The Public Humanities Fellowships help writers, independent scholars, community historians, and college and university faculty members share meaningful research, stories, and cultural expressions that are relevant to Virginia’s diverse communities and that connect audiences to wider regional, national, and global contexts.
Donor Name: Virginia Humanities
State: Virginia
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Fellowship
Deadline: 03/31/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: Less than 1 Year
Details:
Fellows will receive access to both the University of Virginia’s library system and the archives available at the Library of Virginia to complete their projects. They will become part of a community of fellows working on innovative humanities topics in the public interest and will have the opportunity to share their ideas with other fellows working in related fields. They will also have the opportunity to participate in programs such as the With Good Reason radio show and podcast, Virginia Festival of the Book’s Shelf Life, and the Library of Virginia’s UncommonWealth blog.
Preference will be given to projects that engage the public in meaningful and creative ways and explore issues around public humanities topics related to subjects such as history, literature, religion, community stories.
Funding Information
All Public Humanities Fellows will receive a $15,000 stipend to support a four-month project.
Eligibility Criteria
- Fellows must be eighteen years or older, reside in Virginia or be affiliated with a Virginia college or university, and be working on a project that is relevant to communities within Virginia.
- Direct affiliation with a college or university is not required.
- They’re especially interested in applicants with experience engaging large, diverse, public audiences.
Deliverables and Expectations
- Virginia Humanities encourages proposals that engage public audiences in creative, novel, and meaningful ways.
- Fellows are required to dedicate a substantial amount of their time towards their identified topic area throughout the duration of the fellowship and are advised to take a leave of absence from their primary places of work.
- This fellowship has a public program requirement. At the conclusion of the four-month fellowship, developed research will be presented to a public audience in coordination with Virginia Humanities or the Library of Virginia.
- The final fellowship project deliverable should result in something that a public audience can engage with, learn from, or experience such as:
- Websites /Digital Projects
- Publicly accessible archives
- Books
- Scholarly journal articles
- Exhibits
- Podcasts
- Oral Histories
For more information, visit Virginia Humanities.
