The Lilly Endowment has announced eighteen grants totaling $43 million in support of exhibitions and education programs focused on the role of religion in the United States and around the world.

Awarded through the endowment's Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative, all but one of the grants ranged between $500,000 and $2.5 million; the exception was a grant of nearly $8 million to the Smithsonian Institution to establish a Center for the Public Understanding of Religion in American History and dedicated gallery at the National Museum of American History.

Additional grant recipients include the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Asian Art (Washington, D.C.) in support of exhibitions that will explore the diversity of the Muslim, Buddhist, Zen, and Hindu traditions; the National World War I Museum and Memorial (Kansas City, Missouri), which will use the grant to establish and endow a curatorial position dedicated to faith and religion; the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago), for an exhibition focused on exploring the distinctive ways in which religious practices help communities respond to death; and the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art (Indianapolis), to establish an endowment in support of efforts to make religion a central component of its work.

"Museums and other cultural institutions are trusted organizations and play an important role in teaching the American public about the world around them," said Christopher Coble, the endowment’s vice president for religion. "These organizations will use the grants to help visitors understand and appreciate the significant impact religion has had and continues to have on society in the United States and around the globe. Our hope is that these efforts will promote greater knowledge about and respect for people of diverse religious traditions."

For a complete list of grant recipients, see the Lilly Endowment website.

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