Georgia O'Keeffe Museum is backdrop to US humanities grants

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The National Endowment for the Humanities is emphasizing private matching investment as it designates $31 million in public grants to support humanities projects in 45 states.

Those grant projects include the likely addition of a new exhibition building at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and conservation complex in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Jon Parrish Peede announced the round of 188 grants at a news conference Tuesday. The city is a hub for collectors and creators of Native American and Southwestern art, with public and privately operated museums that explore worldwide artistic and cultural traditions.

Local humanities councils in every state and additional U.S. territories will disburse an additional $48 million in federal money.

Several approved federal grants seek to underwrite construction and expand the capacity of museums, historic sties, libraries, colleges and universities. Recipients run the gamut from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, to the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center.

Other grants will support new technologies in the humanities, including plans for an augmented reality app that recreates the features of a 13th century city commemorated today at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois.