Artists as Catalysts

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Beyond Incarceration

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Civic Engagement

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Evolving Higher Education

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Expanding Public Knowledge

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Monuments and Memory

A large statue of a confederate general is covered in markings and graffiti. 

Multivocality

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 

University Everywhere

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Mission

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History

Grantmaking areas

Grantmaking Areas

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People

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Financials

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News

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Events

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation was established by Ailsa Mellon Bruce and Paul Mellon, the children of Andrew W. Mellon.

Founded

Grantmaking across all areas supports ideas and organizations that contribute to a more connected, creative, and just society.

Total endowment

Mellon actively works with our grantee partners, and we are deeply immersed in the fields in which we invest.

Grantees in 2021

Awarded in 2021

Tonya Bell

Maggie Slowey

Contacts

Press releases, images, contacts, and information about Mellon Foundation.

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Mellon’s visual identity and image library is the set of visual markers that allows us to both express and reinforce our values through aesthetics. 

A class of 2019 graduate. Photo: courtesy of Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, Babita Patel, 2019. 

A smiling graduate wearing a cap and gown stands in a room before other graduates. The graduate is holding up a diploma and a child.

Higher Learning

Headshot of Phillip Brian Harper

Program Director

Phillip Brian Harper

With its most recent round of funding, Mellon has committed over $60 million to increase higher education opportunities in carceral environments since 2015. 

Mellon Announces Over $5M in Funding for Higher Education in Prisons

The US Latinx Art Forum (USLAF) has announced the third cohort of the Latinx Artist Fellowship. The fellowship recognizes 15 compelling Latinx visual artists working in the United States today.

US Latinx Art Forum Announces New Latinx Artist Fellows

The Freedom Fellowship Program from Haymarket Books provides a one-time, unrestricted grant for writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction affected by the criminal legal system.

Haymarket Books Launches Writing Freedom Fellowship Program for System-Impacted Creative Writers

A woman and child stand before a five-paneled painting in a gallery. The panels each depict abstract scenes of bridges in fantastical colors.

A news announcement about Leadership in Arts Museums, a $11M+ collaborative initiative to increase racial equity in US museum leadership roles. 

New Investments for More Diverse Leadership in Art Museums

We are supporting artistic, cultural, and humanistic work that centers the voices and knowledge of people directly affected by the carceral system.

Susan Lee-Chun, “Peace, Love, Harmony,” 2007. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of “Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration.” On view at MoMA PS1 September 17, 2020 to April 4, 2021. Image courtesy of MoMA PS1. Photo: Kris Graves

Six orange hooded sweatshirts hand in a gallery on display with other artworks

A news announcement about the launch of ”Imagining Freedom,” a funding initiative for work enabling creativity and scholarship of people in prison and those impacted by the criminal justice system.

“Imagining Freedom”: Supporting Creatives & Thinkers Reenvisioning the Criminal Legal System

Press Room

1969

$8B

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$510M+