State and Federal Funding Update

Welcome to June, the best time of year to live in Minnesota and the countdown to when we get to celebrate Juneteenth. We have been very busy planning events and programs, and would love to see you at one of our amazing offerings this year – there’s something for everyone.

I want to extend a sincere thank you to all who have reached out to ask me how things are going at the Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC), considering the recent decision of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to terminate the contract between MHC and NEH.

Also, thank you for your efforts in reaching out to your elected officials to inform them about how much you value the impact of our work. Many of the elected officials that I have met with have shared that several of their constituents have reached out to them on MHC’s behalf.

Thank you – everyone at MHC appreciates your support of our mission and vision. Here is a quick update; mostly good news, but there remains some work to do.

While the work of the Minnesota Legislature has not been fully completed, the Legacy legislative bill for the upcoming Minnesota biennium that begins on July 1, 2025, has been signed into law by Governor Walz.

The news was good: MHC was fortunate to have received more funding from the Minnesota Legislature to create programming and administer grants than we received from the State Capitol two years ago.

 We are grateful for the funds that we have received to administer grants. The grant lines we have offered over the past two years have largely been driven by the legislative language in our Legacy appropriation from the State of Minnesota.

Additionally, there is very good news for the grantees and the people in Minnesota who enjoyed the cultural heritage grants we awarded over the last two years. We will have $11.5 million to award grantees for cultural heritage grants in the upcoming biennium which represents an increase of over $2 million.

Another prior grant line that will receive more funding in the upcoming biennium is the emergency grant line. In the next two years, we will award $600,000 to grantees for emergency grants, which represents an increase of $500,000 from the present biennium.

There will also be some new grant lines that we will offer in the upcoming biennium.

MHC will create and offer a festival grant line of $1.5 million for each year in the upcoming biennium. We will also create and offer a Minnesota musicians grant line of $200,000 for each in the upcoming biennium. Another new grant line that will be created is Youth Literacy grants; we will award grants up to $250,000 each year in the upcoming biennium.

In addition to our general appropriation for humanities programming, we also received direct appropriation from the Minnesota Legislature to work with Soul Touch productions to commemorate the incredible life of the genius Gordon Parks.

If you have not had a chance to tour the art exhibition, Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, to see the work of Gordon Parks at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, you should go before the exhibition leaves in July. The video of the Deans, Swizz and Alicia, and their courtship, romance, and love of art is also a treat.

While grateful for the additional funding for humanities programming from the State of Minnesota, the appropriation is more than $1 million less than what we were expecting to receive from NEH funding has not been restored. Also, because Legacy funds can’t be used to reimburse travel in or out of the State of Minnesota, our pool of funds to bring scholars to Minnesota remains compromised.

The Federation of State Humanities Councils (Federation), of which MHC is a member, recently initiated legal action against NEH seeking a nationwide injunction. The Federation, filing on behalf of its members, is requesting an Order from the Court to direct NEH to provide funding identified in the continuing resolution appropriation bill signed into law in March. I expect that we will have a decision from the Court this summer; I also expect that the losing side will likely appeal that decision. Stay tuned.

The President released his FY26 budget. The FY26 budget provides a minimal amount of funding to NEH – unfortunately, the purpose of the funding is to facilitate the elimination of NEH. We continue to make the case with members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation on the importance of the continuation of NEH.

As we previously shared with you, The Federation of States Humanities Councils (FSHC) has received $15 million in emergency grant funds from the Mellon Foundation to be made available to all 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils across the U.S. Earlier this week, we received our $200,000 emergency grant through this effort.

In addition, The Federation of State Humanities Councils, with support from Mellon Foundation, will match donations received by councils up to a total of $50,000, to encourage and empower local funders, individual donors, and others to donate. Help us meet this match and plan for our future.

Thank you, to the FSHC and the Mellon Foundation, for your generous support and to all of you for supporting MHC’s mission and vision. 

Kevin