National Endowment for the Humanities

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), an independent federal agency created in 1965, promotes excellence in the humanities by awarding grants to cultural institutions and individual scholars. In 1972, the NEH established the Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, which recognizes an individual who has made significant intellectual or scholarly contributions to the humanities and can communicate the knowledge and wisdom of the humanities in an engaging way. As part of the agency's 50th anniversary, the NEH is staging the 2016 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and renowned filmmaker Ken Burns will be the honoree and speaker. The MacArthur and Carnegie Foundations are providing one-time support for the NEH’s anniversary events, which are intended to raise national awareness of the Endowment’s role in supporting America’s cultural life.