H. Hovnanian Family Foundation Grants for Cultural Initiatives (Armenia and US)

Deadline: 30-Jun-25

The H. Hovnanian Family Foundation is pleased to announce a call for proposals for arts and cultural initiatives aimed at strengthening Armenia’s cultural institutions, fostering artistic creation and public engagement, and revitalizing cultural heritage.

This opportunity aims to support museums, theaters, art schools, cultural centers and other cultural institutions by enhancing professional development, institutional capacity, and infrastructure. It encourages the creation and presentation of artistic works while expanding public access to cultural experiences and advancing professional training for cultural practitioners.

Goals and Objectives

Group A: Strengthening Cultural Institutions
- Improving infrastructure: Support infrastructure improvements in cultural institutions through innovative upgrades, renovations, and equipment acquisition to enhance functionality, quality and accessibility.
- Strengthening institutional capacity: Improve the operational sustainability of cultural institutions by strengthening management systems, fundraising efforts and digitization efforts.
- Enhancing professional development: Create and facilitate professional development opportunities for cultural institutions’ staff.
Group B: Promoting Cultural Creation and Engagement
- Supporting the creation of cultural works and innovation: Enable institutions to develop, produce, and present artistic and cultural works that shape Armenia’s cultural identity.
- Expanding Cultural Access and Engagement: Enhance public access to cultural experiences through festivals, touring exhibitions, and digital platforms, fostering cultural tourism and greater community participation. Special attention will be given to integrating educational programs within cultural institutions to enrich learning and engagement.
- Strengthening Creative Outputs: Support educational programs for cultural professionals to enhance their skills, foster artistic excellence, and ensure the sustainability of Armenia’s creative sector.
Group C: Revitalizing & Activating Cultural Heritage
- Transforming cultural heritage into living spaces: Promote heritage sites as active cultural spaces by supporting special initiatives, festivals, events, and interactive experiences that drive tourism, engage communities, and integrate heritage into daily life.
- Preserving & reimagining cultural heritage: Support the preservation of monuments, archaeological sites, and cultural landscapes to protect their integrity while ensuring accessibility and relevance.
- Safeguarding Artsakh’s cultural heritage: Support initiatives that document, restore, and protect Artsakh’s cultural heritage, ensuring its preservation.

Focus Areas

Promoting a thriving cultural scene in Armenia
- The Foundation will be accepting proposals for projects focused on promoting and preserving culture and arts in Armenia, with an emphasis on fostering artistic creation and driving systemic and institutional changes in the cultural field. Funding goals will include supporting the development of innovative works across various artistic disciplines, enhancing the capacity and sustainability of cultural institutions, and implementing initiatives that promote long-term, structural improvements in the cultural sector. This also involves creating and curating original content within institutions, establishing new frameworks for arts education, and developing platforms for emerging artists.

Funding Information

Total Amount Available: $390,000 USD

Eligibility Criteria

H. Hovnanian Family Foundation makes grants only to:
- Registered organizations that are charitable in nature, i.e. either designated IRS 501(c)(3) status in the U.S. or state-registered organization including non-profit organizations and foundations, and other charities in Armenia.
- Organizations that have established at least three years of program outcomes.
- Collaborative projects between private and public sectors are encouraged, as well as any collaborative projects between two or more organizations.
- Project activities that fall under one of Hovnanian Foundation’s primary areas of focus.
- Calendar year, as well as multi-year grant requests, are eligible for consideration.
- Prior grant recipients of Foundation funding are eligible to reapply only after adhering to a 12-month waiting period following grant approval prior to submission of any new request.
- If all of the above criteria are met, grant budgets with no more than 20% of project costs are allocated for indirect costs such as travel.