To help celebrate its 50th anniversary in December, Virginia Humanities has announced plans to create new regional humanities centers throughout Virginia. These centers will help support local, place-based humanities work, with the goal of making Virginia Humanities more accessible to Virginians.
Each center will be headquartered within an existing regional organization, in either a cultural nonprofit, two-year, or four-year college. Funding to support them will come from Virginia Humanities, allowing those regional organizations to regrant money to other local nonprofit groups to support humanities programs and conversations about local topics their residents care about most.
Virginia Humanities, created by Congress and founded in 1974 with money and support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, seeks to document, preserve and amplify Virginia’s history, heritage and cultural traditions.
“Since our founding, our mission has been to support and bring the humanities to all Virginians,” said Matthew Gibson, Virginia Humanities’ executive director. “We want all Virginians to feel connected to their local communities by better understanding the histories and cultures of the places where they live, work, and visit every day.”
The first centers will be announced in July with others to follow as Virginia Humanities celebrates its 50th anniversary through the end of 2025.
