Virginia Humanities Fellowship Program
Public Humanities Fellowships
Our Public Humanities Fellowships help writers, independent scholars, community historians, and college and university faculty members share meaningful research, stories, and cultural expressions that are relevant to Virginia’s diverse communities and that connect audiences to wider regional, national, and global contexts. If you’re engaged in the public humanities, and you’re interested in sharing your work with a wider audience, we’d love to hear from you.
Since 1974, we’ve awarded more than 400 fellowships for projects that help Virginians better understand the state, Virginia’s role in the world, and each other.
Applications will close on Tuesday, April 30, 2024.
Public Humanities Fellowships help writers, independent scholars, community historians, and college and university faculty members share meaningful research, stories, and cultural expressions that are relevant to Virginia’s diverse communities and that connect audiences to wider regional, national, and global contexts. If you’re engaged in the public humanities, and you’re interested in sharing your work with a wider audience, we’d love to hear from you.
Since 1974, we’ve awarded more than 400 fellowships for projects that help Virginians better understand the state, Virginia’s role in the world, and each other.
All Public Humanities Fellows will receive a $15,000 stipend to support their projects. If desired, Fellows may complete their four-month fellowship in residence—at Virginia Humanities’ public humanities center in Charlottesville, or the Library of Virginia in Richmond—or virtually.
Fellows will receive access to both the University of Virginia’s library system and the archives available at the Library of Virginia to complete their projects. They will become part of a community of fellows working on innovative humanities topics in the public interest and will have the opportunity to share their ideas with other fellows working in related fields. They will also have the opportunity to participate in programs such as our With Good Reasonradio show and podcast, Virginia Festival of the Book’s Shelf Life, and the Library of Virginia’s UncommonWealth blog.
Preference will be given to projects that engage the public in meaningful and creative ways and explore issues around public humanities topics related to subjects such as history, literature, religion, community stories.
Timeline
- April 30 2024: Application deadline
- June 2024: Decisions announced
- July 2024: Fellowships may begin as early as July 1, 2024
- June 2025: Fellowship projects should conclude no later than June 30, 2025
- June 2024: Fellowship projects should conclude no later than June 30, 2024.
Requirements
- Fellows must be eighteen years or older, reside in Virginia or be affiliated with a Virginia college or university, and be working on a project that is relevant to communities within Virginia.
- Direct affiliation with a college or university is not required.
- We’re especially interested in applicants with experience engaging large, diverse, public audiences.
Deliverables and Expectations
We encourage proposals that engage public audiences in creative, novel, and meaningful ways.
Fellows are required to dedicate a substantial amount of their time towards their identified topic area throughout the duration of the fellowship and are advised to take a leave of absence from their primary places of work.
This fellowship has a public program requirement. At the conclusion of the four-month fellowship, developed research will be presented to a public audience in coordination with Virginia Humanities or the Library of Virginia.
The final fellowship project deliverable should result in something that a public audience can engage with, learn from, or experience such as:
- Websites /Digital Projects
- Publicly accessible archives
- Books
- Scholarly journal articles
- Exhibits
- Podcasts
- Oral Histories
