HIHumanities Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) grants are designed to provide relief funding for Hawai‘i-based humanities nonprofits, and nonprofits doing humanities programming to help our communities recover and rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In June 2021 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced the distribution of $52.6 million in funding to the 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils and interim partners (SHARP), which were the agency’s first awards under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021.
With so many of our nation’s cultural and educational institutions reeling from the economic fallout of the pandemic, NEH’s state and jurisdictional humanities partners are on the front lines of the crisis, adapting and responding to urgent needs within their states and communities to shore up the humanities organizations and resources that enrich the lives of so many citizens.
Adam Wolfson
NEH Acting Chairman
As the pandemic continues to impact our daily lives, our humanities community organizations sustain and create spaces of resilience and recovery for Hawaiʻi. HIHumanities continues to be profoundly humbled by their strength, their imagination, and their capacity to build better bridges in these difficult times; we are grateful to the NEH and our Congressional members for their continued support of humanities organizations and programming in Hawaiʻi.
Our humanities community are museums, archives, historical sites, learning centers. They are educators and stewards committed to strengthening Hawai‘i’s communities by caring for our cultures, histories, and identities, by providing space for expression, reflection, and connection. The humanities care for our whole selves, and we feel the need for this now more than ever.
As part of SHARP, HIHumanites is distributing $629,140 to 35 organizations from Hawaiʻi, Maui, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Oʻahu, and Kauaʻi. We received applications from 63 organizations that reported financial losses totaling $9,310,227 for 2020 due to the ongoing ramifications of COVID-19. Because our SHARP allocation was unable to entirely meet actual need, there were many difficult decisions in the review process conducted by Hawaiʻi Council for Humanities Board of Directors.
Our privilege, as Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities, is to be inspired and moved by the depth and breadth of our humanities organizations here in Hawaiʻi. All of these applicants should be honored for their care and stewardship of our communities.
SHARP General Operating Costs Grantees
Bishop Museum for $20,000
Bamboo Ridge Press $9,000
Ceeds of Peace for $18,407
Congregation of the Sacred Hearts U.S. Province for $16,697
Daughters of Hawaiʻi for $20,000
East Hawaiʻi Cultural Council for $20,000
Hawaiʻi International Film Festival for $20,000
Hawaiʻi United Okinawan Association for $20,000
Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives for $20,000
Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation for $20,000
Hui Noʻeau for $20,000
Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaiʻi for $20,000
Kauaʻi Historical Society for $20,000
Kauaʻi Museum Association, Ltd. for $20,000
Kauluakalana for $19,321
Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services for $20,000
Kona Historical Society for $20,000
Kua’āina Ulu ʻAuamo for $20,000
Kualoa-Heʻeia Ecumenical Youth program for $20,000
Lānaʻi Culture and Heritage Center for $18,000
Mānoa Heritage Center for $20,000
Moanalua Gardens Foundation for $20,000
Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center for $20,000
Papahana Kuaola for $18,276
The Friends of ʻIolani Palace for $20,000
The Lahaina Restoration Foundation for $19,991
SHARP Humanities Programming Grantees
Civic Education Council for $14,970
Dancers Unlimited Inc for $15,000
Hāna Arts for $15,000
Honokaʻa Hongwanji Mission for $15,000
Kalihi-Pālama Culture & Arts Society, Inc for $15,000
Ka ʻOhana O Kalaupapa for $15,000
Mālama Loko Ea Foundation for $14,798
Maui Arts & Cultural Center for $15,000
Read To Me International Foundation for $15,000
The Merwin Conservancy for $14,680