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- By Native News Online Staff
The Association for Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) is planning to make 175 awards to Native cultural institutions and their partners, in the $5,000-$50,000 range, to help them recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding is the result of $3.6 million in Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
Federally recognized tribal governments with cultural institutions, tribal cultural facilities with non-profit status, non-tribal cultural institutions working in partnership with tribes, and higher education institutions working in partnership with tribes can apply for the funding. Monies received through this program may be used for operational support including documenting cultural practices, new exhibits and programs, preparing facilities for reopening, and rehiring furloughed employees.
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“ATALM has developed a strategy to address the most critical needs facing tribal cultural institutions, while also building bridges with non-Native institutions,” said ATALM Board Chair Walter Echo-Hawk said in a statement to the press. “We are grateful to the NEH for recognizing the unique ways Native communities are experiencing this pandemic and we are pleased to have this opportunity to provide much needed support.”
The NEH distributed the funding to ATALM and six other organizations in the U.S. as part of SHARP.
“The American Rescue Plan recognizes that the cultural and educational sectors are essential components of the United States economy and civic life, vital to the health and resilience of American communities,” said NEH Acting Chairman Adam Wolfson said in a statement to the press. “These new grants will provide a lifeline to the country’s colleges and universities, museums, libraries, archives, historical sites and societies, save thousands of jobs in the humanities placed at risk by the pandemic, and help bring economic recovery to cultural and educational institutions and those they serve.”
Program details and the grant application are available at https://atalm.org/node/534. Applications open on October 20th. The deadline to apply is December 13, 2021. There is a pre-application webinar planned for November 4.
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