Program areas at Kentucky Humanities Council
Chautauqua and speaker's bureau program: this ongoing program develops historical characters who have had an impact on Kentucky's history. The characters travel to all 120 Kentucky counties to educate the public about Kentucky's history and culture. The characters provide programs for schools, non-profit organizations, and/or communities to further awareness of the Humanities. During the fiscal year the Council provided 213 presentations, serving 14,781 attendees.
General programs: the Council brings together scholars and non-scholars to develop programs which explore and apply the Humanities to issues of current public interest. This is accomplished through several programs including a biannual magazine, special events, and small regrants to organizations to support their efforts in furthering Humanities. We distributed 50,000 copies of our signature publication "Kentucky Humanities" magazine. Special events included Kentucky reads: "birds of opulence and "dear ann" public discussions, vote worthy and democracy and the informed citizen media programs, a more perfect union school book distribution, 50th anniversary events, smithsonian voices and votes traveling exhibition, and mini-grants to fund grassroots programs. The Council continued with the media program "think Humanities", producing 50 podcasts and 738 think history. Through special programming we reached 677,823 people.
The Kentucky book fair (kbf): an annual two-day event, furthers the Council's mission by introducing Kentucky readers of all ages to authors and books that are relevant to the commonwealth and generating discussions of Humanities topics. The Council received a grant from the pulitzer prize centennial campfires initiative allowing for the enhancement, expansion and elevation of the kbf, our state's premier literary event. Including students, educators, and members of the general public there were 6,559 attendees at the Kentucky book fair and kbf school days.
Prime time family reading time: this ongoing program addresses inter-generational illiteracy and targets at-risk children and their parents. Each program lasts 6 weeks and uses award-winning Humanities based children's books to help families become life-long readers and learn to talk about life-changing issues. During the fiscal year, we served 2,530 at risk children and their parents.