during colonization and 20th century African Americans who came to Trenton during the Great Migration.

Trenton Health Team, to document the relationship between historical redlining in Trenton and inequitable health outcomes today, including the disparate impacts of COVID-19.

Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, to implement "Reflections and Expressions: Communities and Cultures of Central and South America", a project that will address the history and cultural heritage of Central and South American communities in South Jersey.

Whitesbog Preservation Trust, to collect oral histories from Whitesbog Historic Farm and Village workers, local neighbors, staff and farmers of the rural community of Browns Mills and Pemberton to enhance exhibit interpretation.

Click here to view FY20 COVID-19 Response Grant recipients

Incubation Grants

Alice Paul Institute, to convene scholars, community, and prison representatives to develop a humanities program for prison inmates

Bloomfield Public Library, to foster opportunities for civic engagement among patrons

Into French Translation, in conjunction with University of Orange, to create written and oral Haitian Creole translations of archival materials

Merchants & Drovers Tavern Museum, to research and plan for “The Girl Scout House,” a new permanent exhibition

Monmouth County Historical Association, to conduct research and benchmarking as part of the reinterpretation of museums

Rutgers University-Newark, Clement A. Price Institute, to plan for the Homelands Cultural, Archives, and Intepretive Center

Southern Jersey Family Medical Center, to pilot the “Beyond the Statistics” program

Action Grants

Hoboken Historical Museum, to launch a lecture and performance series to honor the lives of women impacted NJ

Isles, Inc., to develop “Reflecting Trenton,” a photo-history project that displays Trenton’s varied transformations and growth

Lake Hopatcong Foundation, to design an exhibition to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the historic flood in northwest NJ

Montclair State University, Sprague Library, to explore NJ's role in providing talent & resources for the creation of the atomic bomb

Rutgers University-Camden, Writers House, to continue work with Warrior Writers to engage veterans

Seton Hall University, Department of English, to continue work on “The Digital Citizenry Project”

Stockton University, Alliance Heritage Center, to produce a documentary about Alliance Colony, an 1882 settlement founded in SJ

TRUE Mentors, to engage mentors and mentees in the “Humanities Impact Project”

Ukrainian History & Education Center, to create an exhibition and programming about events in Ukrainian Orthodox religious history

Visual Arts Center of NJ, to further the public’s understanding of Native American art, culture, history and beliefs through an exhibition

Incubation Grants

African American Cultural Collaborative, to host public gatherings to prepare for African diaspora programming

City of Paterson, to rebuild Paterson's Grassroots Arts Commission

James R. Halsey Foundation of the Arts, to pilot a 6 week collaboration between at-risk students and humanities professors

Merchants & Drovers Tavern Museum, to conduct a survey of objects in their collection and convene focus groups

Montclair History Center, to continue the work of the Many Voices Oral History project

Montclair State Univerisity Library, Sprague Library, to expand the relationship between MSU and the local school district

Morris Arts, to develop a social media component for local Latinx populations

Nimbus Dance Works, to create an event series that pairs humanities scholarship and arts events

Seton Hall University, Department of English, to expand the "Civic Engagement in the Digital Age" program

6th Regiment US Colored Troops, to conduct planning and design for the Locust Hill African Cemetery and Interpretive Center

Bayshore Center at Bivalve, to create an action plan for a video and book about the demographic shift of oyster shuckers

Free Public Library of Audubon, to develop a Teen Advisory Board to determine how to better engage that student population

Historical Society of Hamilton Township, to develop an annotated bibliography of best practices for working with diverse audiences

Ironbound Community Corporation, to develop a plan for the creation of a digital and physical archive for the city of Newark

Piscataway Public Library, to conceptualize and develop their local history collection

Seabrook Education and Cultural Center, to rewrite the Seabrook Farms narrative

Tuckerton Seaport and Baymen’s Museum, to enhance and expand the curriculum of their “Floating Classroom” tour

The Unitarian Society, to continue work on the Lost Souls Public Memorial Project

Vietnamese Boat People, to develop materials that will help members of the Vietnamese disapora

Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, to plan humanities programs to expand the public's understanding of Native American communities

William Trent House Association, to reach and engage teenagers and young adults with historical content through digital media

Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center, to support testing and refinement of a middle and high school field trip curriculum

Action Grants

Cherry Hill Public Library, to organize a community-wide book discussion and program series

City Of Jersey City, to host a series of discussions about the evolution of feminism

coLAB Arts, Inc., to create an exhibition exploring restorative justice and juvenile sentencing

County College of Morris, to broaden the scope of The Legacy Project, a CCM interdisciplinary initiative

Isles, Inc., to foster historic and cultural tourism in two sections of Trenton by developing tours

Lake Hopatcong Foundation, to develop and offer programs featuring humanities scholars on local history topics

Mighty Writers Camden, to bring GirlPower!, one of Mighty Writers most popular programs, to Camden

Morven Museum and Garden, to create an exhibition, Dreaming of Utopia in Roosevelt, New Jersey, that explores cultural history

Newark Performing Arts Corporation, to pursue research and interpretation of the African-American experience at Symphony Hall

People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos, to support their Enriching Lives Through Literature project

Perkins Center for the Arts, to create "Upon Our Authority: 100 Years of Women’s Empowerment in New Jersey through Oral Expression and Folk Tradition"

Rowan University, to create a digital exhibition to explore and capture human connections to water in NJ

Rutgers University Camden, Writers House, to host six generative writing workshops for veterans

Rutgers University Department of Landscape Architecture, to explore the histories of the Ringwood Mines Superfund Site

Thomas Edison State University, to host dinners and cultural simulations to encourage participants think deeply about race relations

Woodbury Community Pride, to engage with local audiences and facilitate informative community conversations

Incubation Grants

Jersey City Office of Cultural Affairs, to introduce the historic Apple Tree House to the public

Lake Hopatcong Foundation, to conduct an evaluation study to learn about programming needs for the community

Mahwah Museum, to digitize newspaper articles from museum archives

The Muse Collaborative, to develop a discussion-based series around hip-hop and rap

Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, to research topics and themes to replace an exhibition

Rowan University, to engage community in place-based connections around water

Rutgers University, Agriculture and Urban Programs, to spark conversations with stakeholders around agriculture

Township of Teaneck, to coordinate talks around two memorial projects

University of Orange, to train resident musicians to investigate musical communities

coLAB Arts, to conduct interviews and create a theater for the project "Banished: Children on the Sex Offender Registry"

Gloucester County Historical Society, to expand prior Woodbury-based Juneteenth events

Mile Square Theatre, to support preliminary content research on a documentary about gentrification in Hoboken

Rider University, to engage HomeFront NJ clients in writing workshop experiences

Rutgers University-Camden, MARCH, to explore the history of Cooper Street through community involvement

Social Justice Matters, to develop "Dialogue Circles on Race," a series of faciliated community discussions

Unitarian Society, to gather community feedback on the "Lost Souls Public Memorial Project"

Woodbury Community Pride, to engage local audiences in Woodbury Community Pride's first LGBTQ Film Festival

Action Grants

Bongiorno Productions, with Renaissance Newark Foundation, to explore intergenerational poverty in Newark through film

Camden County College, to examine the lasting impact of the year 1968

Hamilton Partnership for Paterson, to increase awareness of Paterson's global trade role

Kidsbridge Tolerance Center, to educate non-native communities about indigenous experiences

McCarter Theatre Center, to commission plays for a project focusing on migration

Morven Museum & Garden, to reinterpret and reinstall its permanent history exhibition

Newark Public Library, to host a summer poetry workshop for teens and young adults

Passaic County Department of Cultural and Historical Affairs, to develop inclusive exhibitions and programming

People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos, to bring six literature and reading programs to vulnerable populations

Perkins Center for the Arts, to continue efforts for Tastefully South Jersey

Rutgers Camden, Writers House, to deepen connections with veterans and active military through the "Letters Home" project

Sankofa Collaborative, to develop workshops and resources for others addressing difficult topics in African American history

Stonybrook-Millstone Watershed Association, to further engagement of community members on the "Kwel' Hoy" project

William Trent House Association, to expand the interpretation of slavery in the Trent House

Incubation Grants

Historic Morven, Inc., to develop an internal strategy for involving community in reinterpretation

William Trent House Association, to develop new programming about enslaved people

William Paterson University Galleries, to pilot a new program, "The Human Library"

Kidsbridge Tolerance Center, to to begin work on an educational program about indigenous communities

Bergen Community College, to explore culture and identity through food

Cherry Hill Public Library, to pilot a One Book, One Cherry Hill summer reading program

Writer's Theatre of New Jersey, to initiate a series of discussions and workshops around incarcerated juveniles

West Orange Public Library, to create an inclusive series of library-based events

Montclair State University, to create written and oral Haitian Creole translations

Bloomfield Public Library, to examine the narratives the shape LGBTQ+ experiences in Bloomfield and beyond

Isles, Inc., to conduct planning and research to develop tours of Trenton

coLAB Arts, to produce a series of workshops about American communities see how murderers are punished

Atlantic Health System, to expand the Healing Voices workshop series

Perkins Center for the Arts, to examine folklore, art, and culture through food traditions

Bongiorno Productions, with Renaissance Newark Foundation, to assemble a think tank to develop film curriculum

Montclair History Center, to conduct a series of community oral history interviews

Roebling Museum, to explore ways to develop meaningful collaborations

NJ Historical Society, to further develop programming around difficult issues in African American history

Action Grants

Bethel AME Church, to organize a series of public programs about past and present race relations in Morris County

Bloomfield College, Division of the Humanities, to connect writers and community audiences through workshops

Grounds for Sculpture, to create in-gallery programming space supported by a scholar-in-residence

Montclair State University, to create a 90 minute documentary exploring recovery

Montclair State University, Harry A. Sprague Library,, to offer a series of free public programs about AI and robotics

Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum, to recreate a smaller version of a WWII-era spotter tower

Ocean City Historical Museum, to fund an ASL interpreter for exhibit tours

Old First Historic Trust, to develop an oral history project around Cuban immigrants

PCK Media, in conjunction with Stockton University, to support the creation of a documentary about Kea Tawana

Ramapo College of New Jersey, to further the use of digital collection of the papers of Jane Addams

The College of New Jersey, to create humanities-based disability and cultural studies curriculum for high school students

Whitesbog Preservation Trust, to create a series of films for the Cranberry and Blueberry Museum

Who is My Neighbor, Inc., to support the efforts of the Highland Park film students as they explore race in their town

Incubation Grants

Camden Repertory Theatre, to develop a reading and discussion program for youth in Camden

Bongiorno Productions, with Renaissance Newark Foundation, to support documentary work about poverty in Newark

Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, to explore how to incorporate oral histories into exhibitions and programming

Atlantic Health System, to develop a series of workshops for the Healing Arts program

Raritan Valley Community College, to work on a storyboard and script for a planetarium program that examines mythology

Who is My Neighbor, Inc., to pilot a digital storytelling curriculum for their oral history project

Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, to develop and beta test a digital resource center

Alliance Center for Independence, to host two workshops that examine how disabled persons were targeted in Nazi Germany

Caldwell-West Caldwell Board of Education, to explore a pilot environmental humanities program

Scotch Plains Public Library, with CHHANGE, to develop a multidisciplinary program on race and ethnicity

Fairleigh Dickinson University, to research and plan for diversifying audiences at WAMFEST

Action Grants

Sourland Conservancy, to support the creation of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum

Thomas Edison State University, to host two discussion based workshopsabout reintegration for veterans

People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos, to support a short story reading and discussion program for new audiences

McCarter Theatre Center, to support the commission and public reading of 7 plays inspired by Princeton and Slavery project

Arts Council of Princeton, to investigate and preserve the history of the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood of Princeton

Newark Museum Association, to develop programming for the "Native Artists of North America" exhibition

Middlesex County College Foundation, to create public programming for the Holocaust and Human Rights Center

George Street Playhouse, to explore issues of race and social justice in connection with their production of "American Son"

Two River Theater, to create programming for military and veteran families for the production "The Women of Padilla"