An update on our plans and the 250th
Thanks to the many members of the Mass Humanities community who offered their support in recent weeks. Please know how grateful we are for your kindness and encouragement. We’re doing everything we can to maintain our balance, to practice being human in all our interactions, and to sustain our conversations with residents across the commonwealth. While the future holds infinite unknowns, our faith in the people of Massachusetts remains unwavering.
The health and well-being of our grantees and program partners will continue to motivate our decisions and our daily work. No matter the weather, we intend to stand alongside these partners and their audiences. We commit to finding more ways to nourish their creativity and independence. Our values are still the stars that guide us on this journey.
Next week, Mass Humanities will announce our 2025 grants calendar. We will direct our resources to meet the same mission that motivated us last year: Creating opportunities for the people of Massachusetts to improve their lives and build a more equitable commonwealth through the humanities.
I will share a few thoughts about our roots and the way we seek to meet this historic moment.
Mass Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities
First, we acknowledge the volatility generated by the news emanating from Washington. We will take a moment for a refresher on our origins and responsibilities.
The National Endowment for the Humanities emerged during the same period that saw the passage of federal legislation promising equal voting rights, fair housing, and clean air to every American. In establishing NEH and the National Endowment for the Arts in 1965, Congress declared: “The arts and the humanities belong to all the people of the United States.” Since 1965, the nation has promised equal access to the history book, the museum, and the canvas for every American, not only as students of but as contributors to the national story.
State humanities councils were formed to fulfill this promise. Mass Humanities and our sibling councils in 54 states and territories receive annual grants from NEH through an allocation based largely on population. This funding enables each of these private foundations to respond to local needs, cultures, and opportunities; our NEH grant represents roughly 35% of Mass Humanities’ annual budget. In this way, we operate as a public-private partnership within a classically federalist network that distributes support from the national to the state and local levels.
Yet more than a source of bureaucratic language, our origins make us responsible to the people. Funding may go up or down, but Mass Humanities remains grounded in a promise of equal access. For more than 50 years, that promise has shaped our understanding of our role in our state and in our democracy. Whatever changes may come, this foundation is dedicated to that promise.
Expanding Massachusetts Stories in 2025
Since its launch in 2021, the Expand Massachusetts Stories grantmaking initiative has contributed to the courageous work of storytelling and truth-seeking in every corner of the commonwealth. When we share new stories of the places where we live, we draw maps of possibility and give residents new ways to understand our present landscape and our pathways to the future.
In 2025, Expand Mass. Stories will include a new theme, “Promises of the Revolution.” We call for projects that explore the legacies of the American Revolution as we prepare for the Semiquincentennial in 2026. We will distribute at least $600,000 in total funding through this opportunity; we are actively seeking partners to supplement this amount.
The Revolution is, we know, a complicated subject whose anniversary comes at a complicated time. That is precisely why we chose it for this year’s theme.
The Revolution belongs to all of us, but not all of us see the Revolution as ours. Our ancestors may have called this land home for thousands of years, or reached this continent long after the 18th century, or been brought here against their will. Generations of people gravitated to the United States because of the promises made in 1776; generations of people here and abroad suffer when those promises go unmet.
Rather than shy away from these complications, let us embrace them. While parades and reenactments provide valuable lessons, Massachusetts has an opportunity to do more. We can reimagine the origins, evolution, and future of our democracy and the promises that emerged here almost 250 years ago. Apologies to Virginia and Pennsylvania, but the Revolution is our house. Renovations to that house are necessary and the humanities are our tools.
For Expand Mass. Stories 2025, we call for projects that explore the core promises made by the Declaration of Independence: equality for all; the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and the belief that the power of any government rests on the consent of the people. We seek to understand how Massachusetts people fought against tyranny, not just in the distant past but in contemporary times. Then as now, the humanities embolden us to question the unjust, to gather and debate freely, and to forge new modes of coexistence and self-rule.
Rather than limit this opportunity to a specific era, we will support projects that tell stories from before, during, and after 1776. Who made the Revolution possible? Who carried forward the Revolution’s promises to new eras? What promises were broken, who continues to repair and uplift them, and who was held accountable for their misuse? Who are the revolutionary heroes born long after the end of Revolutionary War? If we believe in our democracy, then stories that explore the limitations of the men who drafted the Declaration should not feel like threats, but as affirmations of the very best ideas they generated.
As we have since the launch of Expand Mass. Stories, we will listen for the words of veterans and artists, parents and protestors, immigrants and elders. We welcome stories of resistance, solidarity, and liberation.
How we commemorate the Revolution will say as much about Massachusetts as any tribute to the founding fathers or their most famous battles. By expanding this Massachusetts story, we can make 2026 a time of renewal for those original promises. We commit to a statewide celebration of courage and democracy.
We look forward to hearing your ideas and stories. Thank you for your belief in the humanities.
All my best,
Brian Boyles
Executive Director
