The Nebraska Humanities Council is looking toward the future, and with the help of a recent grant, that future could be brighter.
The NHC has received a $450,000 challenge grant form the National Endowment for the Humanities. The NEH is the only federal source of support for the humanities.
This NEH grant will have to be matched three to one for the NHC to receive the money. By July 2005, $1.35 million must be raised.
Jane Renner Hood, executive director of the NHC, said the NHC was competing with fine universities and major research libraries for the grant.
"They're the people who get the challenge grants. That's one of the reasons we're just really proud of the fact that we got it," Hood said.
The grant is offered once a year and this is the third time NHC has applied for the grant. This is the first time they have received the grant.
Hood said the money was awarded based on NHC's records in the humanities and money-raising.
The NHC has raised more money each year for the past several years. In 1992, the organization raised $40,000. This year's goal is $380,000.
"That's a significant increase," Hood said.
The NHC promotes research in the humanities, publishes books, underwrites programs and encourages public understanding of the humanities. In order to fund these projects the council uses a combination of state money and private donations.
To raise the money needed to receive the challenge grant the NHC will have to raise money in addition to their annual budget.
"We're really going to have to work very hard to do it. It's a very different kind of campaign. This is asking people to invest in your future," Hood said.
The state money that the NHC receives comes from the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. The Nebraska Cultural Endowment is an independent non-profit corporation and a public charity. It exists to support the NHC and the Nebraska Arts Council.
The Endowment was established in 1998 by an appropriation of $5 million from the Nebraska Legislature. The NHC and Nebraska Arts Council can draw down interest from this appropriation in proportion to what is raised privately.
The $1.8 million from the grant and private donations will be used in reaching a larger goal of matching the $5 million now in the endowment.
Bob Nefsky, president of the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, said he is pleased that the NHC has received the grant.
"It provides an incentive for private people to give money. They only have to give 75 percent. It is really a multiplier effect on their money," he said.
Nefsky said that because there are many joint efforts by the NAC and the NHC, the grant will benefit both organizations.
"It represents a very substantial change in the way the Nebraska Humanities Council and the Nebraska Arts Council are funded," he said.
Traditionally the NHC and NAC are funded by the government, but are independent from the government.
With this grant, and the private funding encouraged by this grant, the councils will be even more independent of the government.
Nefsky said this will allow the councils to be less prone to political views, and less prone to ups and downs of the economy.
Hood said, some of the money from the challenge grant will be given in other grants by the NHC. Last year over $200,000 was awarded in grants.
Hood said the money from the challenge grant will also be used to continue a number of programs the NHC has piloted this year.
One of these programs is the Youth Chautauqua. This program is similar to the Great Plains Chautauqua, which travels Nebraska each summer with scholars portraying various historical characters in first person.
In the Youth Chautauqua middle-school students work with teachers to research a historical character and form a script to give a speech as this character.
The NHC will also extend its teachers institute program piloted this summer, which lets teachers know the latest research in the fields they are teaching.
The NHC is collaborating with Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, public television and radio to plan how the humanities can use the new digital technology that is transforming television and radio.
"We are planning with them right now how the humanities can best be served with this new technology, so we hope that the money that we will be able to earn on this endowment can be used to do some good state wide programming through digital communications," Hood said.
The council will also continue its Scholars in Residence program which provides speakers to schools. These speakers can stay from half a day to a week and be used long-term in schools.
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