The Foundation supports institutions dedicated to humanist scholarship and artistic excellence through its Humanities, Performing Arts, Research Libraries, and Venetian Programs.

Humanities Program

The Foundation intends to further the humanities along a broad front, supporting projects which address the concerns of the historical studia humanitatis: a humanistic education rooted in the great traditions of the past; the formation of human beings according to cultural, moral, and aesthetic ideals derived from that past; and the ongoing debate over how these ideals may best be conceived and realized.

Programs in the following areas are eligible: history; archaeology; literature; languages, both classical and modern; philosophy; ethics; comparative religion; the history, criticism, and theory of the arts; and those aspects of the social sciences which share the content and methods of humanistic disciplines. The Foundation welcomes projects that cross the boundaries between humanistic disciplines and explore the connection between the humanities and other areas of scholarship. Programs of institutions in Venice relating to the humanities are eligible in this category. The geographical concentration is primarily but not exclusively directed toward European and American history and letters, broadly defined.

The Humanities Program is primarily directed to institutions of higher education and humanistic enterprises such as learned societies, museums, and major editorial projects. The program may also consider, on a selective basis, projects that increase the exposure of those outside these institutions to the humanistic experience or that strengthen preparation for the humanistic disciplines.  The prime criterion remains that of Gladys and Jean Delmas: a commitment to excellence, whether proven or promised.

Performing Arts Program

Each year, the Foundation supports a limited number of not-for-profit performing arts institutions based in New York City that provide performances in music, dance and theatre. Only established performing or producing entities with a history of appearing at preeminent venues and such venues themselves are eligible. Applicants must be publicly supported organizations described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; the Foundation does not make grants to fiscal agents. Special initiatives of other institutions, start-up projects, emerging organizations, development campaigns, and building projects are ineligible. Proposals for pre-professional programs and opera are only accepted from past grantees. The Foundation receives many more requests for support than it could ever fund, and for that reason most first-time grant applications are not successful.

Subject to the above requirements, the program supports:

• Dance presenters who make ballet and modern dance available to the public and otherwise provide support to the dance field, as well as a limited number of ballet and modern dance companies.

• Theatre companies and presenters that have demonstrated a commitment to include the classics in their regular offerings.

• Music groups and concert presenters committed to making early music or contemporary repertory available to New York City audiences.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Most performing arts requests to the Foundation are for general operating support, although we also accept proposals for targeted creative projects, or local season support from New York City performing arts organizations that generally tour outside of the city.

Research Libraries Program

The Research Libraries Program concentrates primarily in those areas of its founders’ interests and aims to be fully complementary to the Foundation’s other program areas (i.e., humanities scholarship, performing arts, and Venetian history and culture).

The overall objective of the Research Libraries Program is to improve the ability of research libraries to serve the needs of scholarship in the humanities and the performing arts, and to help make their resources more widely accessible to scholars and the general public. Wherever possible, grants to libraries seek to promote cooperative cataloging projects, with an emphasis on access to archival, manuscript, and other unique sources; some elements of interpretation and exhibition; scholarly library publications; bibliographical and publishing projects of interest to research libraries; and collection-level preservation/conservation work and research.

Small-scale digitizing is eligible for support when the process is part of a clearly defined and timely scholarly project that incorporates recognized standards for metadata production, for preservation, and for distribution. The Foundation does not support massive digitizing projects of a general nature.

The geographical concentration is primarily but not exclusively directed toward European and American history and letters, broadly defined. Technological developments that support humanities research and access to humanities resources are also eligible. A limited number of modest grants will also be available for projects related to the history of the book, book culture, printing history, and related programs. Conferences designed to address these issues in collaborative ways and programs formulated to enhance or leverage similar activity by other institutions, consortia, or funding agencies will also be considered.

Venetian Program

This program supports institutions engaged in the research and dissemination of scholarship on the history of Venice and the former Venetian empire as well as contemporary Venetian society and culture. 

Research grants for individuals are available under the Venetian Research Program.

Trustees’ Discretionary Grants

The discretionary fund permits each Trustee to initiate, with concurrence of the other Trustees, a limited number of grants outside of the Foundation’s established grant-making guidelines.  Applications for Trustees’ Discretionary Grants are by invitation only.

Foundation Service Organizations

The Delmas Foundation supports some foundation service organizations through membership contributions.