Arizona Humanities is pleased to award $71,203.69 in Project Grants to 11 organizations. Congratulations to the grant recipients! Brenda Thomson, Arizona Humanities Executive Director shared, "There are many interesting programs and performances that people will enjoy. We appreciate the opportunity to support these organizations that helps us explore our rich Arizona history and culture."

Archaeology Southwest Archaeology Café: Making Connections $9,000 Arizona Masters of Poetry Building Bridges  $5,000 Arizona Women's History Alliance 3rd Arizona Women's History Alliance Symposium. Arizona Women: Advocating for Change $3,120 Chandler Public Library-Downtown Chandler Library One World, Many Voices Performance Series $3,500 Museum of Northern Arizona  Fall Heritage Insights Series $10,000 National Orphan Train Complex Museum and Research Center  The Orphan Trains - Foundlings to the Frontier $4,940

Northern Arizona University through Arizona Board of Regents - Department of English  Current Conversations: Arizona and the American West $3,500 Pueblo Grande Museum Auxiliary Ki:him area at the 42nd Annual Pueblo Grande Museum Auxiliary Indian Market $10,000 Southwest Folklife Alliance - With Our Own Hands: Work and Dignity in Maryvale $7,143.69 University of Arizona - Arizona State Museum through Arizona Board of Regents Pahko'ola/Pah'kora: Yaqui and Mayo Masks from the James S. Griffith Collection $5,000 Veterans Heritage Project Since You Asked: A Veteran Oral History Program $10,000

Read more about each Project Grant on our website.

Arizona Humanities Executive Director Brenda Thomson has received a 2018 Women of Achievement Awards presented by  In Business Magazine. According to In Business Magazine, the 14 women honored "have proven their involvement in our business community and their connection to doing good for our community, and have demonstrated great success in business." 

Brenda Thomson shared, "I am inspired every day by the diversity, creativity and passion of the people I meet. They care about each other and the world. The humanities matter."

Read more about the Women in Achievement Award.

Welcome to Dr. James Blasingame and Vince Lujan!

Dr. James Blasingame Professor, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University

Vince Lujan President and Chief Executive Officer, Salt River Devco

Read more about James Blasingame and Vince Lujan.

The Smithsonian exhibit Water/Ways wraps up in Fort Apache this Sunday September 9. It will travel next to Miami, and reopen Saturday,September 22 at the Bullion Plaza Cultural Center and Museum. Bullion Plaza is "dedicated to preserving and presenting the culturally diverse history, the human experience, as well as exploring the natural environment unique to the Globe-Miami region of Arizona." The building was known as the Bullion Plaza School in Gila County and is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Miami is located in east central Arizona, and it is closely tied with the nearby City of Globe. The "twin" municipalities share a newspaper, a chamber of commerce, and a common cultural identity. Although the mining operations that support the economy depend on large amounts of water, there are no rivers or lakes in the area. The Gila River flows about 30 miles to the south through Winkelman. The Salt River and Roosevelt Lake, a large reservoir created by Roosevelt Dam, lie north of the communities. Miami and Globe rely for their own water supply on deep wells that tap into groundwater from the Cutter Basin. The Tonto National Forest surrounds the area on three sides. U.S. Highway 60 connects the towns, which are about four miles apart.

Read more about Miami-Globe on the Water/Ways website.

Dates: September 22 - November 4, 2018

Address:  150 N Plaza Circle,  Miami, Arizona 85539-1629

Exhibit hours:  Thursdays-Saturdays: 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.,  Sundays: 12:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Water/Ways is sponsored by the Salt River Project, Nestlé Waters North America, the American Slavic Association, and Chaos RX Optics. 

Submit a Humanities Award Nomination by October 1 

Every year Arizona Humanities celebrates the achievements of outstanding humanities scholars, friends and leaders. Nominees and award winners will be honored Spring 2019.

You can submit nominations for three different categories:

• Humanities Public Scholar Award
• Friend of the Humanities Award
• Humanities Rising Star Award

A nomination consists of a short application and two letters of support. Questions? Contact us at 602-257-0335 or [email protected]. 

Read more about the Humanities Awards.

Planning for 2019 and beyond? Add these deadlines to your calendar. 

Letter of Intent Deadline	Application Deadline	Notification Date
November 1, 2018	December 15, 2018	March 1, 2019
May 1, 2019	June 15, 2019	September 1, 2019

The Letter of Intent will open 4 weeks prior to the deadline. Mini Grants will open up for applications on November 1. Questions? Contact Samantha Anderson, Grants Manager at [email protected]. 

Read more about Grant Opportunities.

San Pedro Riparian Area courtesy Bureau of Land Management

"Whiskey's for drinking, and water's for fighting." The old quip about the West seems truer than ever today, as growth and climate change threaten our water supplies. History shows that Arizonans can solve water problems without a gunfight. The late 

Jack Pfister was a leader in reaching agreements on divisive water issues, from groundwater pumping to tribal water rights. What can Arizonans learn from Jack's example to build consensus on the tough issues that we face now and in the future? Join writer Kathleen Ingley for an evening to learn, discuss, and reflect on how one person can change the course of public events.

Wednesday, October 3

6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Arizona Humanities - 1242 N. Central Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85004

Read more and RSVP.

S ave-the-date! See Author Colson Whitehead at the Tucson Humanities Festival October 18

Arizona Humanities is excited to bring Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead to Tucson i n partnership with the  University of Arizona College of Humanities. Whitehead is the bestselling author of The Underground Railroad, winner of the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize. His books include:  The Noble  Hustle, Zone One, Sag Harbor, The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, Apex Hides the Hurt, and the collection of essays, The Colossus of New York.

Colson Whitehead's program is part of the "Democracy and the Informed Citizen" initiative, of the Federation of State Humanities Councils. We thank The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for their generous support of this initiative and Pulitzer for their partnership.

RSVP to Colson Whitehead.

Read more at the Tucson Humanities Festival website.

Explore grant opportunities with the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Humanities Open Book, Humanities Connections Planning & Implementation, Dialogues on the Experience of War, and many other grants have deadlines this fall.

Read more about NEH grants.

Save-the-date! Dr. Rita Charon will deliver the 2018 Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities on October 15. Dr. Charon is a scholar, physician, and originator of the burgeoning field of narrative medicine. She will share her lecture, "To See the Suffering: The Humanities Have What Medicine Needs." Stay tuned for more info on live streaming.

New grant available for small museums from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The new grant is called Inspire! Grants for Small Museums and is a special initiative of the Museums for America program. The grant has three project areas: Lifelong Learning, Community Anchors and Catalysts, and Collections Stewardship and Public Access.The deadline is November 1, 2018. Read more on the IMLS website. 

About Arizona Humanities

Arizona Humanities is a statewide 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the Arizona affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Since 1973, Arizona Humanities has supported public programs that promote the understanding of the human experience with cultural, educational, and nonprofit organizations across Arizona.