MADISON — Grants of up to $10,000 will be available soon to Wisconsin’s humanities and cultural organizations to help them cope with financial hardship amid the coronavirus pandemic. On April 17, the Wisconsin Humanities Council announced the Wisconsin Humanities CARES Relief Grant program, which will distribute close to $540,000.

The relief funds were received by the Wisconsin Humanities Council via the National Endowment for the Humanities as authorized by the federal CARES Act.

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the humanities and culture sector in which local organizations often depend on admission sales and public donations for revenue. Many of Wisconsin’s cultural organizations are facing employee furloughs and possible closures. With most of the programming cancelled or postponed, the grants will provide direct assistance to these nonprofits for their general operations.

The Wisconsin Humanities CARES Relief Grant application period will open by April 24. The first-round deadline will be May 15 and award decisions will be made within 15 business days.

To be eligible, applicants must be nonprofit organizations located in Wisconsin that provide public humanities programming as a significant part of their mission. According to the Wisconsin Humanities Council, the humanities are defined as “the ideas and knowledge about human history and culture that help make sense of one’s life.” Fields in the humanities include literature, cultural anthropology, ethnic studies, folklore, history, archaeology, linguistics, philosophy, religious studies, social sciences, and the history, theory, and criticism of the arts.

The grants are intended for smaller organizations with annual expenses of $500,000 or less and will support nonprofits’ general operating costs rather than specific projects or initiatives.

For more details on eligibility and for notification when the application process opens, interested organizations should go to the Wisconsin Humanities Council’s website at http://

wisconsinhumanities.org.