Mission Statement
The Minnesota Humanities Center is an independent, not-for-profit organization that conducts and supports cultural and educational programs throughout Minnesota. Focused on the future of our state, the Minnesota Humanities Center brings the unique resources of the humanities to the challenges and opportunities of our times. The Humanities Center works in partnerships across the state to build a thoughtful, literate, engaged society. Through the humanities, the Humanities Center builds community and brings into public life the untold stories that deepen our connections to each other.
Impact and Programs
Accomplishments
With an emphasis on strengthening what connects us, rather than what divides us, the Minnesota Humanities Center brings the resources and unique perspective of the humanities into the lives of all Minnesotans. Between 11-1-2014 and 10-31-2015 the Humanities Center created the following impact: the Humanities Center awarded more than $1.7 million in grant funding to organizations and agencies across the state, including children’s museums, non-profits, state agencies, and county governments; 938 participants attended nine public events, building relationships, listening to stories, and learning from one-another; more than 10,400 Minnesotans learned how treaties affected the lands and lifeways of the indigenous peoples of this place we call Minnesota, and why these binding agreements between nations still matter today as ‘Why Treaties Matter: Self-Government in the Dakota and Ojibwe Nations’ was exhibited at 27 host sites during FY15; 42 educators completed a 6-month-long Educators Institute, challenging their epistemologies and world views as they developed their ability to build and strengthen relationships with students, educators, and community members; 25 Veterans were honored at the third annual Veterans’’ Voices Award Ceremony in September, and more than 4,100 Minnesotans have contemplated the personal costs and collective sacrifice of war through the traveling exhibit through Always Lost: A Meditation on War, a traveling exhibit that visited 13 communities during FY15; over 900 free resources were available to the public through the Absent Narratives Resource Collection, an online searchable database of ready-to-use videos, teacher guides, and readings that support efforts to encourage inclusion of missing stories (‘’Absent Narratives’) in classrooms and workplaces across the state; approximately 9,005 individuals utilized our Event Center facilities for meetings, retreats, and special events; and, in looking forward to our next year, six greater Minnesota communities were selected through a competitive process to host the upcoming Water/Ways tour, a traveling exhibition and community engagement initiative of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street program.
Current Goals
1. Bring the humanities into the lives of all Minnesotans through building relationships, active engagement, and programs of the highest quality.
2. Build the capacity of its full-service Event center as a meeting ground, a place where diverse points of view are respected, and as an environment for active participation.
3. Strengthen and expand our transformational work in advancing educational excellence and access for students and learners through the humanities.
4. Strengthen and expand collaborative and partnership work with individuals, groups, and organizations to engage multiple perspectives in order to build a more inclusive Minnesota.
5. The Humanities Center will ensure substantive evaluation of its programs and services.
Community or Constituency Served
Over the past few years, the Humanities Center has served more than 43,680 people in 205 communities across Minnesota. For many years, our work primarily targeted early literacy and K-12 educators, but since the Legacy Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund became available in 2009, our reach has broadened to include and build new relationships with under-served communities, including resident and immigrant communities of color and, more recently, with Veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Humanities Center remains committed to building a network of strong relationships across Minnesota.
Geographic Area Served
The Humanities Center serves communities throughout the entire state as opportunities arise.
