Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

Overview

The National Endowment for the Arts is a proud and active partner with the White House Initiative to Promote Excellence and Innovation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). A White House Executive Order, signed in April 2025, reaffirms the government’s commitment “to elevate the value and impact of our Nation’s HBCUs as beacons of educational excellence and economic opportunity that serve as some of the best cultivators of tomorrow’s leaders in business, government, academia, and the military.”

Outreach to HBCUs is a direct priority of the National Endowment for the Arts. Over time, the agency’s vision is that every historically Black college and university successfully applies for funding opportunities through the National Endowment for the Arts. The agency’s efforts include:

establishing and cultivating ongoing relationships with historically Black colleges and universities leadership, educators, and students;
building awareness of the National Endowment for the Arts and its funding opportunities, including encouraging HBCU applications in its funding priorities;
providing technical assistance, including grant workshops, to HBCUs on developing competitive grant applications;
sharing critical resources and information;
exploring new ways of improving the relationship between HBCUs and federal agencies through internships, partnerships, programs, and mentoring; and
increasing awareness of career pathways in the arts.

In 2019, the White House Initiative on HBCUs recognized the NEA with a Public Partnership Award for its outreach to HBCUs.

Above photo: (left to right) At the 2019 National HBCU Week & Conference, Lopez D. Matthews Jr. with Howard University, Professor Dale Glenwood Green with Morgan State University, and Dr. Carla Jackson Bell with Tuskegee University participate in a panel as part of the Arts, Humanities, and History cluster’s Dream It-Achieve It Federal Cultural Funding Opportunities Symposium. Photo by NEA staff

Arts, History, Humanities & Culture Cluster

The NEA created and manages the Interagency Competitiveness Cluster for Arts, History, Humanities & Culture, part of the White House Initiative to Promote Excellence and Innovation at HBCUs.

This first-of-its-kind partnership with Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Library of Congress, National Endowment for the Humanities, and U.S. Department of Education works together to share resources for HBCUs around grant opportunities, careers and professional development, and the creative economy. This includes sessions at the annual HBCU Week Conference. Archived presentations include:

In February 2022, the cluster presented: Exploring Career and Professional Development Opportunities in the Arts, Humanities, Museums, Libraries, and History Sectors. This webinar covered career/job opportunities in the arts, humanities, history, museum, and library spaces as well as the ways the federal government supports professional development for HBCU faculty and leadership working in these areas.
The 2021 National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week Conference took place September 7–10, 2021. As part of the conference, the NEA participated in the Arts, History, Humanities and Culture cluster session Demystifying the process: Best practices for Applying for Federal Arts, Humanities, and Culture Grants, which shared information with potential grantees on how to leverage resources in order to achieve greater success in federal grant applications. In addition, the conference's opening event featured DC’s 2021 Poetry Out Loud champion, Saquoya Gorham, a sophomore at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, reciting a poem, with an introduction by NEA Chief of Staff Ra Joy. That recitation is available on the NEA's YouTube page.
The 2020 virtual HBCU Week Annual Conference took place September 21-25, 2020. View the archived Arts, Humanities, and History sessions: “Applying for Success” and “Discover your Place in the Creative Economy."

Receive the Newsletter: Sign up for the newsletter from the Arts, History, Humanities & Culture Cluster and receive news about grant opportunities, events, and grantee highlights from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Department of Education.

Recent Grants

The National Endowment for the Arts supports HBCUs both through direct grants and by supporting projects that are in collaboration with HBCUs. A database of Arts Endowment grants can be searched through the agency’s Grant Search function.

Apply for a Grant

The Arts Endowment is pleased to work with HBCUs, assisting these invaluable institutions to understand and apply to the Arts Endowment’s funding categories that support HBCU priorities for arts and culture.

In fact, the Arts Endowment encourages applications from HBCUs in its funding guidelines.

Visit arts.gov/Grants for details on all the NEA’s funding programs, such as:

Grants for Arts Projects—These grants support excellent arts projects for the benefit of all Americans. Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) provides funding for public engagement with the arts and arts education, for the integration of the arts with strategies promoting the health and well-being of people and communities, and for the improvement of overall capacity and capabilities within the arts sector. Cost share/matching grants generally range from $10,000 to $100,000. A minimum cost share/match equal to the grant amount is required.
Research Awards includes two opportunities for research projects: Research Grants in the Arts funds research that investigates the value and/or impact of the arts, and NEA Research Labs, which funds transdisciplinary research teams grounded in the social and behavioral sciences.
- In September 2022 as part of the National HBCU Week Conference, the NEA led a webinar on the Research Labs. Representatives from two NEA Research Labs led session participants through experiential demonstrations of how researchers are exploring the arts alongside healthcare, innovation, and technology. The session also addressed, as a potential growth area for HBCU research and development, the nuts and bolts of securing federal funding to support partnerships for research in the arts. Watch the archived webinar.

Well in advance of the funding deadline, please contact HBCU@arts.gov or our program offices to discuss the project and assist in the application process.

For additional resources on applying to the NEA, visit our First Time Applicant Guide.

The Arts Endowment looks forward to hearing from HBCUs and receiving applications for funding!

Sign Up to be a Review Panelist

Arts Endowment panelists play a central role in reviewing applications for funding. We rely on panels composed of individuals who represent a broad range of artistic and cultural viewpoints, as well as wide geographic and ethnic diversity, to provide advice about the artistic excellence and artistic merit of proposals in a variety of funding categories.

Our panels are composed of both arts professionals and knowledgeable laypersons—someone knowledgeable about the arts but not engaged in the arts as a profession either full- or part-time.

We need HBCU representatives to serve as panelists! It’s a great way to learn more about the application process and what makes a successful application.

Meet the HBCU Team and Request a Meeting or Conversation

The foundation of the agency’s outreach is developing relationships with HBCUs.

The Arts Endowment’s HBCU team is here to learn about the arts and culture priorities of HBCUs, to help HBCUs navigate funding opportunities, and to guide HBCUs through all things Arts Endowment-related.

Please email HBCU@arts.gov to request a meeting or a conversation with the HBCU Team:

Katryna Carter, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works Specialist and an alumna of Howard University
Nicole Phillips, Civil Rights Specialist and an alumna of Oakwood University
Tamika Shingler, Division Coordinator and an alumna of Morgan State University