GRANT: Heritage Grants – Exploring the History of All Michigan’s People
2016 – [Archived] A collection of histories and programs from around the state of Michigan. (Schwartz Prize Winner 2016, Grant Opportunity
NOTICE: The 2021 Humanities on the Hill in-person national advocacy event has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Info on virtual options coming soon.
March 2021 | ONLINE EVENT FOR 2021
The Federation's Annual Advocacy Event
"The healthiest communities are those that are built around active libraries, museums, and other cultural centers, that have a strong sense of their own history and identity, that have good quality schools, along with mechanisms for involving their residents in the process of solving problems and planning for the future. Supporting these kinds of communities is what the state humanities councils are all about." - Esther Mackintosh, FSHC President, at a White House briefing
Search our filterable database to view council programs by audience, state, subject, format, and initiative.
The 2020 Schwartz Prize
Congratulations to California Humanities, Vermont Humanities, Humanities Texas, and Humanities Washington!
Congratulations to the 2020 Schwartz Prize winners! The awards were presented by Federation Board Member Paxton Williams during a special virtual ceremony at the 2020 National Humanities Conference on November 12, 2020. This year, there were two Schwartz Prize categories; the first was to honor outstanding public humanities programming that was conducted or supported by a humanities council in 2019. The second category was created this year to recognize innovative and outstanding public humanities programming conducted by a council in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Congratulations to California Humanities and Vermont Humanities who won Schwartz Prizes in the 2019 category and to Humanities Texas and Humanities Washington who won in the COVID-19 Response category!
Check out the four councils’ nominating statements to learn more about these outstanding programs! Don’t miss the other excellent programs that were nominated – all nominations for the 2020 prize are included below.
Please subscribe to the Federation Update (connect@statehumanities.org) to stay informed of news and updates surrounding next year’s Schwartz Prize awards and nomination process. The 2021 Call for Nominations will go out Summer 2021.
About the Schwartz Prize
The Schwartz Prize is made possible through an endowment established by Helen and Martin Schwartz in the early 1980s and was designed to bring recognition to outstanding public humanities programs. An outside panel of judges, typically selected from council board members, executive directors, and program officers who have recently won Schwartz Prizes, is appointed to review and judge the Prize nominations. Up to three councils are awarded the Schwartz Prize every year in a special ceremony at the National Humanities Conference. The first prize was awarded to the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities (now the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities) in 1982.
Meet the 2020 Nominees:
Vermont Humanities
Vermont Reads 2019: “March: Book One” by Rep. John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
The 2019 Schwartz Prize
Congratulations to Humanities Guåhan and Ohio Humanities Councils!
Congratulations to the 2019 Schwartz Prize winners who were announced in a special ceremony at the 2019 National Humanities Conference in Honolulu, HI this November! The first prize went to Humanities Guåhan for its “Taking Root: Growing Youth Empowerment for Island Sustainability” and the second prize to Ohio Humanities for “Not Far From Me: Stories of Opioids and Ohio.”
Check out both Guåhan’s and Ohio’s nomination statements to learn more about these outstanding programs! Don’t miss the other excellent programs that were nominated – all nominations for the 2019 prize are included below.
Taking Root: Growing Youth Empowerment for Island Sustainability
Humanities Guåhan
Nominating Statement, 2019
Meet the 2019 Nominees:
The 2018 Schwartz Prize
Congratulations to Mississippi and Oregon Humanities Councils!
Congratulations to the 2018 Schwartz Prize winners who were announced in a special ceremony at the 2018 National Humanities Conference in New Orleans, LA this November! The first prize went to Mississippi Humanities Council for its “Racial Equity Grant Program” and the second prize to Oregon Humanities for “This Land.”
Check out both Mississippi’s and Oregon’s nomination statements to learn more about these outstanding programs! Don’t miss the other excellent programs that were nominated – all nominations for the 2018 prize are included below.
The 2018 Nominees:
Humanities North Dakota
GameChanger Ideas Festival: In Justice: Rethinking America’s Criminal Justice System
The 2017 Schwartz Prize
Congratulations to the 2017 Schwartz Prize Winner!
The 2017 Schwartz Prize was awarded to Indiana Humanities for their program “Next Indiana Campfires,” a program judges lauded as “groundbreaking” and a “remarkable confluence of the humanities with the natural world.” View the press release, read their nominating statement, and learn more about their program and where it is today below.
The 2017 Schwartz Prize Nominees
Thank you to Jesse Moss of NEH for this video of the 2017 Schwartz Prize nominees. This video was aired for the first time at the 2017 National Humanities Conference Schwartz Prize awards presentation in Boston, MA.
Nominees included are: California Humanities’ “We Are The Humanities” presented by President & CEO Julie Fry, Indiana Humanities’ “Next Indiana Campfires” presented by Director of Programs and Community Engagement Leah Nahmias, Maryland Humanities’ “A Journey through Vietnam” presented by Executive Director Phoebe Stein, and Missouri Humanities Council’s “Heritage Program” presented by Heritage Resources Coordinator and Development Associate Caitlin Yager and Director of Development Austin Skinner.
2016 – [Archived] A collection of histories and programs from around the state of Michigan. (Schwartz Prize Winner 2016, Grant Opportunity
Statewide, KS – [Schwartz Prize Winner: 2014] In recognition of the 150th anniversary of the Quantrill’s Raid, community volunteers used Twitter to live-tweet Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, KS. To stage the reenactment, fifty-one historical first person accounts – raiders, survivors, and victims – were connected through hashtag #QR1863. This project was coordinated by a team including the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area, Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau, Watkins Museum of History, Lawrence Public Library, Commemorate Lawrence 1863, Lawrence Social Media Club, and the Kansas Humanities Council. This program has been archived. (Public)
Statewide, MI – [Schwartz Prize Winner: 2016] With funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Michigan Humanities Council’s Heritage Grants Program supports projects that explore local histories of race, ethnicity and cultural identity in Michigan. (Public)
Statewide, MO – [resource] Hometown Humanities brings a year’s worth of humanities-based programming to a Montana community. Community members can choose upwards of 20 cultural programs from Humanities Montana’s catalog of offerings featuring public speakers, speakers in the schools, community discussions and more. The council has chosen Red Lodge as the host site for 2018-2019. (Public)
Statewide, MT – [Schwartz Prize Winner: 2015] Through this program Humanities Montana created a focused partnership with one Montana community, offering between 25-35 different humanities programs, organizational support, marketing support, and neighborly advice over the course of twelve months. This program is ongoing. (Rural Communities)
Anne Arundel, MD – [Schwartz Prize Winner: 2015] Hometown Teams is the fourth Museum on Main Street exhibit tour that Maryland Humanities Council has sponsored in the state. This program has been archived. (Rural Communities)
Portland, OR – [Schwartz Prize Winner: 2014] Idea Lab is a three-day residential institute where Oregon high school teachers and 125-150 rising seniors from across the state explore the pursuit of happiness through workshops, lectures, films, and discussions. This program has been archived. (Youth, Educators, K-12)
2014 – [Archived] Exploring the pursuit of happiness with students and teachers. (Schwartz Prize Winner, Workshop)
Statewide, IN – [hiking, adventure] Next Indiana Campfires pairs literature with the outdoors to ignite conversations about Indiana’s future. This program was created in 2016 as part of the Pulitzer Prizes Centennial Campfires initiative, received a Schwartz Prize in 2017, and was granted funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as part of the Federation’s “Democracy and the Informed Citizen” initiative. (Public)
Statewide, CA – [Schwartz Prize Winner: 2015] War Ink illustrates how 21st century public humanities programming can make use of new technologies and reflect contemporary cultural forms while maintaining continuity with traditional humanities practices of reading, listening, reflection, and dialogue, in order to illuminate ideas and experiences at the heart of what it means to be human. This program is ongoing. (Veterans, Public)
2014 – [Archived] Humanities as a catalyst in the lives of young people and in the community. (Workshop)
Salt Lake City, UT – [Schwartz Prize Winner: 2014] We Are One offers an example of a new approach to public humanities work, one befitting the 21st century. Organic, grassroots, intentionally temporary but with an impact that is likely to endure, We Are One is an example of the public humanities as a catalyst, igniting conversations and other projects out of the control or domain of the original partnership. This program has been archived. (Youth, K-12)
Statewide, GA – [online] An online resource that presents a portrayal of people, places, and events that shaped Georgia. (Public)
Martin and Helen Schwartz
Founders of the Schwartz Prize Endowment