Florida Humanities Council Inc

Programs: Public programs: each year hundreds of free public humanities programs are funded and/or created by fhc that examine a variety of florida topics, both past and present. Hosted by community centers, libraries, theaters and other public venues statewide, these programs help floridians learn more about the richly diverse state in which we live. Our road scholars travel the state of florida, bringing thought-provoking humanities programs to libraries, community centers, museums, and other public venues. (continued on schedule o)we brought the national "telling project" to two florida cities, sponsoring dramatic stage presentations featuring military veterans in the pensacola and orlando area. This program is designed to help bridge the communication gap between veterans and an american society in which less than one percent of the population has served in the military over the past dozen years of war. We continued our college-based humanities summer camps for high school juniors and seniors. These weeklong residential seminars, led by faculty, engaged teens in intriguing cultural explorations through discussions and field trips while giving them a taste of campus living. We continued to create technology applications that help florida communities spread the word digitally about their histories and cultural life. A local walking-tour app was launched in bartow and ybor city, providing a lively, authentic cultural guide for visitors to these florida cities. In addition, we offered our colorful, accessible touch-screen display for small florida museums-helping them bring a statewide perspective to their audiences.

grant funding for local humanities projects: the florida humanities council provides grant funding to support the development and presentation of humanities-rich cultural resources and public programs statewide. These projects help preserve florida's rich history and heritage, promote civic engagement and community dialogue, and provide opportunities for reflecting on the future of our growing state. Selected through a competitive application process, fhc grants primarily respond to the needs of local communities, but they often address topics of statewide interest. Fhc is particularly interested in projects that are collaborative, attract diverse audiences, encourage active participation from the public, and explore humanities topics and disciplines in interesting and engaging ways. (continued on schedule o)partnership programs: each year fhc partners with community organizations statewide to present hundreds of free public humanities programs that help floridians learn more about the richly diverse state in which we live. These partnership programs include:florida stories walking tour app - our downloadable walking tour app allows users to delve behind the scenes of florida towns with an emphasis on local history, culture, and architecture. Connected via a statewide platform, the tours create sustainable cultural tourism products that increase knowledge and appreciation of local history. Museum on main street - museum on main street is a partnership program that brings smithsonian institution exhibitions, resources, and programming to small towns across the state. These high-quality exhibitions are designed to bring revitalized attention to underserved and rural communities and serve as a launching point for storytelling and local pride. Forum magazine - through its insightful perspectives on florida, forum magazine provides readers with engaging and colorful stories about the people and places that define our state. Each issue of the award-winning magazine is mailed to over 15,000 people statewide. To highlight the wonderful literary accomplishments in the state, an annual issue of forum recognizes and honors the annual winners of the florida book awards and the lifetime achievement award for writing. Poetry out loud - poetry out loud is a national poetry recitation contest for high school students hosted annually in partnership with the national endowment for the arts and the poetry foundation. Participating students not only learn about great poetry through memorization, they also master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about our literary history. Seminars for educators and high school students - each summer k-12 educators and high school students from across the state participate in challenging and interdisciplinary study of the humanities at one of our enriching residential seminars. Led by distinguished scholars, the seminars combine classroom sessions with relevant field experiences that highlight our state's history and culture. Speakers series - as part of fhc's speakers series, expert historians, storytellers, researchers and authors travel the state to talk about a wide variety of subjects related to florida. Programs are free for the public to attend and are presented in partnership with civic organizations, museums, historical societies, libraries and other groups interested in bringing thought-provoking programs to their community. Reading and discussion programs - held in public libraries, our reading and discussion programs use books to explore challenging issues in everyday life as well as provide participants with opportunities for thoughtful dialogue. Recent programs have used texts designed for use by underserved families as well as by veterans.

communications: the outreach program works with outside programs to further develop the public humanities programming and resources for the state. The program works to strengthen the capacity of cultural institutions to provide quality humanities programming that explores the stories of florida, its history and cultural heritage, literary and artistic life, environment and development, issues and ideas, communities and traditions.

re-grants: the re-grants program is designed to provide grants to fund public programs in the disciplines of humanities. Since its origin in 1971, the fhc grants program has awarded more than $8 million in support of public programs throughout the state. These programs help preserve florida's rich cultural heritage, promote civic engagement, and foster connections among humanities scholars, cultural organizations, and community groups. The grants program primarily responds to community interests and initiatives, and is intended to address the concerns of floridians. Preference is given to projects that address important public issues, reach underserved audiences, create resources for communities or cultural institutions, and/or reach a broad public audience.