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NEH SHARP Grant

NEH SHARP Grant

University Press of Mississippi awarded a SHARP Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

The University Press of Mississippi (UPM) has been awarded an ARP Humanities Recovery Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The NEH announced earlier this week $87.8 million in American Rescue Plan funding to nearly 300 cultural and educational institutions to help them recover from the economic impact of the pandemic. Grants awarded are supported by $135 million in supplemental funding allocated to NEH by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

These NEH Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan (#SHARP) awards provide emergency relief to help offset financial losses sustained by humanities organizations over the last 18 months. The grants allow cultural and educational nonprofits to retain and rehire staff, maintain operations essential to their missions, and rebuild programs and projects that have been disrupted by the pandemic.

UPM was awarded $144,00 to support four new humanities positions that will enable the press to meet the challenges caused by changes in the publishing industry and marketplace resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The four new positions—Acquisitions Assistant, Administrative Assistant, Digital Publishing Assistant, and Marketing Assistant—will provide critical support to all departments of the press, with a special focus on the creation and maintenance of digital workflow systems, including a digital archive of existing information.

University Press of Mississippi Director, Craig Gill, said, “Press staff did a wonderful job throughout the pandemic adapting to a constantly changing workplace and market. In the process, UPM rapidly implemented a fully digital workflow. With the support of the NEH, UPM will be able to transform its successful emergency response to the pandemic into a sustainable, long-term digital workflow and structure that will allow the Press to flourish now and in the future.”

UPM was founded in 1970 and represents Mississippi's eight state universities. UPM publishes scholarly work and books that represent Mississippi and its culture to the nation and the world. From its offices in Jackson, the University Press of Mississippi acquires, edits, distributes, and promotes more than 95 new books every year. Over the years, the Press has published more than 2,200 titles and distributed more than 3,200,000 copies worldwide, each with the Mississippi imprint. UPM is the only not-for-profit book publisher in the state.

For more information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and the NEH SHARP grants please visit https://www.neh.gov/news/neh-awards-878-million-arp-relief-funding.

For more information about this news release, please contact Courtney McCreary, Senior Publicity and Promotions Manager for University Press of Mississippi.