Connection and Collaboration

With a membership spread across the nation, including DC and the US territories of Guåhan, Amerika Samoa, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, we bring our members together as a community through virtual and in-person events, share knowledge and best practices, and collaborate for mutual support of humanities councils in fulfilling their missions.

Advocacy

As the sole national representative for the humanities councils, we make the case to Congress for sustained and increased federal funding for NEH and in particular the NEH Federal/State Partnership that helps fund the humanities councils. In addition, we build the councils’ capacity for case making through advocacy webinars and briefings, “This Week on the Hill” updates, and Humanities on the Hill, our annual advocacy event. We collect data from councils across the country and liaise with national partners to develop comprehensive advocacy materials, including position papers and talking points, to strengthen councils’ local and national advocacy.

Kentucky Humanities Executive Director Bill Goodman meets with Senator Mitch McConnell in 2025.

Data and communications

To raise awareness about the essential role our members’ work plays in strengthening our communities, we regularly collect and evaluate data on council programs, grants, and operations to inform national messages about the collective impact and value of humanities council programming. This information is then shared to support funding case making, national partnerships and initiatives, NEH, media promotion and overall public access to humanities tools, programming, and the councils. Through our communications channels and methods, members receive updates on pertinent legislative activities, humanities events, grassroots efforts, national humanities initiatives, partner and funding opportunities, and professional development and resources specific to council operations and program areas.

Partnership

For more than 40 years, we have been working to represent our members and the value of humanities councils’ work in their communities, states, and across the nation, leading to long-term national partnerships and grant opportunities with leading humanities organizations and funders like Mellon Foundation, National Humanities Alliance, Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street, The Pulitzer Prizes, American Alliance of Museums, Library of Congress, National Humanities Center, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and more. These relationships benefit the humanities community as a whole, and we continue to seek ways to come together with other organizations to foster relationships and an understanding of the importance, value, and utility of the humanities in our everyday lives.

Humanities council staff enjoy a reception celebrating the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street program at the 2024 National Humanities Conference.