Picturing America School Collaboration Projects

The National Endowment for the Humanities invites proposals for projects that foster collaboration between K-12 educators and humanities scholars to encourage engagement with the rich resources of American art to tell America’s story. The Picturing America School Collaboration grant opportunity is designed to help teachers and librarians whose schools display the Picturing America images form connections with courses in the core curriculum. These projects will be grounded in the great works of art included in Picturing America, which is part of the Endowment’s We the People program. Information about Picturing America, including a Teachers Resource Book, can be found by visiting the Picturing America Web site The images in Picturing America reflect a variety of media and talents spanning several centuries, ranging from the work of early American Indian artists to painters such as Mary Cassatt and Jacob Lawrence, from photographers such as Dorothea Lange to architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright. These images will help students better understand America’s diverse people and places and connect them to our nation’s travails and triumphs. Half of the initial distribution of high-quality reproductions (through NEH’s partner, the American Library Association) has gone to schools and school libraries in communities with a population of up to 25,000. Goals of the Picturing America School Collaboration Projects grants are: to strengthen understanding of the connections between great works of American art and significant events, themes, and topics in the American experience; to encourage collaboration between K-12 educators and humanities experts who can bring appropriate knowledge to the integration of American artworks in core subjects; and to provide access to rich scholarly resources and primary materials to support teaching.