This message is adapted from Dr. Rockoff's remarks at the 2018 Awards Gala.

 

Some time ago, I was asked to participate on a panel about the "crisis" in the humanities. The crisis was defined as the declining number of humanities majors at colleges, the shrinking budgets of humanities programs and departments, and the growing belief that our children must study subjects that are explicitly tied to specific careers. But after hearing humanities scholars and administrators lament the crisis in the humanities, I was struck by how much the humanities are flourishing in the public work we do. I think about the Mississippi Book Festival, which has drawn thousands of people to the state capitol complex, in the brutal heat of August, to hear authors, historians, and poets talk about their work. I think about the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration, which has been going strong for 29 years, and the Oxford Conference for the Book, which has been around for about as long. We are very proud that we gave our largest grant in our last round to help launch the Literary Arts in the Delta Festival, which will debut on March 10th in Greenville.

 

And what about the incredible response to the 2 Mississippi Museums! 90,000 visitors in the first three months alone, and more families and school field trips coming every day. Clearly, there is a hunger for a compelling and accurate account of our state's past. These are all examples of the intense public interest in the rich history and culture of our state.

The Mississippi Humanities Council was founded in 1972 to foster this passion, to help the people of our state come to terms with our difficult past, to understand the connections between their lives and the larger world, and to tell their own stories.

The Mississippi Humanities Council was founded in 1972 to foster this passion, to help the people of our state come to terms with our difficult past, to understand the connections between their lives and the larger world, and to tell their own stories. This past year has been a busy one. In 2017, we supported public programs in 84 different Mississippi cities and towns. We partnered with over 200 different organizations and institutions across the state. We offered specialized grant programs to celebrate the Mississippi Bicentennial, funded by Visit Mississippi, and to address the history of racism in our state, supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. All the while, continuing our regular grant program, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

 

We are very excited about some new initiatives for 2018. With funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation through a grant to our National Federation of State Humanities Councils, we will be sponsoring a series of programs dealing with the importance of journalism to our democracy. In May, we will open our newest traveling Smithsonian exhibit, "Waterways" which will travel to six sites around the state. With support from the Kettering Foundation, we will be launching a new series of community dialogue programs designed to learn more about how we can bridge the divides that still dominate our country and our state. And, I can finally announce, that in partnership with the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, we will be launching the digital Mississippi Encyclopedia later this spring. The content of the recently published Mississippi Encyclopedia, newly updated, will be made available online, and will now be accessible to anyone in Mississippi and the world with an internet connection.

 

Through our numerous programs and grants, we will continue to feed our state's intense hunger for the humanities. We are so grateful for Congress, who continues to fund the National Endowment for the Humanities and the work of the state councils. But most of all, we are appreciative of your support, friendship, and partnership. We are your humanities council, and our work would not be possible without you.