Illinois Humanities’ Executive Director Gabrielle Lyon is among those selected for Crain’s Chicago Business 2023 Notable Leaders in DEI. The list of Chicago executives recognizes those whose efforts have made significant and recent contributions to advancing equality within the workplace and within the Chicago area. Executive Director Gabrielle Lyon. (Photo by Mary Rafferty). Illinois Humanities has been actively working to bring an antiracist and equity framework to all endeavors including program development and delivery, grantmaking, operations, staff development, communications, and part ..read more

Executive Director Gabrielle Lyon. Photo by Mary Rafferty. I keep seeing articles about the erosion of the Humanities in the academic sphere. Maybe you have, too. But in the public sphere the humanities aren’t only alive and well, they’re accomplishing feats unlike any other effort: they are the thing equipping us to be able to be a diverse, complex society. The public humanities were on full, radiant display throughout the state this past month in Illinois. What do the public humanities look like? They look like the September 9th Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards. I wasn’t the only one d ..read more

Illinois Humanities is renowned for its excellent programs, from grantmaking to educational opportunities and public programming that engage our communities in deeply impactful ways. Ahead of our organization’s 50th anniversary, Robert “Bobby” White is joining our team as Senior Director of Programs, where he’ll bolster our robust programs and broaden our efforts throughout Illinois. Bobby comes to us most recently from the Cara Collective, where he designed and implemented strategies that fueled sustainable and impactful growth as Chief Program Officer. We were eager to sit down and chat with ..read more

For more than 31 years, lauded poet Gwendolyn Brooks held a poetry competition for young people until she passed away in 2000. Illinois Humanities had the honor of continuing that legacy and reviving the Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards (GBYPA) in 2017, in partnership with the Poetry Foundation, Brooks Permissions, and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. Now in its seventh year, the awards have risen to new heights as one of Illinois’ most renowned poetry awards for young people. This year’s submissions reached a record-breaking level. Illinois Humanities received more than 800 p ..read more

The Community Medicine Garden at the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian Mitchell Museum of the American Indian: Community Medicine Garden In 2022, Evanston’s Mitchell Museum of the American Indian celebrated its 45th anniversary with a plan to start an Indigenous Medicine Garden. Under the leadership of Executive Director Kim Vigue (Oneida) and with the support of an $8,000 Illinois Humanities Community Grant, the Museum partnered with Northwestern University ethnobotanist and anthropologist Dr. Eli Suzukovich III (Little Shell Band of Chippewa-Cree/Krajina Serb) on a garden project based ..read more

The Project… “Haciendo un Hogar en el Museo“ Location: Bloomington,Illinois This project aims to increase the Museum’s accessibility for Spanish speakers by developing an interactive platform, including an audio tour of the building and exhibit translation. The Organization… The McLean County Museum of History is a nationally accredited museum dedicated to preserving, educating, and collaborating in sharing the diverse stories of the people of McLean County. Follow @McHistoryMuseum: Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitter The Q&A… Interview with Julie Emig, executive dire ..read more

“His passion for history and dedication to his craft permeate a room the second he takes the stage.” –Britnee Eccles, Events Manager, Lock 16 Visitor Center On May the 14th, 2023, I headed north to LaSalle, IL to present a Road Scholar performance at the Lock 16 Visitor’s Center in La Salle, IL. As I recall, it was a particularly beautiful day to be driving through rural, IL; temperatures were mild, there were perfectly clear, cerulean skies, and the landscape was covered with that brilliant green you only get in the spring when the land is covered with new growth. Today I would be presentin ..read more

Long ago, when I was in graduate school at the University of North Carolina, some fellow students who’d organized a conference about labor-related expressive culture asked me to go to Raleigh-Durham International Airport to pick up Norm Cohen, a scholar who was arriving to participate in that event. On the ride back to Chapel Hill, I told Professor Cohen that I’d used his book, Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong (University of Illinois Press, 1981/2nd ed., 2000), while doing research for a high school term paper on music of southern Illinois. “Ah—were you writing about ‘The Bri ..read more

Beginning this summer and running through November, Illinois Humanities is collaborating with community organizations in six Illinois towns to host free public arts and educational programs for all ages, where participants will collectively envision alternatives to the enduring injustice of mass incarceration. These six events, featuring the artists, educators, and organizers behind Envisioning Justice RE:ACTION, create opportunities for us to reimagine timely conversations about justice, safety, and belonging. The communities affected most by the carceral system today are united in driving me ..read more

Illinois Humanities is pleased to welcome two new board members, Sylvia Ewing and Tawa Mitchell. Collectively, Ewing and Mitchell bring their focuses in communications strategy, grantmaking, youth education, and community service to the board’s comprehensive roster of expertise. “The humanities are the connecting tissue between culture, science, and policy,” Ewing said. “Audre Lorde said, ‘There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not lead single-issue lives. Our struggles are particular, but we are not alone.’ I am delighted to come on board at this time when talking wit ..read more