Well, this post is way-late in arriving, but better late than never?
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The September MKE Creatives was one I was very excited about, and I eagerly anticipated our chat with Jessica Becker, of the WI Humanities Council. Jessica has been with the Council since 2001, and has a Masters degree in Museum Education, though she mainly works in communications for the Council. Besides myself and Jessica, there was Michelle (Jumbotron operator, voice actor, theatre advocate), Paul (a storyteller, toymaker), Carly (a fiber-artist), Paul (graphic designer), and KJ (poet).
A question that naturally follows the Council around is “what does a humanities council do, anyway?” Their website answers it nicely: the Council “…supports and creates programs that use history, culture, and discussion to strengthen community life for everyone in Wisconsin.”
The Council doesn’t create content, but helps it be brought to the public. For example, if an artist wanted to make a performance piece about the MKE River and its place in the development of Milwaukee, with a talkback afterwards, the artist could apply to the Council for a grant to fund the project. As the Council says, “As a result of our work, a rich array of learning opportunities engage the people of Wisconsin in the exploration of human cultures, ideas, and values. We like to say we make history, culture and conversation happen.”
One very successful project the Council has helped facilitate and fund is the “Fermentation Fest” (founded in 2010) out in Reedsburg, WI. Artists who are part of the Wormfarm Institute wanted to get more involved with their community and to emphasize the area’s culture, so they created a driving-tour that lead to various art installations on farms, combining art and agriculture, and anything that could be connected to fermenting. Now, the Fest mainly features around 40 classes and lectures. The Farm/Art Driving Tour has become a biennial feature.
“WORK: How We Work, How We Make a Living” is a popular ongoing series of presentations at the Council. They also have a speakers bureau of women and men who can present on that theme. It’s a free program, and any organization can apply to have a speaker come present to them!
The granting work that the Council does is quite valuable for WI artists, creatives, and organizers. As Jessica said, “writing a grant gets you organized. It makes you put all the pieces in place…” The Council gives out small grants up to $2k, big grants up to $10K. There are seven grant rounds per year, with the Council averaging out to funding about 50% of the applications! The Humanities Council isn’t that well-known of an org yet, so that has made its grants pretty accessible. Any potential grant-applications should know that the Council funds its grants on a one-to-one ratio, so “if you ask us for $5k, we expect your budget to be for $10k.”
Jessica was asked about how the Council was feeling, given the current federal administration and its seeming lack of interest in the arts or humanities. She told us how there have been lots of “financial threats” against the humanities, and that Trump had removed the humanities from his budget this past Spring. Luckily for our country, there was big pushback against that idea, and the Senate at the time saw fit to support the humanities. It has seemed that no matter where people fall on the political spectrum there is support for the humanities.
The work that Jessica and the Council do is important. The humanities encourage us to examine our culture, to think about what we’re creating as a society, and that work is more important than ever!
Find the Council on Facebook, Twitter, and at their website!
As ever, Anodyne Coffee was our gracious host. 🙂