Applications are invited for Flash Grants, the Baker-Nord Institute's funding mechanism to support greater participation in and connection with Baker-Nord Institute's fall themed programming and the 2026 Cleveland Humanities Festival.
These grants are designed to encourage curiosity, innovation, experimentation, collaboration and engagement.
Funding projects may be featured in Baker-Nord Institute materials and on the Baker-Nord Institute website.
FLASH GRANTS FOR FALL 2025
The Baker-Nord Institute’s fall programming explores “encounters.” Moments of contact, conflict and connection shape human experience. Hostile encounters can undermine a sense of self, community and national sovereignty. Encounters that welcome new ways of understanding self, others, and the natural world build resilience and community. From cross-cultural exchanges and historical collisions to artistic collaborations and philosophical dialogues, we’ll explore how encounters challenge assumptions, generate new meanings, and transform individuals and societies. Invited guests and the CWRU community will explore this theme with a focus on opportunities for fruitful engagement.
Please explore the fall program HERE.
Graduate and Undergraduate students are welcome to apply for up to $500 for projects that relate to the fall theme of “encounters.” This could include but is not limited to:
-beginning new research (or creative inquiry) or advancing current work that involves the concept of the "encounters" in some way. Monies can be used for travel, books and materials.
-community and/or campus based projects (e.g. engaging peers about theme of encounters that involve a discussion and meal, enhanced learning opportunity, and/or experiences outside the classroom)
All projects should conclude by February 28, 2026.
Eligibility:
Grants are available to graduate students the arts and humanities within the College of Arts and Sciences and undergraduate students who have declared a major in the humanities.
Application Deadline:
Rolling through February 15, 2026
To Apply:
Please send a 500 word narrative proposal along with a detailed budget to bakernord@case.edu. Proposal should include clear objective(s), a project timeline, and the names and departments of all collaborators.
Policies and Expectations:
Within one month of the completion of the project, recipients are required to submit the online . Some aspects of the final report may be used in future BNI’s external communication materials.
FLASH GRANTS FOR 2026 CLEVELAND HUMANITIES FESTIVAL: FREEDOM
The theme for the 2026 Cleveland Humanities Festival is Freedom. What does it mean to be free? Who gets to claim freedom—and at what cost? Freedom is more than an ideal or slogan—it’s an encounter with competing systems, values, laws and visions of the world. At a time when debates over freedom reveal deep cultural and political divides, we turn our attention to its porous, evolving nature. We’ll examine freedom’s many dimensions: political liberation and civic rights, freedom of expression and imagination, bodily autonomy, spiritual and inner freedom, and the tensions between freedom and responsibility. How have artists, thinkers, and cultural leaders shaped our understanding of it—challenging, expanding, and sometimes upending unexamined assumptions? And what might freedom mean for the future of democratic societies? This year’s Cleveland Humanities Festival invites the public to reflect, imagine, and engage with these pressing questions through a series of public events in the spring of 2026.
Graduate and Undergraduate students are welcome to apply for up to $500 for projects that advance research or explore the theme of freedom. This could include but is not limited to:
-beginning new research (or creative inquiry) or advancing current work that involves the concept of freedom in some way. Monies can be used for travel, books and materials.
-community and/or campus based projects (e.g. engaging peers about themes of freedom that involve a discussion and meal, enhanced learning opportunity, and/or experiences outside the classroom)
All projects should conclude by April 30, 2026.
Eligibility:
Grants are available to graduate students the arts and humanities within the College of Arts and Sciences and undergraduate students who have declared a major in the humanities.
Application Deadline:
Rolling through March 31, 2026
To Apply:
Please send a 500-word narrative proposal along with a detailed budget to bakernord@case.edu. Proposal should include clear objective(s), a project timeline, and the names and departments of all collaborators.
Policies and Expectations:
Within one month of the completion of the project, recipients are required to submit the online . Some aspects of the final report may be used in future BNI’s external communication materials.