The Mississippi Humanities Council is committed to helping our communities to explore and share their history and culture by creating public humanities programs that encourage reflection, discussion, and civic participation. The Council offers a variety of grants to support public humanities lectures and panel discussions, historical and photographic exhibits, oral histories, the planning of larger projects, and the development of original productions in film and online content.
Who is eligible for our grants? Any entity constituted for nonprofit purposes. It is not necessary to be incorporated or have tax-exempt status, only that the organization is not a for-profit enterprise. Eligible entities include private nonprofit organizations; institutions of higher education; state, local and federally recognized Indian tribal governments; community and cultural organizations; educational and professional groups; museums; libraries; public agencies; and non-commercial radio and television stations.
Because the National Endowment for the Humanities has decided to release less than 50% of the funds Congress appropriated for state humanities councils for 2026, amounting to an over $550,000 cut for Mississippi alone, MHC has made the difficult but necessary decision to cancel our May 1 regular grant deadline. Due to this drastic decrease in federal funding, we are currently only able to offer:
- Minigrants – (up to $2,500) have no deadlines, though applications must be received at least two weeks before the program or proposed grant period begins.
- State-Funded Oral History Grants – (up to $5,000) have no deadlines, though applications must be received at least four weeks before the program or proposed grant period begins.