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Cummer Museum Awarded $500,000 National Humanities Grant

person looking at paintings
The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens

Jacksonville’s Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens has been promised $500,000 from the federal government — if it can raise $1.5 million more next year.

The National Endowment for the Humanities challenge grant is meant to help the museum add programs.

In a written statement, Cummer Executive Director Hope McMath says the museum looks forward to putting on more programs like its previous exhibits on themes of race and history.

The museum is one of 15 recipients in the country and the only recipient in the state of Florida to have its proposal funded.

The grant is a part of the NEH's new Common Good initiative, designed to bring the humanities into the public square.

Jessica Palombo supervises local news gathering and production, podcasts and web editorial content for WJCT News, ADAPT and Jacksonville Today. She is an award-winning writer and journalist with bylines including NPR, Experience Magazine, and The Gainesville Sun. She has a master’s degree in broadcast and digital journalism from Syracuse University and is an alumna of the University of Florida. A nearly lifelong resident of Jacksonville, she considers herself lucky to be raising her own children in her hometown. Follow Jessica Palombo on Twitter: @JaxJessicaP