A Season for Opening and Closing - and Opening Again

Spring - specifically April and May - is a remarkable season at Illinois Humanities. So many programs are simultaneously opening and closing - and opening again.

We are accepting applications for this years' Odyssey Project/Proyecto Odisea classes while we also get all the details into place for Odyssey Graduation, one of the most momentous and moving days we host all year.

When we reach our Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards deadline (May 1st) we close the online portal and open a window: just as the last poems are being submitted from around Illinois, we start to read poems that take us into countless unseen worlds.

The internal engines that keep our organization running are also in full sprint: as we finish up audit season we begin to see lay the groundwork for the budget and program year ahead.

This season is one of questioning and intentionality: What will we keep doing? Do less of? Do more of? How will we make good on our mission to ensure all Illinoisians have access to public humanities? How do we best use our resources to make progress towards our vision of a state that is creative, connected, and just?

Last April, Illinois Humanities was DOGE-ed and our federal operating funding (a third of our budget) was suddenly terminated. What enabled us to still be here one year later is a case study in crisis communications and community. (I wrote and posted my reflections about this anniversary on LinkedIn).

This year, we unveiled our largest class yet of the Road Scholars Speakers Bureau, with 40 speakers. Last year alone, the program engaged audiences across 44 counties, reaching nearly 5,000 Illinoisans through programs focused on culture, social issues, history, and more.

We’re celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Competition, a decade of growing participation and diverse youth voices from across Illinois. Last year’s 988 submissions brought us closer than ever to our next milestone: breaking 1,000 entries this year.

Sometimes a single season is enough of a reason to mark time. But sometimes we have an opportunity to mark a moment that raises our sight lines beyond the near horizon to well past what we can see.

As April - and Poetry Month - comes to a close, our state poet laureate, Mark Turcotte is selecting a poem that will be placed in a national time capsule in commemoration of the country's 250th. It will be buried in Philadelphia and opened in 250 years.

Mark's poem, written in the past will be put in a time capsule, to be opened in the future.

This will be a contribution from Illinois to the country of the future. The poet matters. The poem matters. Who he is and what he selects matters.

The world in the future can read these words and get some sense, some essence, of what was powerful and meaningful "back then." That sealed time capsule will hold past, present and future all at once. It will mark a season yet to be made. Opening and closing, and opening again.

The remarkable fact is that humans can hold these kinds of multiplicities simultaneously. When we protect time to share this kind of realization with one another, our own horizons open in ways wondrous and unexpected. This is what the humanities are: the things that help us to be more human.

We could not have risen to meet the moment a year ago without the support and encouragement of our broader community. Together, we believe in the importance of coming together to create and protect space for conversations about under‑told stories. These shared commitments continue to guide our work and strengthen our connections across the state.

As this season unfolds into the next, we are deeply grateful to be in community with so many people who make one another’s worlds more wondrous and unexpected than we could otherwise imagine.