CH CARES Humanities Relief Grants

Colorado Humanities is happy to announce the organizations and individuals who were awarded a total of $481,984 in CH CARES Humanities Relief Grants. Grant funds were provided by Colorado Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act economic stabilization plan of 2020.

More than 200 organizations and individuals submitted a grant application. The high quality of applications submitted to Colorado Humanities and the large number of applications received made the choices difficult. Colorado Humanities commends all the applicants for the important work they are doing.

Animas Museum/ La Plata County Historical Society

Located in the historic Animas City School, the Animas Museum keeps La Plata history and culture alive through museum exhibits, a research library, public programs, and a state-of-the-art collections facility housing over thirty thousand artifacts.

Durango $  7,927
Art from Ashes Inc.

Art from Ashes, the first Colorado youth arts agency, has empowered over 14,000 youth with creative programs that facilitate health and hope through expression, connection, and transformation.

Denver $10,500
Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities

The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities celebrates and elevates the human condition with engaging arts, humanities, education, and entertainment that expand the cultural landscape for everyone who visits.

Arvada $5,667
Basalt Library

The Basalt Regional Library affords our community free and equitable access to information, tools and connections that nurture lifelong learning in a safe and welcoming space.

Basalt $4,667
Bent County Historical Society

The Bent County Historical Society preserves the county’s culture, history, and heritage through the Bent County Chronicle, Art Guild, architectural and cultural programs, and the operation and preservation of the John W. Rawlings Heritage Center and Museum and Boggsville Historical Site.

Las Animas  $12,500
Bessemer Historical Society, Inc.

The Bessemer Historical Society, Inc. (dba Steelworks Center of the West) preserves and provides public access to Colorado Fuel & Iron Company research resources and quality educational and cultural programming relating to the history of industry in the West.

Pueblo  $4,000
Black American West Museum & Heritage Center

The Black American West Museum & Heritage Center, located in the former home of Dr. Justina Ford, Colorado’s first licensed African American female doctor, focuses collections, programs, exhibits, events and inclusive community engagement on the contributions African American settlers had on the development of the Western United States.

Denver  $10,500
Blue Sage Center for the Arts

The Blue Sage Center for the Arts in Paonia offers the North Fork Valley and surrounding communities education, engagement, and expression in the arts and humanities through youth and adult development courses and dance, visual arts, literary, musical, and theatrical performances.

Paonia  $500
BookTrails

BookTrails in Steamboat Springs fosters literacy for all by providing over 1,000 Colorado low-income children who have had adverse experiences bilingual opportunities to develop reading and writing skills during summer break.

Steamboat Springs  $6,000
Center for American Values – Medal of Honor Museum

The Center for American Values, home to the acclaimed Portraits of Valor Gallery, Medal of Honor Museum, and World Trade Center Steel Memorial, has a mission to “Honor service and sacrifice, while inspiring the next generation of civically engaged leaders.”

Pueblo  $10,500
Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College

The Center for Southwest Studies connects individuals and communities with opportunities to explore the Southwest’s dynamic heritage through its research collections, professional internships, programming, and exhibitions.

Durango  $6,000
Centro Cultural Mexicano dba Mexican Cultural Center

The Mexican Cultural Center showcases the richness of Mexican and Latin American art and its positive impact within the community through a variety of cultural and educational programs.

Denver  $6,000
Chicano Humanities and Arts Council

The Chicano Humanities and Arts Council celebrates and preserves Chicano/Latinx culture through poetry, music, storytelling, educational opportunities, and landmark cultural events.

Denver  $9,600
Colorado Folk Arts Council

The Colorado Folk Arts Council encourages the preservation of ethnic cultural arts, history, and traditions through education, youth team building, performances, and accessible and relevant community projects.

Wheat Ridge  $2,834
Corazon de Trinidad Creative District

The Corazon de Trinidad Creative District attracts artists and creative entrepreneurs to Trinidad in order to infuse new energy and innovation in the community’s economic and civic life.

Trinidad  $3,291
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center

Crow Canyon in Cortez, Colorado works to protect and preserve cultural heritage, to develop and deliver educational programs, and to make significant contributions to understanding our human past and the broader human experience.

Cortez  $5,250
Dairy Arts Center

Dairy Arts Center connects a dynamic and diverse community to create inspiring and engaging experiences in the performing, cinematic and visual arts.

Boulder  $3,667
Denver Center for the Performing Arts

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts engages and inspires through the transformative power of live theatre.

Denver  $5,667
Durango Film Institute dba Durango Independent Film Festival

Durango Film brings the community together with independent filmmakers to experience and discuss global, innovative, and diverse films and serves as a liaison for film crews and the community, to create positive socio-economic impact through their Four Corners Film Office program.

Durango  $500
Eagle County Historical Society

The Eagle County Historical Society operates the Eagle County Historical Museum, maintains archives (both physical and online) that are available to the public, and assists with historical preservation projects to educate others on Eagle County’s rich history.

Eagle  $2,688
The Arts Studio dba Firehouse Art Center

The Firehouse Art Center celebrates Longmont’s diverse community and culture and seeks to raise cultural awareness and understanding of the arts in the community through classes, lectures, events, and visual arts exhibitions in three gallery spaces that introduce visitors to new local and national artists.

Longmont  $500
Florence Arts Council

The Florence Arts Council promotes and preserves collaboration between the arts and the communities in Fremont County by running the 8,000 sq. ft. Bell Tower Cultural Center as a place for the community to come together and enjoy the arts.

Florence  $3,120
Friends of Raymer, Inc.

Friends of Raymer, Inc., is a small group of current and former residents of this gateway to the Pawnee National Grasslands and the Pawnee Buttes working to preserve their community heritage, offer educational experiences, and provide access to history in ways that enrich and expand community life.

Brush  $1,996
Gilpin Historical Society

The Gilpin Historical Society establishes and maintains collections of information, records, and objects related to or having a bearing on the civil, social and economic history of Gilpin County.

Central City  $2,400
Glenwood Springs Historical Society

The Glenwood Springs Historical Society and Frontier Museum presents its area’s rich history through collections, exhibits, photographs, burial records, historic research, off-site exhibits, publications, and educational programs.

Glenwood Springs  $11,533
Golden History Museum & Park

Golden History Museum and Park is a cultural campus that includes the History Museum with modern, interactive exhibits, a three-acre History Park with historic structures that interpret Colorado homestead life, and an offsite facility that houses some 16,000 artifacts that help tell the stories of the people, businesses, and events that shaped the development of the community and state.

Golden  $6,000
Grand County Historical Association

Grand County Historical Association works to preserve the area’s history, historical artifacts, and historical buildings through four historical museums in the county: Cozens Ranch Museum in Fraser, The Emily Warner Field Aviation Museum in Granby, Heritage Park in Kremmling, and Pioneer Village in Hot Sulphur Springs.

Hot Sulphur Springs  $10,500
Hayden Heritage Center Museum

The Hayden Heritage Center engages, inspires, and educates the public with the preservation and exhibition of historic artifacts and information associated with the Town of Hayden and western Routt County.

Hayden  $10,000
Hispanic Chamber Education Foundation

The Hispanic Chamber Education Foundation promotes educational achievement, economic advancement and leadership development in the Hispanic community.

Denver  $4,666
Historical Society of Oak Creek & Phippsburg

The HSOCP & Museum collects, preserves, interprets, and celebrates the history of the Oak Creek, Phippsburg, and Stagecoach areas to strengthen community bonds and to foster a greater understanding and appreciation for the area’s heritage.

Oak Creek  $6,000
KSUT Public Radio

Located in Ignacio, home of the Southern Ute Tribe, KSUT is a community-supported public broadcasting organization dedicated to serving the multicultural community of the Four Corners by providing diverse and eclectic entertainment, education, news, and community and public information while promoting multicultural awareness and understanding.

Ignacio  $6,000
Leon Co

Leon gallery, creative space, and community cultural center provides an environment for artistic exploration free from the market pressures and economic restraints of commercial galleries and event venues.

Denver  $500
Lighthouse Writers Workshop

Lighthouse Writers Workshop provides high-caliber artistic education, support and community for writers and readers of all ages to ensure that literature maintains its proper prominence in our culture and that individuals achieve their fullest potential as artists and human beings.

Denver  $10,500
Literacy Outreach

At Literacy Outreach, professionally trained community volunteers work one-on-one with Garfield County adult learners to provide essential literacy skills that include the ability to read, write, do math, speak and understand English, and access and use technology.

Glenwood Springs  $10,500
Loveland Museum

Loveland Museum promotes and enriches quality of life by providing diverse cultural experiences through history, artistic expression and community celebration..

Loveland  $4,667
Lyons Historical Society dba Lyons Redstone Museum

Housed in an 1881 schoolhouse, the Lyons Historical Society collects materials that may help to establish or illustrate the history of the area.

Lyons  $2,904
Manitou Springs Historical Society

The Manitou Springs Historical Society preserves and restores the architectural integrity of Miramont Castle Museum and provides educational experiences and resources on the history of Manitou Springs, including its indigenous people.

Manitou Springs  $10,460
Mesa Verde Foundation

Mesa Verde Foundation, partner to Mesa Verde National Park, is one of the 12 original UNESCO World Heritage Sites with a mission to promote understanding and appreciation of Mesa Verde while protecting its cultural, natural, aesthetic, and wilderness values.

Arvada  $13,293
Metropolitan State University of Denver

The Denver Project for Humanistic Inquiry at MSU Denver seeks to enrich Denver’s intellectual and cultural life through public humanities programs that reframe perspectives, challenge assumptions, and stimulate dialogue about human thought, history, science, art and culture.

Denver  $5,860
Motus Theater

Motus Theater creates original theater to facilitate dialogue on critical issues of our time and aims to use the power of art to build alliances across diverse segments of its community.

Boulder  $4,666
Museo de las Americas

Located in the heart of Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe, Museo de las Americas seeks to educate the community through collecting, preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting diverse Latin American arts and cultures, ancient to contemporary, through innovative exhibitions and free programs.

Denver  $15,000
Museum of Boulder

The Museum of Boulder showcases diverse community stories, preserves them for the future, and inspires all to affect positive change by co-creating exhibits and programming with the community.

Boulder  $500
Museum of Friends (MoF)

The Museum of Friends in the historic Roof & Dick Building at the corner of 6th Street and Main Street in Walsenburg has the educational mission to honor the artists who have freely given art to the Museum’s founders establishing its collection.

Walsenburg  $15,000
Museum of the Mountain West

The Museum of the Mountain West in Montrose includes 25 buildings on seven acres, displaying 500,000+ artifacts dating between1840 to 1940 to educate children and adults in the history of the West.

Montrose  $4,690
Museums of Western Colorado

The Museums of Western Colorado includes three museums, sites of paleontological and/or historical significance, and a research library that champions Colorado Plateau scientific and cultural heritage.

Grand Junction  $6,000
National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum

The only federally-chartered mining museum in the country, the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum in Leadville tells the story of mining, including its people, its importance to the public, and to society’s sustainability.

Leadville  $10,500
Ouray County Historical Society, Inc.

The Ouray County Historical Society collects, preserves, exhibits, and interprets ­whatever relates to the natural, social, and cultural history of the county and the adjacent San Juan Mountain region through 45 exhibits in the former St. Joseph’s Miners Hospital, two historic cabins, and one display barn.

Ouray  $4,000
Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana

Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana is a filmmaker, cinematographer, and multimedia creator who explores themes of ‘belonging’ and ‘alienation’ in immigrant communities, specifically serving Latinx, Black, indigenous, people of color, and immigrant/refugee communities.

Denver $5,000
Pikes Peak Library District Foundation.

The Pikes Peak Library District Foundation provides resources and opportunities that impact individual lives and build community. With 15 libraries, online resources, mobile library services, and more than 3.2 million annual visits, PPLD responds to the unique needs of individual neighborhoods and the community at large.

Colorado Springs  $3,666
Pines and Plains Libraries

Pines and Plains Libraries in Elbert County provide resources to patrons to achieve their aspirations through literacy, technology, and community engagement.

Elizabeth  $15,000
Poudre Landmarks Foundation

Poudre Landmarks Foundation preserves, restores, protects, and interprets the architectural and cultural heritage of the Fort Collins area.

Fort Collins  $2,667
Pueblo City-County Library District

Pueblo City-County Library District offers welcoming, well-equipped and maintained facilities, outstanding collections, and employees who provide expert service to enable their patrons’ joy of reading, lifelong learning, and access to information from around the world.

Pueblo  $6,000
Raising A Reader Aspen to Parachute

Raising A Reader fosters literacy bonds between children and their parents from Aspen to Parachute to eliminate the achievement gap that develops in the first five years of life when children do not hear enough language and/or do not have access to storybooks or read-aloud time with caregivers.

Glenwood Springs  $15,000
Rock Ledge Ranch

Located on 230 acres at Garden of the Gods, Rock Ledge Ranch is a living history museum whose mission is to depict and interpret the lives of people that lived in the Pikes Peak region during 1775-1907.

Colorado Springs  $6,000
Rosemount Museum

The Rosemount Museum collects, preserves, and interprets the experience of the Thatcher family and their contributions to Colorado from the historic Victorian mansion once home to prominent Puebloans John and Margaret Thatcher.

Pueblo  $4,708
San Luis Valley Museum

The San Luis Valley Museum educates residents and visitors about the diverse local heritage and culture, local and international wildlife, and the arts.

Alamosa  $6,400
Southeastern Colorado Heritage Center dba Pueblo Heritage Museum

The Pueblo Heritage Museum seeks to preserve, promote, and interpret the heritage of Southeastern Colorado and the plurality of its peoples by sharing regional history through interactive exhibits, special events, and educational programming.

Pueblo  $2,000
State Historical Society of Colorado dba. History Colorado

History Colorado works to create a more informed future by making Colorado’s history accessible and inspiring, including interactive exhibits, programs for kids and adults, and special events/cultural performances, thus creating opportunities that connect people to the past.

Denver  $15,000
Steamboat Springs Council of the Arts & Humanities dba Steamboat Creates

Steamboat Creates enhances quality of life and economic vitality for the local creative sector through advocacy, promotion, education, infrastructure, and connections and for the community and visitors by enabling engagement in arts, cultural, and heritage.

Steamboat Springs  $6,000
Su Teatro

Su Teatro reveals the cultural arts, heritage, and traditions of the Chicano/Latino community by telling stories that immortalize the Coloradans who stood up to injustice in programs designed to create opportunities for dialogue.

Denver  $10,500
Summit Historic Society

The Summit Historical Society’s mission is to interpret and educate the public about Summit County and Colorado’s rich history through preservation of over 5,000 artifacts and four historic buildings and the dissemination of information through publications.

Dillon  $9,030
Task Force: ISO

Task Force: ISO engages and inspires Veterans through photography. Veterans gain purpose through activity and self-discovery and build community through continued mentorship and support.

Westminster  $2,667
The Arts Campus at Willits

The Arts Campus at Willits presents performing arts and thought-provoking programming that enrich community vitality, strengthen economic diversity, and increase arts education and awareness.

Basalt  $4,667
Tesoro Foundation

The Tesoro Cultural Center (tesoro means “treasure” in Spanish) protects and makes available to the community the artistic treasures of our American past through cuisine, historical reenactments, and music inspired by Colorado’s rich history and shared experiences with Southwest, Spanish, Mexican, Native American, African American, and Early European cultures.

Morrison  $15,000
Tread of Pioneers Historical Commission dba Tread of Pioneers Museum

The Tread of Pioneers Museum engages and educates the public and fosters an appreciation of Steamboat Springs history through preservation, research, collections, oral history, digitization, archives, events, and exhibits.

Steamboat Springs  $6,000
University of Colorado –  Colorado Springs

Ent Center for the Arts fosters connection, teaches history and philosophy, and maintains culture through professional programs, such as the Artist Series, Galleries of Contemporary Art, and Theatreworks.

Colorado Springs  $6,000
University of Colorado Denver English and Philosophy Departments

University of Colorado Denver English and Philosophy Departments promote both student empowerment through reading and writing, and faculty research/creative work related to the English language and our common culture.

Aurora  $4,666
Vail Symposium

The Vail Symposium presents thought-provoking, diverse, and affordable programs that encourage the community to gather, learn, and share.

Vail  $6,000

Do you have questions?
We’re happy to help!

Contact Grants Administrator at
303.894.7951 x21 or grants@coloradohumanities.org

Upcoming Events

Join Colorado Humanities in our upcoming events

GET INVOLVED TODAY

Colorado Humanities forges program partnerships statewide to improve education, strengthen cultural institutions and enrich community life. Your contribution makes you an important part of it.