Founded in 1973, the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities is an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. As a non-profit 501(c)3, the Council receives funding from federal and private sources. The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities seeds, supports, and strengthens public history, cultural heritage, civic education, and community engagement by and for all Rhode Islanders. Through innovative partnerships and grantmaking, the Council connects and cultivates the state’s tremendous cultural resources to help make Rhode Island a vital place to live and work. Our work is based on the conviction that history, literature, philosophy, civics, the arts, and other fields of the humanities are central not only to formal education, but to the daily lives of free and diverse people in a strong democracy. Since 1973, the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities has awarded over $7.5 million in grants to support more than 550 organizations and individuals throughout the state of Rhode Island. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders have participated in Council-funded activities, including community conversations, workshops and lectures, new media technology, museum interpretations and exhibitions, walking-tours, radio shows, oral histories, documentary films, and many more.