New Humanities Council Selected for Iowa
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is pleased to announce the appointment of a new state humanities council to partner with NEH in supporting humanities organizations throughout Iowa.
Humanities Iowa (HI), a humanities-focused nonprofit based in Ames, has been designated as NEH’s newest permanent humanities council. Humanities Iowa will join the network of 56 state, jurisdictional, and interim humanities council affiliates that receive general operating support from NEH and work with the agency to bring humanities programs, events, and resources to communities across all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. jurisdictions.
“We’re delighted to welcome Humanities Iowa to the national network of humanities councils and look forward to working together to expand access to lifelong learning opportunities, scholarly pursuits, and educational resources in the State of Iowa,” said Karen Kenton, Director of NEH’s Office of Federal/State Partnership.
Humanities Iowa (HI) offers both programming and grants that bring the humanities to life in Iowa. The organization’s designation as the state’s permanent humanities council builds upon several recent successes, including community roundtables, intergenerational storytelling initiatives, rural archives restoration, the Iowa Poet Laureate and Iowa Student Poet Ambassador partnerships, and a speakers series—programs that occur in communities large and small across the state, at sites ranging from small rural libraries to city parks to Iowa’s nationally renowned museums. In the last two years, HI has funded over 200 public programs and partnerships, reaching more than 250,000 Iowans.
“Humanities Iowa is deeply honored to enter into this partnership,” said Linda Shenk, Board President, Humanities Iowa. “It expands HI’s capacity to increase programming that elevates Iowa’s cultural and historical richness while also connecting us to a network of 55 other state and jurisdictional councils working to celebrate community and the humanities. For the next chapter of the humanities in Iowa, we are excited by the possibilities that the NEH partnership opens, by the incredible work of those partners who have worked alongside us over the years, and by the inspiration that new partners across the state will bring.”
The nonprofit was commended by peer reviewers for its commitment to fostering community connection and cultural exploration through a wide variety of partnerships throughout the state with organizations such as museums, cultural heritage centers and festivals, summer theaters, libraries, film festivals, colleges and universities, and other state and federal agencies. Among the recent programs supported by Humanities Iowa are a community oral history project with Siouxland Public Media, a public “Poetry Palooza” in Des Moines, and a capacity-building training program for museum professionals at small and mid-sized history organizations, offered in partnership with the Iowa Museum Association.
By congressional mandate, the National Endowment for the Humanities distributes approximately 40 percent of the agency’s annual appropriated program funds as General Operating Support Grants to NEH’s state and jurisdictional humanities councils and interim partners to support public humanities programming in the 56 states and jurisdictions. These local affiliates, all independent nonprofit organizations governed by volunteer boards of directors and staffed by humanities professionals, ensure access to humanities resources and advance public participation in the humanities through local grantmaking, developing and implementing council-led public humanities programs, and through partnerships with other local, state, and national organizations.
For more information about Humanities Iowa and its programs, visit https://humanitiesiowa.org.
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at www.neh.gov