Humanities Tennessee aims to foster community and civility in Tennessee through public programs that delve into ideas, stories, history, arts, and culture. By examining and reflecting on these areas, the organization seeks to encourage community dialogue and mutual respect.
Opportunity Grants from Humanities Tennessee provide financial support to nonprofit partners for public humanities projects. These grants aim to leverage the humanities to strengthen community work, encouraging inquiry, analysis, reflection, and providing historical and social contexts. Humanities Tennessee seeks projects that educate, build, and unite communities around a nonprofit’s mission, whether through sharing local history, engaging in the arts, conservation efforts, neighborhood safety, or workforce development. The grant values accountability, agency, complexity, empathy, inclusivity, and specificity in funded projects.