The Center for 21st Century Studies is accepting proposals for collaborative interdisciplinary humanities projects through April 3. Awards range from $500 to $5,000.
The Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) believes that the complex challenges we face in the 21st century are best met through collaborations across areas of expertise and experience, and that the humanities are a vital part of addressing these challenges. Collaborative project funding provides an opportunity to bring together teams of scholars to generate new ideas and knowledge grounded in humanities methods and practices.
C21 offers funding for two distinct categories of collaborative projects: working groups and collaboratories. Working groups (eligible for $500) provide opportunities for collaborative study, research, and discussion of a common subject of interest. Collaboratories (eligible for up to $5,000) provide opportunities to bring new, humanities-informed ideas and knowledge to many different audiences both on and off campus.
While the criteria for working groups will remain largely unchanged from previous years, collaboratory proposals must include a contribution to C21’s Day of Action, slated for the Spring 2027 semester. The Day of Action will celebrate the culmination of SLOW, C21’s 2024-27 thematic cycle, and will align with C21’s 2026-27 theme, Slow Action.
Slow Action will explore how the practices, methodologies, histories and theories of collective organizing across communities and institutions might provide insight for building values-rooted systems and deliberate actionable pathways that endure over time to support shared goals.
Visit C21’s collaboratories webpage to learn more. C21 strongly encourages questions and inquiries in advance of proposals. Please review application details in full and contact C21 Managing Director Katie Waddell with questions at waddelke@uwm.edu.
