Every year HumanitiesDC awards approximately one million dollars to DC residents, community groups and nonprofit organizations through a series of grant opportunities to support public humanities projects that bring people together to explore the history, culture, relationships and topics that shape our city’s communities.
”HumanitiesDC has given me the support that I need to celebrate my community, to say Thank You and give back. I have really enjoyed this entire experience and so have my neighbors.”
– Paul Grant, Grantee
Our Funding Goals
We design and conduct our grantmaking with these primary goals in mind:
Help all DC residents, and those connected to our city, participate in and learn about our collective heritage and culture, especially the experiences, areas and voices that have been excluded from public conversation.
Provide opportunities for community members to use the humanities as a tool to explore their curiosities and document their own stories.
Strengthen our overall humanities community by supporting individual scholars, community experts, and humanities-based organizations.
Center the community in our grantmaking by creating a transparent and accessible process open to all local residents.
Who we are funding
In 2025, HumanitiesDC distributed $1,156,097 in awards recommended by selective peer review panels of 81 volunteer grant reviewers across six program categories to support 69 grantees.
If you have a question about our grantmaking process please reach out to our Grants Team at grants@humanitiesdc.org.
| Organization or Individual Name | Grant Program | Project Title | Amount Awarded | Project type | Grantee Location |
| Eileen Dougherty | Beyond the Archives – DCOHC | Voices of Resilience | $12,000.00 | Documentary Film | Ward 6 |
| Center for Innovations in Community Safety, Georgetown University | Beyond the Archives – DCOHC | Youth for Tomorrow – Shaping Our Community Narratives Through Storytelling | $11,997.00 | Curriculum and multimedia | Ward 6 |
| Jack Hochman | Beyond the Archives – DCOHC | Nuevas Voces: A Bilingual Study of D.C. Latino Immigrants | $12,000.00 | Multimedia, including short videos or podcasts | Ward 6 |
| Saaret Yoseph | Beyond the Archives – DCOHC | JOURNEY(S) Tour Continued | $12,000.00 | Documentary Film and Event Series | Ward 5 |
| Sami Miranda | Beyond the Archives – DCOHC | May There Always Be Words Between Us | $12,000.00 | Documentary Film | Ward 4 |
| 826DC, Inc. | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | Youth Voices Festival: Showcasing Youth Stories in DC | $10,000.00 | Festival | Ward 1 |
| Alliance to Preserve the Civil War Defenses of Washington | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | Civil War Defenses of Washington curriculum | $10,000.00 | Curriculum | Ward 4 |
| Carletta Hurt | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | Brumsic Brandon: A Legacy in Art and Community | $10,000.00 | Documentary Film | Ward 4 |
| Gabrielle Newell | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | Courageous Celebration: Untold Histories of Mutual Aid and Community Celebration in Washington DC | $10,000.00 | Event Series | Ward 1 |
| Jeronique Bartley | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | The Great 8 Fashion Tour: East of The River | $10,000.00 | Documentary Film and Event series | Ward 4 |
| Joel J Gwadz | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | Gwadzilla Podcast and DC Messenger Photo Book | $10,000.00 | Podcast and publication | Ward 4 |
| Kelly King | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | I, Too, Am America: An Intergenerational Spoken Word Poetry Writing Workshop | $10,000.00 | Event and workshop | Ward 5 |
| Many Languages One Voice | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | Migrations: The Narrative Pull of the American Dream | $10,000.00 | Other | Ward 1 |
| Marquett Milton | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | U Street Time Travel | $10,000.00 | Guided tour | Ward 1 |
| Paul Laurence Dunbar High School Alumni Federation | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | “Voices of Justice” Oral History Project | $10,000.00 | Documentary Film and event | Ward 5 |
| The Dap Acknowledgement Project, Inc. | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | Sunset at the Anacostia Arts Center | $10,000.00 | Event series | Ward 3 |
| Tracy Chiles McGhee | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | Salon Redux: In the Spirit of Georgia Douglas Johnson | $10,000.00 | Event series | Ward 7 |
| Valeria Massarelli | Community Culture & Heritage Grant | District of Pupusas | $10,000.00 | Documentary Film | Ward 2 |
| Adrienne Gaither | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | Constellations of Memory an Oral History of STARS | $8,000.00 | Oral History Project | Ward 5 |
| Allegra Hatem | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | The 1966 Free DC Campaign & Other Movements for DC Autonomy | $13,000.00 | Oral History Project | Ward 6 |
| Christ House | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | Healing & Hope: The Christ House Oral History Project | $8,000.00 | Oral History Project | Ward 1 |
| Eboni-Rose Thompson | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | Beyond the Diploma: Education, Career Pathways, and Economic Inequality | $8,000.00 | Oral History Project | Ward 7 |
| Gran Varones, sponsored by Advocates for Youth | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | Blessed are those who Remember: Black, Latinx, and Queer DC Spaces | $8,000.00 | Oral History Project | Ward 6 |
| Kai Walther | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | Unsanctioned: Gay Cruising and Culture in Washington, DC | $4,612.50 | Oral History Project | Ward 1 |
| Khadijah Wilson | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | Beyond The Case Files | $8,000.00 | Oral History Project | Ward 8 |
| Latin American Youth Center | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | LAYC Oral History Project | $8,000.00 | Oral History Project | Ward 1 |
| Linda Kuo | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | An Oral History of the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project | $8,000.00 | Oral History Project | Ward 1 |
| Opportunities for Deserving Children | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | Safe Havens Lost: The Evolution of DC Youth Centers and Their Role in Violence Prevention | $8,000.00 | Oral History Project | Ward 8 |
| The Giveland Foundation | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | UNIFEST ORAL HISTORIES | $8,000.00 | Oral History Project | Ward 8 |
| Yao Tyus | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | Washington, DC’s Pan-African Oral History Project | $13,000.00 | Oral History Project | Ward 5 |
| Yuki Kato | Oral History Interviewing – DCOHC | Local Food Provisioning in DC’s Black and Immigrant Communities | $8,000.00 | Oral History Project | Ward 6 |
| African American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | Learning from the Past: Educating Through the Story of Camp Barker Contraband Camp | $25,000.00 | Event and exhibit | Ward 1 |
| American Poetry Museum | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | The Jim Crow Drowning of Kenneth Carroll | $25,000.00 | Documentary Film | Ward 4 |
| American University | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | Community Voice Lab Documentary Series for DC Public Television | $25,000.00 | Documentary Film;Event;Multimedia, including short videos or podcasts | Ward 3 |
| Building Bridges Across the River | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | 11th Annual Anacostia River Festival | $25,000.00 | Festival | Ward 8 |
| CapitalBop, Inc. | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | Documenting the DC jazz scene’s next generation | $25,000.00 | Research/Publication | Ward 1 |
| DC Zinefest | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | DC Zinefest | $7,387.00 | Festival | Ward 4 |
| Eden Raskin Jenkins, sponsored by Women in Film and Video | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | NOTES OF A CITIZEN: The Marcus Raskin Story | $25,000.00 | Documentary Film | Ward 2 |
| Empower DC | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | Barry Farm: Uplifting a Living History, Ensuring a Just Future | $25,000.00 | Event and exhibit | Ward 1 |
| Esther Productions Inc | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | The Poetry & Folklore of Sterling Brown: A Historical Examination & Celebration of a Cultural Legend | $25,000.00 | Event series | Ward 3 |
| Home Rule Music and FIlm Preservation Foundation | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | Home Rule Music Festival | $25,000.00 | Festival | Ward 4 |
| KAMA DC | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | D.C. Immigration Film Fest | $25,000.00 | Festival | Ward 1 |
| Life Pieces To Masterpieces | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | Color Me Community: A Humanities-Based Conversation Series on Race, Identity, and Belonging | $25,000.00 | Gathering;Multimedia, including short videos or podcasts;Other | Ward 7 |
| Malkia K. Lydia, sponsored by Old Naval Hospital Foundation – Hill Center | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | Reunion Choir Feature Documentary & Screening Tour | $25,000.00 | Festival | Ward 6/Ward 4 |
| Mariessa Terrell, sponsored by High Tea Society | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | 2025 Fashion Intel Event | $25,000.00 | Documentary Film | Ward 5 |
| Mosaic Theater Company of DC | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | YOUNG JOHN LEWIS Education and Engagement Programming | $25,000.00 | Event series | Ward 6 |
| One World Education | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | Expanding Afterschool Programs for Underserved Communities | $25,000.00 | Event;Other | Ward 3 |
| Shout Mouse Press | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | Queer Youth Voices Anthology Project: “The Light Looks Like Me: Words on Love from Queer Youth” | $25,000.00 | Event;Gathering;Multimedia, including short videos or podcasts | Ward 2 |
| Sky Sitney, sponsored by Women in Film and Video | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | DC/DOX Film Festival 2025 | $25,000.00 | Festival | Ward 2 |
| Story District | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | Black Journalists: Stories Behind the Headlines | $25,000.00 | Festival | Ward 2 |
| Washington, DC International Film Festival | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | Washington, DC International Film Festival (Filmfest DC) | $25,000.00 | Festival | Ward 1 |
| Young Playwrights’ Theater | Visions – Projects & Events Grant | Silence is Violence | $25,000.00 | Event series | Ward 4 |
| Archaeology in the Community | General Operating Support | Archaeology Education for the District | $25,000.00 | General Operating Support | Ward 5 |
| Asian American LEAD | General Operating Support | Exploring AAPI Culture and History Through the Arts | $25,000.00 | General Operating Support | Ward 3 |
| ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN FILM INC | General Operating Support | Asian Pacific American Film Application 2025 | $25,000.00 | General Operating Support | Ward 2 |
| DC Archives Foundation | General Operating Support | General Operating Support for the DC Archives Foundation | $25,000.00 | General Operating Support | Ward 2 |
| DC Theater Arts | General Operating Support | DC Theater Arts: Building a Sustainable Future | $25,000.00 | General Operating Support | Ward 3 |
| LearnServe International | General Operating Support | Bridging Identity, Culture, and Action: Empowering DC Youth-Led Social Innovation | $25,000.00 | General Operating Support | Ward 2 |
| More Than Our Crimes | General Operating Support | More Than Our Crimes | $25,000.00 | General Operating Support | Ward 6 |
| Museum of the Palestinian People | General Operating Support | General Operating Support to sustain and grow the Museum of the Palestinian People | $25,000.00 | General Operating Support | Ward 2 |
| Reach Incorporated | General Operating Support | Reach Incorporated’s General Operating Grant | $25,000.00 | General Operating Support | Ward 8 |
| So others ascend righteously (SOAR) | General Operating Support | SOAR Community Wellness Workshops and Retreats | $25,000.00 | General Operating Support | Ward 4 |
| Turning the Page | General Operating Support | Turning the Page: Engaging Families through Books, Authors and Museums | $25,000.00 | General Operating Support | Ward 2 |
| Urban Adventure Squad/Urban Learning and Teaching Center | General Operating Support | Outdoor Learning in DC Public Schools | $25,000.00 | General Operating Support | Ward 2 |
| Charvis V. Campbell | Continuing Oral History Projects – DCOHC Grant | Oral History Project — Jazz at Westminster: The Lived Experiences of D.C.’s Musicians Part 2 | $8,000.00 | Oral History | Ward 4 |
| Cleveland & Woodley Park Village | Continuing Oral History Projects – DCOHC Grant | We Are Your Neighbors | $8,000.00 | Oral History | Ward 3 |
| DC Music Summit | Continuing Oral History Projects – DCOHC Grant | You Gotta Leave DC to Get Love: Why the DC Music Scene Needs Sustainable Infrastructure | $13,000.00 | Oral History | Ward 1 |
| Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens | Continuing Oral History Projects – DCOHC Grant | “Flowers, Families & Futures” Honoring the past, uplifting the next generation. | $13,000.00 | Oral History | Ward 7 |
| Sari Leigh | Continuing Oral History Projects – DCOHC Grant | Mind, Body, and Justice | $8,000.00 | Oral History | Ward 7 |
