Mellon Foundation

“In these challenging times, I truly believe that we must commit to going further together rather than going faster alone. "I am deeply humbled to continue advocating fiercely for our beloved artist community,” says Deana Haggag, celebrated arts leader and advocate and incoming Program Director for Arts and Culture grantmaking at Mellon Foundation. Read the full announcement: on.mellon.org/3DnmcRb

📣 ANNOUNCEMENT: Celebrated arts leader and advocate Deana Haggag will be promoted to the Mellon Foundation leadership role of Program Director for Arts and Culture, effective January 1, 2025. A Program Officer at the Foundation since 2021, Haggag has extended Mellon’s reach into the literary arts, established resources to protect individual artistic legacies across disciplines, and has directed resources to community-serving arts organizations across the US. “In these challenging times, I truly believe that we must commit to going further together rather than going faster alone. I am deeply humbled to lead Mellon’s Arts and Culture team and continue advocating fiercely for our beloved artist community," says Haggag. Before coming to Mellon, Haggag served as President and CEO of United States Artists. She is on the Boards of Trustees of MoMA PS1 and Pillars Fund. Read the announcement: on.mellon.org/3DnmcRb

Mellon Foundation has awarded $476,000 to Pace University to advance its environmental justice and environmental humanities programs. The three-year interdisciplinary initiative, "Islands, Archipelagos, and Cultural Ecologies," will explore themes of #ClimateJustice, creative interventions, and decolonization.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Malone Community Center will embark on a collaborative project to recover the lost stories of their neighborhood and digitize the community archive. With grant funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and the Mellon Foundation, the project seeks to demonstrate the evolving responsibilities of research libraries in their local communities. Titled “Recovering Lost Stories: Digitizing the History of the Malone Community Center, the Heartbeat of an ‘Invisible’ Black Community in Lincoln, Nebraska," the archive will provide public access to over 6,000 historic documents.

#Today marks the designation of the Frances Perkins Homestead as the United States’ newest national monument. Frances Perkins became the first woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet in 1933, when she was appointed Secretary of Labor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Throughout her career, Perkins was a trailblazing advocate for social justice, economic security, and labor rights. As the U.S. emerged from the Great Depression, she established policies to safeguard the national economy and working-class rights, including the Social Security Act and Fair Labor Standards Act. The designation of Perkins’s ancestral homestead as a national monument emerged from a successful campaign by the Frances Perkins Center, a Mellon grantee, and the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). “With the addition of Frances Perkins’ story, we now have 13 national park sites dedicated to the contributions of women and we know there is more work to be done,” says NPCA President Theresa Pierno. 📷 Frances Perkins Homestead by Kari Herer, courtesy of Frances Perkins Center; Frances Perkins by Bettmman, courtesy of Getty Images

Supported by the Mellon Foundation, Brooklyn Public Library opens a landmark exhibition featuring rare photographs of James Baldwin, captured by photographer Sedat Pakay. #OpeningToday, the exhibition sheds light on a pivotal yet understudied chapter of Baldwin's life in Istanbul and expands on his legacy as a voice of resistance and liberation.

The University Art Museum (UAM) at New Mexico State University is among 32 organizations awarded grants through Mellon Foundation's Frontera Culture Fund. UAM received $300,000 to assist with its curatorial and programmatic work in southern New Mexico. Located 50 miles from the US/Mexico border, UAM is "a contemporary art museum that plays a critical role in establishing connections across real and perceived borders."

At many #libraries across the country, you can check out so much more than books. From seed packets to tool kits, learn about 10 unexpected things you can find at your local library.

The Mellon Foundation has awarded a $900k grant to the Bronzeville Trail Task Force, whose goal is to develop the abandoned Kenwood "L" line embankment in #Chicago into a community park. The grant will allow the group to conduct pre-development research and craft programs for the future trail, ensuring landscape strategies rooted in the history of the neighborhood and its residents.

The UC San Diego Community Stations are dynamic spaces co-created by the university and local communities along the California-Mexico border. Explore the story at on.mellon.org/3OuesPG