Building on the momentum of their recent NEH grant, Proyecto Olga Iglesias receives $6,000 from Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades to bring musicologist Juan Luis O'Halloran as humanist-in-residence to advance preservation and education initiatives.
San Juan, Puerto Rico – Fresh on the heels of receiving a prestigious grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Proyecto Olga Iglesias (OIP) announces it has been awarded a $6,000 grant from the Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades (FPH) to establish an innovative humanistic residency program. This grant, approved on January 31, 2025, will bring musicologist Juan Luis O’Halloran as the organization’s first humanist-in-residence.
Building upon the momentum created by the recent NEH Preservation Assistance Grant, this new funding from FPH allows OIP to deepen its educational and preservation efforts. Juan Luis O’Halloran, a distinguished expert in Puerto Rican classical music history, will lead educational presentations during school visits while advancing the digitization of crucial historical documents from the collection.
As humanist-in-residence, O’Halloran will develop educational materials for schools and community programs, bringing the rich history of Puerto Rican classical music directly to students across the island. His work will also contribute to the ongoing digitization efforts, with materials being shared through the Digital Library of the Caribbean (DLoC) archive, ensuring this invaluable cultural heritage reaches a global audience.
Anthony Cheney Guzmán, Founder and Executive Director of OIP, expressed his gratitude: “This grant from the Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades represents a natural progression from our recent NEH support. Having Juan Luis O’Halloran as our humanist-in-residence brings exceptional expertise to our mission. His deep knowledge of Puerto Rican musical history and passion for education will help us create transformative experiences for students and communities throughout Puerto Rico.”
The residency program, which must be completed by February 20, 2026, perfectly complements OIP’s recent assessment initiatives funded by NEH. While the NEH grant focuses on evaluating and planning for the collection’s preservation needs, the FPH grant enables immediate educational impact and continued digitization efforts.
This strategic combination of federal and local support underscores the importance of the Olga Iglesias collection, which encompasses photographs, performance programs, recordings, correspondence, and personal memorabilia documenting not only Iglesias’s remarkable career but also her historic collaborations with Pablo Casals and her contributions to Puerto Rico’s cultural legacy. The public can explore portions of this collection online through the OIP collection at DLoC.
About Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades
The Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades is Puerto Rico’s state humanities council, supporting projects that preserve, interpret, and share the island’s rich cultural heritage through grants, educational programs, and community initiatives. As an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, FPH plays a vital role in fostering humanities education and cultural preservation throughout Puerto Rico.