 |
Workshops:
Applying for our Grants
$400,000-worth of the best public humanities programming
Come learn more about our grant program and meet with our staff. We’ll discuss what we fund, how to apply, and ways to improve your application. You’ll leave with everything you need to get started on a Mass Humanities grant application. Join us this month in Worcester and in Brockton!
REGISTER FOR OUR WORKSHOP »
|
 |
Breaking the Mold
“A life-affirming experience of arts and human rights”
Students at Four Rivers Charter School in Greenfield put on a performance of Ariel Dorfman’s Voices From Beyond the Dark with the support of Mass Humanities last year. The play addresses international issues and human rights concerns through the experiences of global activists. Project Director Susan Durkee shares that the students wowed a stimulated and enlightened audience. Attendees remarked that it was better than their own high school theater experience and that students were lucky to have such a challenging and inspiring project.
READ MORE ABOUT THE GRANT »
|
 |
Not as Simple as it Seems
Children’s literature explores profound themes
Our Family Adventures in Reading program kicks off its spring schedule in March. Five libraries across the state will present professional storytellers to audiences of children and their caretakers. The FAIR curriculum offers discussions about meaningful topics like intergenerational bonds, friendship and community, greed, and responsibility. Come explore these character-building sessions with the little ones in your life!
JOIN A FAIR SERIES »
|
 |
Gold Star Programming
Mass Cultural Council recognizes a Mass Humanities grantee
Lift Ev’ry Voice will receive a Gold Star Award for excellence in community arts and culture, the Massachusetts Cultural Council announced in January. Mass Humanities funded Lift Ev’ry Voice's 2015 summer youth program, which was noted as a reason for the award. The Gold Star Program annually recognizes model community arts, humanities, and science projects funded by the 329 local cultural councils across the state. The award will be presented at the Massachusetts State House on February 10, 2016.
READ MORE ABOUT OUR LIFT EV'RY VOICE GRANT »
|
 |
Fresh Ideas
Noted directors appointed to Mass Humanities board
We are pleased to announce that Governor Charlie Baker has made two new appointments to the Mass Humanities board of directors, Patricia Saint Aubin of Norfolk and Frederick Hurst of Springfield. Patricia is an American historian and currently serves as a Massachusetts Republican State Committeewoman. Frederick works as an attorney and is the publisher and founder of the newspaper An African-American Point of View. These latest board members join William Fowler, Northeastern University Professor of History, who was appointed by Governor Baker last fall.
SEE ALL OF OUR BOARD MEMBERS »
|
 |
Project 2050
Changing the course of history with the arts and humanities
Mass Humanities funded the first year of a youth-driven theater project that New WORLD Theater is remembered for today. The theater’s 2001 retreat creatively addressed the profound demographic changes that will be evident by the year 2050, using seminars and workshops to generate artistic responses to personal and ethnic identity, injustice, and power relationships.
READ ABOUT OUR FEATURED GRANT »
|
 |
Your Next Book Club
Common Good Reads illuminates the impact of journalism and the humanities on American life today, imagining their future and inspiring new generations to consider the values represented by the body of Pulitzer Prize-winning literature and journalism.
BRING COMMON GOOD READS TO YOUR TOWN »
|
 |
Bring Grandma
Beginning in March, Wistariahurst Museum will exhibit a Mass Humanities-funded photography show curated by Waleska Santiago. Nuestras Abuelas de Holyoke (Our Grandmothers of Holyoke) narrates stories of women in general, and Latinas in particular. It draws attention to concepts of family, challenges faced by grandmothers raising their families, gender expectations, and the connections between grandmothers and their adult grandchildren who reside in Holyoke.
ATTEND THE OPENING »
|
 |
Collaboration is Key
Small historical organizations know that networking and working together are critical factors to their success. This year’s Mass History Conference will bring them together to share best practices.
SAVE THE DATE »
|
 |
Democratic Dialogue
How can the humanities improve our political process and address local issues? The New York Council for the Humanities will explore the meaning of democratic citizenship this year in an effort to find out.
LISTEN TO IDEAS MATTER »
|
 |
"When My Mother Cooks, It Smells of Somalia"
Those who lose their tangible heritage as a consequence of war, poverty, or disaster often preserve their cultural identity in food. Our Public Humanist, architectural historian John Tschirch, explains how “food can be home, even when the house is gone.”
READ THE PUBLIC HUMANIST »
|
 |
Father of Psychology Born
On this day in 1844 G. Stanley Hall was born in Ashfield. This farm boy from western Massachusetts would become the father of psychology in America. In 1878 Harvard awarded him the nation's first Ph.D. in psychology.
READ TODAY’S MASS MOMENT »
|
 |
High-Tech Witch Hunting
Historians confirmed the exact site of the public executions during the Salem Witch Trials, 325 years after they occurred. Their team combined research methods to come to their conclusion, including document analysis and ground-penetrating radar.
READ THE ARTICLE »
|
 |
Falafel Wars
Borders and checkpoints have cut across Beirut, the results of sectarian conflict, but politics aren’t at the center of this true story of two feuding brothers. Sometimes, even in the midst of a war zone, personal boundaries matter more.
READ “A FLAFEL HOUSE DIVIDED” »
|
 |
Humanities Calendar
We list the best humanities programming in the Commonwealth on our event calendar. See what is happening this month at Mass Humanities.
FIND EVENTS»
|
 |
Twitter
Facebook