Dorothy Schwartz, Executive Director of the Maine Humanities Council

A Letter from the Executive Director

I admit it - I feel like a very proud pupil, heading home with a stellar report card!

Every five years, the state humanities councils are subject to a site visit and review by the National Endowment for the Humanities, which (as you can see in the financial charts in this issue) remains our largest single source for the funds that make our work possible. Last fall, our Visiting Committee included not only an NEH staffer but two experts on the non-profit sector, David Ferrero, education program officer from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in California, and Joel Rosenthal, president of the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs in New York.

A draft copy of their site visit report to the NEH recently arrived. It's the qualitative version of an audit. I would like to share with you a few of their conclusions about the Maine Humanities Council. They found that the Council is:

"Coherent in its mission and programming."

"Testing its boundaries."

"Strik[ing] an admirable balance in catering to its core constituencies while reaching out to non-traditional ones."

"Making strenuous efforts to raise its visibility."

"Operating at a very high intellectual level."

"Tak[ing] very seriously its role of bridging the gap between academe and the public."

"Fiscally responsible and well managed."

The report goes on to say that asking people to take part in serious engagement with difficult texts is "not especially popular" in American culture. Yet the Council manages to meet this challenge by providing throughout the state "a public space" where scholars and the public can meet in a shared endeavor. As a result, the Council has succeeded in avoiding the "elitist" label that some people might attach to intellectually rigorous programming. The report notes our "responsiveness to the unique demographic and geographic challenges of Maine," approves our "recent evolution from a public agency to an organization with a solid base in private philanthropy," and praises the high quality of our diverse board and staff. "The Council is a mature organization in the best sense of the word."

Recognizing our 25-year commitment to strengthening humanities education in the public schools, the report singles out our Teachers for a New Century seminars as possibly "the most radical program in the Council's portfolio." By treating teachers as intellectuals, we go against the grain of most other professional development programs in the country.

The NEH report is a wonderful morale booster for those of us at 674 Brighton Avenue. We hope that it will also assure all of you (whom we list with gratitude in this issue) who have contributed to the Council over the past year that your money and your time was well invested. With that in mind, I take pride in quoting from our evaluators' "parting words":

All in all, the Maine Humanities Council has combined entrepreneurial spirit with genuine commitment to public service. It was the impression of the committee that this is a model to be emulated.

Dorothy Schwartz

Maine Humanities Council Chair Geoffrey Gratwick, M.D., in his office in Bangor. Photo by Aaron Flacke, Maine Times

A Letter from the Council's Chair

H ow do we live with the troubles of our world today and at the same time have room for the dreams of tomorrow? Ought not our efforts to he focused on righting the wrongs around us -injustice, inequality, intolerance, degradation of the environment - concerns of here and now, problems that demand solution? Many voices say yes, these problems cannot wait for redress.

But the Maine Humanities Council has other, equally important goals, perhaps not so easily articulated, but ones which we believe are pivotal if problems like the above are to be solved. Ours is a revolutionary, audacious agenda; it will change the underpinnings of life in Maine. The Council aims "to bring people and ideas together to encourage a deeper understanding of themselves and others, fostering wisdom in an age of information, providing context in a time of change."

This is a bold proposition, strikingly at odds with a number of current social trends. Sound bites have supplanted serious discussion in our world. The concept that wisdom can be attained through the examination of books and the ideas they contain is suspect.

Perhaps because of these current trends the Maine Humanities Council is now supplying a deeply felt need, as the story on the front page suggests. We reach out to people from all strata of Maine life. Book and discussion groups thrive with a myriad of participants -from professionals to prisoners, from new readers to Rotary, from preschoolers to the homebound. We cover the map of Maine with an extraordinary variety of offerings, from the St. John River Valley to York, from coastal communities to the deep interior. Our programs enrich life in Maine, allowing us to know ourselves, our traditions, our communities, and our prospects.

The Council has grown and matured over the last 25 years, becoming an integral part of Maine's rich cultural life, helping Mainers connect with the ideas that give life its resonance. We welcome your support as we work toward our future together. There is merit in the very act of striving.

Geoffrey Gratwick