New York Council For The Humanities

Geographic areas served: New York State

Programs: Grants program:the humanities help us talk about and understand the ideas that define us as individuals and connect us as communities. They teach new yorkers how, not what, to think. New york council for the humanities (doing business as humanities new york) grants help communities use the humanities to articulate their ideas about what it means to be human. Humanities new york grants develop project teams with humanities expertise, and support projects that use the tools of the humanities to engage general public audiences. Humanities new york offers three competitive grant programs. Vision grants ($500 to $1,500) help groups develop plans for public humanities programs and initiatives that are built in partnership with community members. Action grants ($500 to $5,000) help organizations launch public humanities programs that are dynamic, responsive and thought-provoking. Beginning in fy18, quick grants ($500) will be available to organizations with operating budgets of less than $250,000 for the implementation of an in-person public humanities program. During fy17, humanities new york awarded 147 grants totaling $485,171. Total cost for this program was $741,264.

humanities centers initiative (hci):humanities new york is the hub of the humanities centers initiative, an innovative statewide partnership between nine university-based humanities centers. Launched in 2012, the hci supports humanities institutes, faculty, and graduate students in their commitment to public engagement. There are three aspects of the humanities centers initiative: public humanities fellowships for advanced graduate students to work with a community group or non-profit on a pubic project; community partnership grants to bring together humanities centers with local program partners to provide public programming; and joint advocacy to insure a robust future for the humanities in new york state by speaking with one voice to federal, state and local legislators. Participating humanities centers include cornell university society for the humanities, cuny graduate center's center for the humanities, the center for the humanities at new york university, the heyman center for the humanities at columbia university, syracuse university humanities center, suny buffalo's humanities institute, suny stony brook's humanities institute, the institute for advanced studies in the humanities at suny binghamton and the university of rochester humanities center. During fy17, funds in the amount of $322,394 were expended on this program.

adult reading and discussion program (adult r&d):something special happens when we talk about what we read with others in our community. Texts become catalysts for civic engagement, cultural understanding, and personal reflection. In adult reading and discussion programs, participants read a series of thematically linked texts over the course of four to six sessions. At each session, they come together with others in their community for a conversation about the ideas in those texts, facilitated by a trained local scholar. Themes range from "james baldwin's america and "growing & aging" to the first world war and the women's suffrage movement. Humanities new york is particularly proud to offer the theme "serving: standing down" to veteran participants. Host organizations identify a theme relevant to their patrons, how many sessions (4-6) they plan to host and partner with a local scholar to facilitate the series. Hny trains both the host site and the facilitator on best practices for engaging audiences by asking discussion-provoking questions and drawing in multiple voices. Hny pays an honorarium to the scholar of $150/session, for a total of $600-$900 depending on the length of the series. Moreover, hny provides a lending library of books for each theme that organizations can borrow. Host organizations are asked to pay a modest fee of $25 per session, totaling $100-$150 for a series. These fees cover shipping to the host sites and replacements for damaged or lost books. To insure accessibility, hny allows sites to apply for a waiver for this fee, if they can demonstrate sufficient financial need. Participants, recruited by the host organizations, attend the programs for free. Hny's program officer reviews all applications, and all that demonstrate the ability to attract an audience and host the program successfully are awarded, so long as funding permits. If necessary, humanities new york gives preference based on geography and new partner organizations to insure our resources reach new audiences and underserved areas of the state. Total cost for adult r&d in fy17 was $266,665.

other programs include community conversations, the public scholars program, partnerships and convening, the democracy in dialogue program and the pulitzer program.