Obama Administration Requests $147.9 Million for National Endowment for the Humanities in 2016
Requested amount is $1.9 million increase over current fiscal year
Architect of the the Capitol
Architect of the the Capitol
The Obama Administration today released a budget request of $147,942,000 for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for fiscal year 2016. NEH, the independent federal agency that will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year, awards grants supporting research, education, and public programs in history, philosophy, literature and other areas of the humanities.
This request, which represents a 1.3% increase over NEH’s current appropriation, includes funds for The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square, a new initiative designed to demonstrate the critical role humanities scholarship can play in our public life.
The request includes:
- $104.2 million for NEH’s grant programs in support of projects in the humanities, including $43 million for the operations, projects, and programs of the state and territorial humanities councils;
- $5.5 million for a new special initiative – The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square– in support of projects that demonstrate the critical role the humanities can play in our public life, and the continuation and expansion of Standing Together, the Endowment’s special programming for veterans and active duty military; and
- $10.9 million in federal matching funds, including funding for the agency’s Challenge Grants program to help stimulate and match private donations in support of humanities institutions and organizations.
The National Endowment for the Humanities, one of the nation’s leading funders of humanities programs, awards competitive grants through a rigorous peer review process to the nation’s museums, archives, libraries, colleges and universities, public television and radio stations as well as to individual scholars and teachers. To spread the wisdom of the humanities as broadly as possible, NEH and its affiliated state councils support scholarly research, public programs, museum exhibitions, documentary films, programs for teachers, and the preservation of archives and other cultural resources.
“We are tremendously pleased that, as NEH prepares to commemorate its 50th anniversary, President Obama has proposed increasing funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities,” said NEH Chairman William Adams. “This budget will allow NEH to continue our mission of supporting and enlarging the nation’s cultural capital and broadening American’s access to humanities resources and knowledge.”