Minnesota Humanities Center Community Partnerships

To strengthen knowledge and understanding and to deepen cultural connections during the biennium, the Humanities Center built deep relationships and truly collaborated with individuals and organizations to create and share engaging humanities programs and resources. These humanities programs and resources helped Minnesotans fulfill their civic responsibility of being informed and active participants in civic life. The Humanities Center also engaged with communities and individuals in activities and dialogues to actively learn from the humanities and reflect upon issues raised. Programs focused on the unique knowledge and contributions of Minnesota’s rich variety of individuals and communities, working to create a common and shared future.

Legacy funds supported the following community partnership programs between July 1, 2011 and December 31, 2013:

Museum on Main Street ($43,284.72)
The Minnesota Humanities Center partnered with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services (SITES) and rural communities to bring this one-of-a-kind humanities programming to small town museums and residents of Greater Minnesota. Museum on Main Street exhibitions are a powerful catalyst – opening doors to a community’s own history, its culture, its people, and to an enhanced pride of place. 

From July 1 through December 31, 2011 New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music was exhibited at Evansville Arts Coalition (Evansville), Wilkommen Heritage and Preservation Society of Norwood Young America (Norwood Young America), Dassel Area Historical Society (Dassel), and Roseau County Historical Society (Roseau).

From September 8, 2012 through June 22, 2013 The Way We Worked was exhibited at Minnesota’s Machinery Museum (Hanley Falls), Wright County Historical Society (Buffalo), Winona County Historical Society (Winona), Steele County Historical Society (Owatonna), Virginia Area Historical Society (Virginia), and the Depot Preservation Alliance (Baudette).

American Indian Museum Fellowship ($136.54)
The Humanities Center partnered with the Minnesota Historical Society on the American Indian Museum Fellowship. The Fellowship introduced American Indian students to the basics of tribal historic preservation and museum studies. Participants were chosen through a competitive application process for this three week program in June 2013.

Humanities Center Events ($36,519.46)
The Humanities Center offered high quality, humanities-focused, learning opportunities for individuals. These public events offered participants the opportunity to engage in activities and dialogues, actively learn from the humanities, and reflect upon issues raised. From July 1, 2011 through December 31, 2013, the following Humanities Center events were supported with Legacy funds: 

• Lunch and Learn programming at the Minnesota Humanities Center featureed community leaders who informed and engaged on important community issues. All Lunch and Learn activities connected to Humanities Center programs (with the exception of the Lunch and Learn for Minnesota’s Poet Laureate Joyce Sutphen), so there was always an opportunity to continue learning after the lunch and for participants to share what they have learned with others. From July 1, 2011 to December 31, 2013, Legacy funding supported six Lunch and Learns attended by 317 people:

• April 26, 2012 – Prayers on the Prairie: Muslim in Minnesota
• June 28, 2012 – Firsts: Minnesota's African American Groundbreakers
• August 23, 2012 – The Secret Behind Minnesota’s Thriving Latino Business Centers
• October 25, 2012 – Why Treaties Matter: Sovereignty and Treaty Rights as Economic Tools
•  March 20, 2013 – Got Poetry? Poetry in Your Pocket, Poetry Out Loud, and Poetry for Lunch
• May 29, 2013 – Mnisota Makoce, an Indigenous Place: Exploring Bdote

• The Healing Series was comprised of two distinct presentations with renowned speakers whose individual creative talents prompted participants to engage in tough conversations. Each event coalesced around a book chosen by the presenter. These unique events intersected historical themes via literary arts; visual arts; urban gardening; and the art of traditional and modern medicine, weaving a restorative web of community and creating healing through the power of story. Legacy funding supported two events attended by 98 people:

• September 6, 2012 – An Evening with Jonathan Odell
•  April 25, 2013 – An Evening with Seitu Jones

Towards a More Perfect Union ($16,756.23)

Minnesota Humanities Center staff met with community members and engaged with the network of lifelong learning groups across the state to identify programming needs. Towards a More Perfect Union: Talking About the Constitution arose from this process. This program will harness the power of conversation to explore the most basic yet profound questions of our democracy. Through locally shaped, facilitated dialogues in communities throughout our state, Minnesotans of diverse backgrounds and experiences will explore the Constitution as a living document in their lives. Host sites will be chose through a competitive process in early 2014.

Veterans’ Voices ($53,226.83)
The Humanities Center collaborated with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs to explore a project specific to the experiences of Minnesota Veterans. Project staff convened and met with veterans to explore the ways in which the humanities and the arts are and can be useful; identified projects that were currently underway that use the arts and humanities to bring the original stories and experiences of veterans more fully into public life and education; collaborated with others whose work is to bring our veterans “all the way home,” with the unique and powerful resources of the humanities and arts;  helped support existing programs; and, when needed, created new opportunities for Veterans to speak in their own voice and to connect with others in meaningful ways.

 On September 11, 2013, the unprecedented 25 Veterans’ Voices Awards Ceremony recognized 25 veterans who have made exceptional contributions to the community. These rising stars have not merely returned to civilian life, but are thriving and giving back to their Minnesota communities. 

Between July 1, 2011 and December 31, 2013, $13,107.99 in Legacy funding supported the exploratory phase of new Community Partnership program design and development.