SNFPHI

Established in 2019, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Public Humanities Initiative (SNFPHI) supports public-facing humanities endeavors in Greece and promotes Hellenic Studies at Columbia and beyond. Based in Columbia’s Department of Classics, it operates as the public humanities arm of the Institute for Ideas and Imagination (II&I).

At the core of SNFPHI operations is its award scheme for public humanities projects in Greece that focus on three main areas: History; Creative Arts; and Education. In addition, SNFPHI provides travel grants to Greece for II&I fellows to collaborate with Greek awardees and summer grants for Columbia undergraduates, graduate students, and recent PhDs to pursue remote work in public humanities, as well as designing and developing courses and summer programs that promote Hellenic Studies through public-facing projects.

SNFPHI operates a robust public events series in collaboration with the University Seminar in Modern Greek, the Program in Hellenic Studies, other Columbia programs, and Greek partners. These events aim to broaden the field of enquiry in Hellenic Studies and rethink the content of public humanities in the 21st century. They have included hybrid seminars and workshops, online concerts and exhibitions, theater performances, film screenings, and zine-making workshops. SNFPHI is exclusively supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).