Digital Projects for the Public

Digital Projects for the Public grants support projects that cogently interpret and analyze humanities content in formats that will attract broad public audiences.

Digital platforms—such as websites, mobile applications and tours, interactive touch screens and kiosks, games, and virtual environments—can reach diverse audiences and bring the humanities to life for the American people. The program offers three levels of support for digital projects: grants for Discovery projects (early-stage planning work), Prototyping projects (proof-of-concept development work), and Production projects (end-stage production and distribution work). While projects can take many forms, shapes, and sizes, your request should be for an exclusively digital project or for a digital component of a larger project.

All Digital Projects for the Public projects should

• present analysis that deepens public understanding of significant humanities stories and ideas;
• incorporate sound humanities scholarship;
• involve humanities scholars in all phases of development and production;
• include appropriate digital media professionals;
• reach a broad public through a realistic plan for development, marketing, and distribution;
• create appealing digital formats for the general public; and
• demonstrate the capacity to sustain themselves.

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.

NEH also welcomes applications for non-promotional digital components of a larger project. 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 substantially add to the audience’s learning experience.