Digital Projects for the Public

Overview

<p>The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Public Programs is accepting applications for the Digital Projects for the Public program. This program supports projects that interpret and analyze humanities content in primarily digital platforms and formats, such as websites, mobile applications and tours, interactive touch screens and kiosks, games, and virtual environments.</p> <p>All Digital Projects for the Public projects should: </p> <ul> <li>present analysis that deepens public understanding of significant humanities ideas;</li> <li>incorporate sound humanities scholarship;</li> <li>involve humanities scholars in all phases of development and production;</li> <li>include appropriate digital media professionals;</li> <li>reach a broad public through a realistic plan for development, marketing, and distribution;</li> <li>create appealing digital formats for the general public; and</li> <li>demonstrate the capacity to sustain themselves.</li> </ul> <p>All projects should demonstrate the potential to attract a broad, general, nonspecialist audience, either online or in person at venues such as museums, libraries, or other cultural institutions. Applicants may also choose to identify particular communities and groups, including students, to whom a project may have particular appeal.</p> <p>NEH seeks proposals that explore a range of interpretive possibilities. The most competitive projects are those which include collaboration with multiple scholars offering diverse perspectives. Projects that depend on input from a single scholar are not competitive. NEH also welcomes applications for non-promotional digital components of larger projects. For these projects, you should explain how the digital platform will enrich the users’ learning experience and engagement. For instance, if your request is for a mobile experience that would operate within a museum or would work in conjunction with a film, you should explain how this project element will enhance the audience’s humanities learning experience. Applicants may also choose to identify particular communities and groups, including students, to whom a project may have particular appeal. NEH encourages audience evaluation throughout all stages of a project. Evaluation could include testing of the project’s concept, approach, and key components.</p> <p>The Digital Projects for the Public program includes three funding categories:</p> <ul> <li>Discovery, to conduct preliminary research</li> <li>Prototyping, to design or create prototypes</li> <li>Production, to produce the final version of the project</li> </ul> <p>Applicants are not required to obtain a Discovery grant before applying for a Prototyping grant, or to obtain a Prototyping grant before applying for a Production grant. As a matter of programmatic policy, NEH will not fund a project more than once at each funding level.</p> <p>According to the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, “The term ‘humanities’ includes, but is not limited to, the study of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of the social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life.</p>