LEH Awards More Than $150,000 to Cultural Organizations
The Mid City Civic Theatre in Baton Rouge was the recipient of a 2026 Program Mini Grant that supported “Stage & Screen in Louisiana: Past, Present, and Future.”
The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, with support from the State of Louisiana, has awarded more than $150,000 in grants to cultural organizations throughout Louisiana.
Louisiana Culture Care Fund Grants, which assist cultural organizations with financial expenses to allow them to continue to operate and serve their communities, were awarded to 13 organizations in 10 parishes for a total of $100,000. The LEH awarded an additional $55,500 in Strategic Partnership and Program Mini Grants, which support festivals, lectures, symposiums, and other programs that are open to the public, to 19 organizations throughout the state.
“Whether through physical spaces that require support to keep open and operating or festivals and other events that celebrate local culture, each of these organizations has something unique and valuable to offer their community and our state as a whole,” said Miranda Restovic, LEH president and executive director. “We are proud to be able to support their work and thankful to the State of Louisiana for continuing to invest in our local cultural organizations.”
Louisiana Culture Care Fund
LCCF funds help organizations remain financially solvent by supporting operational expenses such as staff payroll and benefits, rent, insurance and utilities.
“The Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society has been staging first-class humanities programming since 1990,” said Rosemary P. James, co-founder of the New Orleans-based society. “COVID-19 had a terrible impact on our organization’s momentum, and the Louisiana Culture Care Fund grant will lend us stability as we continue to broaden our membership and build on our long tradition of humanities programming.”
This year’s recipients included museums, libraries, historical societies and more in Jefferson, Claiborne, Union, Vermilion, Orleans, Lafayette, Iberia, Grant, West Feliciana, and St. Martin parishes.
See the full list of Louisiana Culture Care Fund recipients.
2026 Strategic Partnership Grants
LEH awards Strategic Partnership grants to organizations producing high-impact humanities programming. These organizations represent longtime, trusted partners in geographically diverse areas of the state. The LEH has awarded $47,500 in Strategic Partnership Grants.
“Over many years, support from the LEH has supported the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival to meet its mission to preserve and promote the legacy of Southern storytelling through literature, culture, and community,” said Deb Lindsey, co-chair of the Iberia Parish festival. “In 2026, the festival celebrated its 10th anniversary with great southern writer Rick Bragg, along with over 20 author-presenters, a record number of book fair authors, and nearly 1,000 engaged festival-goers.”
Awards were also made to organizations in Calcasieu, Claiborne, Lafayette, Caddo, East Baton Rouge, Orleans, and St. John the Baptist parishes.
See the full list of Strategic Partnership Grant recipients.
2026 Program Mini Grants
Program Mini Grants provide support for small-scale projects that engage local audiences with Louisiana scholars to explore the history, foodways, folkways, music, and culture that make Louisiana’s towns, parishes, and state so unique. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities has awarded $8,000 in Program Mini grants.
“The LEH panel mini grant made a real difference for Mid City Civic Theatre. It gave us the chance to bring scholars and practitioners into the same room for a thoughtful public conversation, and it showed us there’s genuine interest in this kind of work,” said Rockford Sansom, who moderated “Stage & Screen in Louisiana: Past, Present, and Future” at the Mid City Civic Theatre in Baton Rouge. “We were able to connect with local artists and groups in new ways and start to position the theatre as a place for conversation and community engagement, not just performance. It also gave us a solid starting point for continuing this kind of programming going forward.”
This year’s Program Mini Grant recipients included nine nonprofit cultural organizations across six parishes: Concordia, Jefferson, Orleans, East Baton Rouge, Iberia and Terrebonne.