NJ Council for the Humanities Program Encourages, Funds Experimentation
Six New Jersey nonprofit organizations have been selected for the first-ever cohort of “Humanities Lab,” a new program of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. The program was created to provide a space for organizations to experiment with new program ideas, learn about new program models, and push their own practices in exciting directions.
Representatives from each organization will experience cohort learning sessions that include guest speakers, case studies of public humanities projects, and time to workshop project ideas, as well as one-on-one consultations with public humanities professionals. Each organization will receive $500 to defray the cost of participation, and up to $5,000 in follow-up funding to help them implement new programming developed during their Humanities Lab experience.
“We’ve heard for years both grantees and other organizations express a wish that this kind of program, along with supportive funding, existed for them,” said Gigi Naglak, NJCH director of programs. “We’re thrilled to meet that desire as we continue to broaden and diversify the humanities in New Jersey.”
While the program is open to any New Jersey-based nonprofit, unincorporated group, or state or local government entity, some kinds of groups were particularly encouraged to apply. Those include organizations with budgets under $500,000, organizations that prioritize the perspectives of traditionally marginalized people, organizations for which the humanities are not a core part of their mission, and organizations that have not received prior funding from NJCH.
The six organizations are Art in the Atrium, Hunterdon Land Trust, Merchants & Drovers Tavern Museum, South Jersey Cultural Alliance, Wheaton Arts, and Jewish Family Services of Somerset, Warren, and Hunterdon Counties. They were selected from a pool of 14 applicants.
