Our Story
Founded in 1975 with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Humanities New York (HNY) is one of 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils.
For fifty years, HNY served as New York State’s primary public humanities grantmaker, investing in museums, historical societies, libraries, and community-based organizations across every region of the state. Through that work, we built an extensive statewide network grounded in partnership and public trust.
Today, we build on that legacy by strengthening the civic infrastructure that makes public humanities work possible.
As a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization, we receive funding from federal support, private foundations, institutions, and individual donors. Our work remains statewide, but our approach has evolved: we now focus on training facilitators, developing shared tools and resources, supporting local partners, and connecting practitioners into durable networks of practice.
Mission
Humanities New York strengthens civil society through conversations that bring people together to remember the past, imagine new possibilities, and build a shared future.
Vision
Humanities New York envisions a New York State where people across difference engage one another with curiosity, care, and shared responsibility, and where the humanities are a living, public resource that strengthens democratic culture, civic trust, and community life.
How Our Work Has Evolved:
For decades, HNY primarily supported public humanities through grantmaking. That work built a vast and enduring statewide network.
Today, we operate as a builder of civic infrastructure. Rather than focusing only on funding local organizations, we invest in:
Facilitation training and humanities workforce development
Partnerships with former grantees and local institutions
Shared tools, texts, and digital resources
Networks that connect practitioners across regions
Annual themes that provide coherence across the state
This shift allows us to support meaningful, place-based dialogue while strengthening a coherent statewide ecosystem.
Our Current Goals:
Over the next three years, Humanities New York is focused on:
Expanding Access
Ensuring that New Yorkers across regions, backgrounds, and generations can participate in humanities-based dialogue.
Strengthening Civic Infrastructure
Building facilitation training, shared resources, and regional partnerships that make reflective public conversation sustainable.
Growing Statewide Networks
Connecting educators, cultural workers, organizers, and scholars into communities of practice that reinforce one another.
These goals reflect our belief that the humanities are essential civic infrastructure: systems that help communities listen, interpret, and stay human with one another through change.
