(BALTIMORE – September 25, 2024) – Thanks to new funding from the Mellon Foundation- the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities – Morgan State University is advancing key liberal arts initiatives on and off campus. The Mellon Foundation awarded the University two grants totaling $710,000: one in the amount of $660,000 to support the inventory and digitization of the collection housed within the James E. Lewis Museum of Art (JELMA) and the recommissioning of a Mel Edwards sculpture to be located prominently on campus, and the other for $50,000 to support the Morgannale: Academy-Community Connection for Repairing Our Places project. Since 2015, the Mellon Foundation has awarded approximately $3.4 million in grant awards to support the arts and humanities efforts of Morgan, one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs).