A total of 16 grants were awarded Nationwide as part of the philanthropic foundation’s Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative
Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment awarded grants totaling more than $39 million to assist museums in developing exhibitions and education programs to portray the role of religion in what the foundation describes as a fair and accurate context.
“Museums and other cultural institutions are some of the most trusted organizations in American life today, and they play a vital role in teaching visitors about the world,” said Christopher Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion, in a prepared statement. “These organizations will undertake efforts to help visitors understand and appreciate the religious beliefs and practices of diverse religious communities and the impact that religion has had and continues to have on society.”
The 16 grants range from $1.9 million to $3 million.
In the Evansville, Indiana region, Angel Mounds State Historic Site will renovate its interpretive center to focus on the lives of Indigenous people who lived in a community established between the years 1000 and 1450. Angel Mounds, managed by the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, is made up of 12 earthen mounds that were used for ceremonial and residential purposes.
The interpretive center will be closed until October 2024 for work being planned in collaboration with researchers and historians from Native American nations and the Mathers Museum of World Cultures at Indiana University. The outdoor component of Angel Mounds State Historic Site will remain open to the public during renovations.
ABOUT ANGEL MOUNDS: Located on the banks of the Ohio River in southwest Indiana, Angel Mounds State Historic Site is one of the best-preserved, pre-contact Native American sites in North America. Built between A.D. 1000 and 1450, the town was occupied by more than 1,000 people who were part of the Mississippian culture, and included earthen mounds built to elevate important buildings.