Demand for New York Council for the Humanities Programming at an All-Time High

NEW YORK, NY (04/29/2009)(readMedia)-- The New York Council for the Humanities has been forced to limit organizations eager to participate in its Speakers in the Humanities program due to unprecedented demand. The Speakers program brings the best in humanities scholarship to public audiences throughout New York State.

"The Council's Speakers events are very special to the different organizations. Many representatives have expressed their fear that, given the economic downtown, there may be a cut back on the programs and Speakers made available through the New York Council for the Humanities. They believe that this would be devastating to their offerings to the public," reports Humanities Speaker Salvatore Primeggia of Nassau County.

The Council has witnessed a similar trend in its competitive grants program, which funds humanities throughout New York State. This year's spring grants cycle saw a record 71 grant applications, a 50% increase over last year, and double the number in 2007. The grants program leverages Council resources to serve more than 100 museums, educational organizations, historic sites, and performing arts organizations who offer innovative humanities programs to over 540,000 New Yorkers per year.

Program Director Dawn Weiss from the Long Island Children's Museum said of their 2007 "My House, Your House" exhibition, "Many of our immigrant visitors identified so strongly with the exhibition...that they donated annotated photographs of their native homes in locations such as Papua New Guinea, Japan, Vietnam, Turkey, and France-donations that have provided us with an unexpected digital print collection."

"In a climate where the humanities have come under scrutiny for their usefulness and practicality, the Council's overwhelming influx of applications provides a compelling case for the growing demand for and public valuation of meaningful humanities programming," said New York Council for the Humanities' Executive Director Sara Ogger.

The New York Council for the Humanities was founded in 1975 to be the voice of the public humanities in New York State. With applications for Speakers and grants at record highs, this voice has become a resounding chorus of support for the humanities.

In an effort to manage demand for programming, the Council has limited Speakers to two bookings yearly for a given organization (down from four). With a rescue grant from a private foundation, whose funds will be matched by federal funds recently released by Congress to the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Speakers program will apply increased resources to better meet a growing level of demand.

For more information, visit http://www.nyhumanities.org/.

# # #