Gathering Strength: The Power of Community

In the two weeks since I published my post for Illinois Humanities, I returned to Washington D.C., to meet with Illinois representatives in both the House and the Senate. Making a compelling case for why our work matters and the unique, powerfully local impact we have isn't hard, but barriers against federal-level investments in state-level efforts are getting stronger.

An executive order was issued by the Trump administration on Friday, March 14, calling for significant reduction of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the nation’s only federal agency for America’s libraries. It may be that a similar order will come for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), despite the fact that the NEH was established in large part to ensure humanities would not be the reserve of elite, "high society" people, but rather, public for everyone. 

In the midst of all of this it can be hard to stay focused on what most matters. This is why, interspersed with trips to D.C., Springfield, and New York City, I've also been in conversation with more than a dozen executive directors who lead community-based, nonprofit culture, history, and heritage organizations throughout Illinois.

This might seem like a surprise, but it shouldn't. In the midst of severe ambiguity and change, we are inclined - and often encouraged - to be the smallest, most reduced version of ourselves. This is precisely when we want and need the opportunity to engage with new and familiar ideas through history, art, culture, and music. We want and need to do these things with one another, not just in isolation. 

Right now, public humanities organizations are functioning as a platform for us to become "the People" - curious, expansive, inclusive, and plural. We become our fullest selves as humans when we engage with one another. In the words of Hannah Arendt, "The presence of others who see what we see and hear what we hear assures us of the reality of the world and ourselves." We want to see and be seen; to know and to be known - perhaps most especially when we're being encouraged to be private, alone, and quiet.

The places and spaces created by public humanities - radio programs, magazines, libraries, exhibits, performances, archives, history and heritage centers - are the media by which we are able to think, question, imagine and evolve as a community. Democracy demands wisdom and vision; the humanities is the intervention by which it happens. And it's happening locally, by and for the people, throughout Illinois.