Deadline: 02-Jul-21
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is inviting organisations in the United States and its territories to submit applications for its 2021 Call for Proposals to Community-Based Archives.
For the purposes of this call, community-based archives are defined as collections of materials gathered, collected, and shared primarily by members of a marginalized community to document their collective histories. These archives play an important role in combating what UCLA Assistant Professor of Archival Studies Michelle Caswell calls the “symbolic annihilation” of marginalized communities from mainstream memory institutions, and are essential to the creation of a more inclusive and polyvocal American story.
Through this program, direct support will be provided to community-based archives that represent and serve communities marginalized due to oppression based on race, ethnicity, national origin, class, gender, sexuality, religion, or ability. This year, the Foundation plans to prioritize those applications that are based in community advocacy and archive activation efforts.
These grants will provide support to archives in one or more of the following areas of need:
- Operational costs, including staff, space, and utilities.
- Collection’s care, including the acquisition of new materials, physical and digital storage fees, and access and preservation efforts.
- Programming activities, including events, exhibitions, and publications.
- Activation and advocacy efforts, including resident community activist/archivist positions, ethical preservation of social media, and increased community use of the archive.
Funding Information
- Awards will range from $50,000 to $100,000 for grants of two years in length.
Eligibility Criteria
Organizations that respond to this Call for Proposals must:
- Be located within the United States or one of its territories.
- Have tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) public charity, have an organization with 501(c)(3) public charity status serving as a fiscal sponsor, or be a federally recognized Indian tribe.
- Have an archive with an annual operating budget of at least $50,000 and no more than $750,000. In-kind donations towards occupancy costs may be used to calculate the total operating budget.
- Have an established and actively collecting archive that has been in operation for two or more years. This funding cannot be used to create a new archive.
- Applications from universities or historical societies will not be considered for this call for proposals. We encourage universities and historical societies with compelling community archive and post-custodial projects to submit general inquiries through our general Fluxx portal.
- Ineligible
- Foundation does not make grants to individuals or K-12 initiatives.
- Support lobbying activity or otherwise support attempts to influence local, state, federal, or foreign legislation.
- Influence the outcome of any election for public office or to carry out any voter registration drives.
For more information, visit https://mellon.org/programs/public-knowledge/call-for-proposals-community-based-archives/