Preliminary Call for Grant Applications

In order to amplify suppressed regional histories and strengthen community power, Monuments Across Appalachian Places (MAAP) seeks commemorative projects based in Appalachian Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia that involve a broad community in conveying undertold Appalachian histories. 

MAAP is seeking proposals for new monuments from community organizations, government officials, tribal councils, and collaborative groups of advocates, activists, artists, researchers, educators, historical associations, and other memory keepers. Proposed projects should be aligned with our directive to assist communities’ efforts to reclaim, amplify, imagine, reinterpret, document, and display histories that highlight collective struggles for the vitality of people and our shared environment, especially by and for people whose stories have been silenced, denied, or excluded. 

MAAP will support the creation of commemorative projects with up to 10 grants of between $50,000 and $350,000. We are accepting applications from groups just getting started and from well-established organizations that require funds to complete projects already in process.

We encourage potential applicants to attend one of our six Commemorate Workshops for more information and guidance on how to apply:

• April 11, 10am to 3pm: Southern Appalachian Labor School, Oak Hill, WV 

  • Deadline to apply for this workshop has passed

• May 12, 1 - 2:30pm: Virtual, Zoom, co-hosted with Highlander - Apply Here by May 1 

• June or July: near St. Paul, VA 

• July or August: Virtual, Zoom 

• August: near Rocky Top, TN 

• August or September: TBD

Applications will be due Tue, October 13, 2026, 5pm ET.

Stay tuned for a more detailed Call for Applications to be released in April 2026.

Monuments Across Appalachian Places (MAAP) is an expansion of Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia (MAAV), funded by the Mellon Foundation’s Monuments Project and housed at Virginia Tech.  More info:  moremountainstories.org  or  maav@vt.edu.