America's Media Makers

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Grants for America’s Media Makers support projects in the humanities that explore stories, ideas, and beliefs in order to deepen our understanding of our lives and our world. The Division of Public Programs supports the development of humanities content and interactivity that excite, inform, and stir thoughtful reflection upon culture, identity, and history in creative and new ways. Grants for America’s Media Makers should encourage dialogue, discussion, and civic engagement, and they should foster learning among people of all ages. To that end, the Division of Public Programs urges applicants to consider more than one format for presenting humanities ideas to the public. NEH offers two categories of grants for media projects, development grants and production grants. Development grants enable media producers to collaborate with scholars to develop humanities content and format and to prepare programs for production. Development grants should culminate in the refinement of a project’s humanities ideas, a script, or a design document for (or a prototype of) digital media components or projects, or a prototype for a digital media project together with a detailed plan for outreach and public engagement in collaboration with partner organizations. Production grants support the preparation of a program for distribution. Applicants must submit a script for a radio or television program, or a prototype or storyboard for a digital media project, that demonstrates a solid command of the humanities ideas and scholarship related to a subject. The script for a radio or television program, or prototype or storyboard for a digital media project, must also show how the narrative elements, visual approach, and interactive design combine to present the project’s humanities ideas. Applicants must have consulted with appropriate scholars about the project and obtained their commitment as advisers. Finally, applicants must have recruited the media team, including at a minimum the producer, director, writer, and, for a digital media project, the interactive designer.

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