In Common: A Humanities Forum
In Common is the digital backbone of Humanities New York’s work and the mechanism that allows the organization to function as a truly statewide public humanities organization. More than a platform, it is shared civic infrastructure that connects local partners, facilitators, and communities across New York into a coherent system of practice.
The Digital Backbone of Humanities New York
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New York is geographically vast and culturally diverse. We differ in history, politics, language, and lived experience. Yet across regions, people wrestle with shared questions: What does belonging mean? How do we live with difference? What do we owe one another?
“In Common” reflects our belief that democracy depends not on sameness, but on shared inquiry.
The humanities help us uncover what we hold in common: the need to be heard, the desire for belonging, the search for meaning, and the practice of interpretation. In a state as diverse as New York, these shared habits must be cultivated intentionally.
In Common is the structure that makes that cultivation possible.
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Facilitators and scholars
Libraries and museums
Universities and colleges
Community-based organizations
Cultural and civic leaders
If you care about strengthening civic life in New York through dialogue, interpretation, and shared inquiry, you are part of this work.
What We Build Together
In Common is the shared civic infrastructure that makes Humanities New York’s statewide work possible. More than a platform, it is the connective tissue linking facilitators, partner institutions, scholars, and communities into a coherent system of public humanities practice. It takes our statewide network and gives it a durable digital home. Across New York’s cities, towns, campuses, and cultural institutions, people gather to reflect, interpret, and engage difficult questions together. In Common ensures that these efforts are not isolated events, but part of a connected, evolving system.
A Statewide Civic Infrastructure
In Common transforms individual programs into a durable, scalable system of public humanities practice. It ensures consistency across regions while remaining responsive to local history and need.
The system is built on four interlocking components
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Facilitation Training & Civic Workforce Development
At the center of In Common is equity-centered facilitation training. Participants learn to guide inclusive, reflective dialogue and close reading in public settings.
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Lead structured conversations across difference
Sustain dialogue grounded in fairness and interpretive care
Work in libraries, museums, campuses, and community spaces
Facilitate Humanities New York programs and partner initiatives
Through training and continued engagement, In Common supports a growing civic-humanities workforce across New York State.
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A Statewide Network of Practice
Training feeds into a living peer network. Facilitators and partners gather through cohorts, office hours, working groups, and convenings that strengthen practice and deepen statewide connection.
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Connects regions across New York
Builds relationships across institutions
Surfaces emerging community needs
Creates a feedback loop between local insight and statewide strategy
Ideas piloted in one community inform practice elsewhere. Over time, this approach builds durable civic capacity rather than isolated events.
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A Public-Facing Digital Repository
In Common houses a public-facing digital repository of toolkits, curated materials, partner-generated resources, digital interviews, and adaptable frameworks designed for reuse and local customization.
Communities with limited resources gain access to shared humanities tools. Institutions with greater capacity can adapt and extend them.
The repository expands access while maintaining shared standards of dialogue and interpretation.
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A Digitized Institutional Archive
In Common integrates curated selections from Humanities New York’s Institutional Archives (1975–present), grounding innovation in more than fifty years of public humanities practice across the state.
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Historic grantmaking initiatives
Past statewide programs
Thematic and strategic evolution
Lessons from decades of community partnership
By situating present work within historical perspective, In Common links continuity with adaptation.
