CARES grant awarded to Syracuse-Wawasee Historical Museum

Nonprofit organizations that provide public humanities programming to Hoosiers across the state will receive more than $500,000 in operating support to help with funding relief due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Indiana Humanities awarded Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security grants to 74 organizations, from Mishawaka to Milan.

Awards range from $1,000 to $15,000, depending on the size of the organization’s budget. Organizations in the 2nd Congressional District will receive $50,000. One of those organizations is the Syracuse-Wawasee Historical Museum, which received $5,000.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided the funding to Indiana Humanities as part of the CARES Act economic stabilization plan appropriated by the U.S. Congress.

“The CARES Act includes provisions to help small businesses and Hoosiers in many industries, including those employed by public humanities such as cultural sites, libraries and museums. The funds appropriated for Indiana Humanities CARES grants will help support these programs through this difficult time,” said U.S. Sen. Mike Braun.

Requests for the grants exceeded $1.3 million and the 186 applicants expressed $11.7 million in total losses to date, as well as projected losses of $44.9 million through Sept. 30.

“We are pleased to have awarded grants to groups large and small carrying out a variety of programming in each congressional district and in 48 of our 92 counties,” said Doran Moreland, Indiana Humanities board chair. “We had to turn down many organizations that are doing good work in the state, including some of our close partners. The grant committees put great care into the review, weighing a number of factors such as public humanities focus, need, audiences served and geography.”

The grants do not require a match and will be distributed to the organizations in June. Organizations with budgets less than $250,000 received up to $5,000; organizations with budgets from $250,000 to $999,999 received $7,500; organizations with budgets from $1 million to $2,499,999 received $10,000; and organizations with budgets of $2.5 million or more received $15,000.

“These CARES grants will help meet immediate needs at cultural institutions around the state, allowing Indiana museums, archives, libraries and historical societies to maintain vital operations,” said NEH Chairman Jon Parrish Peede. “Thank you to Indiana Humanities for their swift and judicious distribution of CARES Act funding to the many humanities organizations suffering financial distress during the pandemic.”

To view an interactive map, an infographic and more information about the grant recipients, visit www.IndianaHumanities.org/INCares.