The Media Projects program supports the development, production, and distribution of radio programs, podcasts, and documentary films that engage general audiences with humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways. Projects must be grounded in humanities scholarship and incorporate an approach that is thoughtful, balanced, and analytical; proposals must demonstrate the potential to attract a broad general audience.
The Division of Public Programs encourages media projects that promote a deeper understanding of American history and culture as well as those that examine international themes and subjects in the humanities.
Media Projects awards are made at two levels: Development and Production.
- Development Level: Proposals under this level should enable media producers to collaborate with scholars to develop humanities content along with other program elements. Awards should result in a script (for documentary films and television programs) or detailed treatment(s) (for radio programs and podcasts). Awards may also be used to plan for outreach and public engagement in collaboration with a partner organization or organizations. Development awards may support activities such as:
- meetings with scholars
- preliminary interviews preparation of program treatments or scripts
- production of a work-in-progress or trailer
- creation of partnerships for outreach activities and public engagement
- archival and other scholarly research to further development of script and humanities themes
- Production Level: Proposals under this level should result in the production and distribution of radio, podcast, television, and long-form documentary film projects. Production awards may support activities such as:
- archival research and rights clearances
- meetings with scholars
- additional script development
- production (including filming, recording, and editing) and distribution
- development of related resources that explore the humanities content and themes central to the project (e.g., websites and curriculum materials)
- outreach and public engagement
Within the Production level, NEH occasionally offers one Chairman's Special Award. This award is intended for projects of exceptional significance, audience reach, and complexity. A Chair's Special Award should examine important humanities ideas in new ways and demonstrate the potential to reach especially large audiences. These goals can often be accomplished by combining a variety of program formats, forming creative collaborations among diverse institutions, and significantly expanding the scope and reach of the project.
Previously funded Development awards can be viewed at: https://securegrants.neh.gov/publicquery/main.aspx?q=1&a=0&n=0&o=0&k=0&f=0&s=0&p=1&pv=258&d=0&y=1&yf=2018&yt=2021&prd=0&cov=0&prz=0&wp=0&pg=0&ob=year&or=DESC
Previously funded Production awards can be viewed at: https://securegrants.neh.gov/publicquery/main.aspx?q=1&a=0&n=0&o=0&k=0&f=0&s=0&p=1&pv=259&d=0&y=1&yf=2018&yt=2021&prd=0&cov=0&prz=0&wp=0&pg=0&ob=year&or=DESC