President Miranda Restovic Budget (Fiscal Year 2014) $2,438,142 | Board Chairman Brad Adams | |
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Location 938 Lafayette StreetSuite 300New Orleans, Louisiana Affiliations | ||
The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities is a nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering the education of residents of the state of Louisiana. In its mission, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities provides access to and promotes an appreciation of the history of Louisiana and its literary and cultural history. It was founded in 1972 as a result of initial funding by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Founding and history
Beginning in 1971, the National Endowment for the Humanities initiated an experimental adult education program to various states, consisting of grants to the states to promote state-based programs of informal adult education in the humanities. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities came into existence in 1972, as the 17th program of its kind in the United States. Initially, the Louisiana Committee for the Humanities administered the program, as the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities was becoming a formalized institution. It is one of more than fifty state humanities councils established to give individual states greater autonomy in the humanities.
The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities has been headquartered at Turners' Hall in the Central Business District of New Orleans since 2007. Its location in this building is historically significant because of the construction of this building in 1868 by the Society of Turners as a social club for German-American citizens.
Programs and publications
During the period 2008 to 2012, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities funded $6.4 million in projects to institutions and individuals to preserve the cultural heritage of Louisiana. The organization funds programs of types including: discussions, documentaries, digital media, exhibition development, festivals pertinent to Louisiana's cultural heritage, publications, and scholar-in-residence programs.
The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities administers the Louisiana Humanist of the Year Award. Some representative winners of this award are listed in the table. Other awards administered by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities include, and are not limited to: the Champion of Culture Award, the Humanities Book Award, the Humanities Documentary Film Award, and the Light Up for Literacy Award. Criteria for each award are articulated for purposes of nominations.
Impact
The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities documents its impact in its annual report, which are publicly available. As part of the Chronicling America program, during the period 2008 - 2012, it digitized approximately 100,000 pages of historic newspapers during their publication years 1860 to 1922, the newspapers including the Natchitoches Times and the Feliciana Sentinel. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities established 1991 the Prime Time Family Reading Program, having reached approximately 40,000 at-risk children and parents, using several grants provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities. It has funded periodically the public radio program American Routes. Most importantly, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities established the KnowLA digital encyclopedia for Louisiana and Cultural Vistas magazine, as described in their annual reports.