Today, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced $43.1 million in funding for 218 humanities projects, including an Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grant for the AAI. The award to the AAI will support the expansion of archaeological data publishing and archiving services with Open Context, development of a data literacy program for the broader public, and establishment of a consortium to sustain open access to archaeological data in the future.
Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants aim to strengthen the institutional base of the humanities by helping institutions secure long-term support for their core activities and expand efforts to preserve and create access to outstanding humanities materials. AAI is one 29 cultural institutions to receive a challenge grant under this new program. The Challenge Grant provides a 1:3 match (up to $500,000) for all donations to the AAI / Open Context over the next five years, with the aim of establishing a spend-down fund to be used over a decade.
About the National Endowment for the Humanities: Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.