The Mellon Foundation Announces a $250 Million Plan to Rethink American Monuments

Just three months ago, the prestigious Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, long a major patron of the humanities in the United States, announced a major change to its strategic mission, pivoting to “prioritizing social justice in all of its grant-making.” Today, the organization took a step forward in enacting that change, presenting a five-year, $250 million program called the Monuments Project, whose goal is to “reimagine and rebuild commemorative spaces and transform the way history is told in the United States.”

This year has been one of reckoning, with regard to the racial injustices prevalent throughout the nation. Through the Black Lives Matter movement, our attention was brought to the controversial monuments and memorials of this country, many of which do not reflect the experiences, values, or histories of the diverse communities in the United States—and, in fact, may even diminish them. The Mellon Foundation believes it crucial to examine closely the landscape of commemorative spaces to ensure it becomes more representative of the larger population.

“The power and influence of monuments and memorials—what they teach, even if the lessons are quiet and ambient—means we need more voices and more stories fully represented across our national commemorative landscape,” a representative of the Mellon Foundation tells AD .

Artist Amy Sherald painted this untitled work in 2019 to celebrate young Black women. The project is part of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, a recipient of a Mellon Foundation grant.

Through the Monuments Project, the Mellon Foundation seeks to accomplish three primary objectives that tell the wider story of American history: funding new commemorative spaces, including museums and art installations; contextualizing existing monuments; and relocating existing monuments.

“[T]his unprecedented Mellon commitment will help inform our collective understanding of our country’s profoundly diverse and weighty history and ensure that those who haven’t been taught this history can learn it in the public square,” Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander said in a statement. “This effort will further ensure that the many communities that have shaped the United States have greater opportunity to see themselves in the fabric of our remarkable American story.”

The $250 million allocated to the project will be issued via grants to various organizations: The first to receive funding is Monument Lab in Philadelphia, a public art and history studio that works with artists, activists, and leaders in cities across the country to evaluate how public spaces can be used to promote stories of social justice. With its three-year, $4 million grant from the Mellon Foundation, Monument Lab will use its critical lens to audit current national monuments.

Over the next five years, the Mellon Foundation’s program staff will identify new grant recipients, listening closely to artists, designers, and culture makers within communities across the country.