Wisconsin Humanities Council

Community powered project program- the community powered program launched as a pilot in fall of 2021, builds resilience among wisconsin communities by helping them recognize, communicate, and act upon their strengths, challenges, and histories to envision a vibrant future.as the project begins its third year of programming, 8 fellows were hired from around the state who have been participating in six months of training workshops teaching them skills in documenting local history, telling community stories, and activating community members in local projects. This training will be followed by six months of mentorship as the wisconsin humanities fellows put their training to work in their communities, sharing what they have learned and helping residents work toward a more vibrant future. Two additional sets of fellows will be trained next year. 18 training workshops were held in tax year 2023 and 2 public meetings.additional programming under the community powered program umbrella included the development of a "stand up to hate" curriculum for high school students and a teacher guide for teachers. 4 school events were held during this tax year, with over 1,000 students and teachers attending.

Love wisconsin project - the love wisconsin project "celebrates our state, our lives and our shared future" via a digital storytelling project focused primarily on facebook, using the facebook groups platform. This platform has created an online community that strives to bring about a more connected, compassionate, and engaged wisconsin. This past year, 17 new stories have been shared, along with dozens of instagram posts, with a monthly reach of over 34,000 people on facebook, resulting in numerous digital conversations involving thousands of participants.

Podcast project - "human powered" is a podcast series about how people make places better. It's about what can happen when passionate, creative people engage deeply with their neighbors and find ways to strengthen the roots of community lives. The final three episodes of the second season of the podcast debuted this year focusing on people impacted by the justice system. Over 3,700 people listened to the wisconsin humanities council podcasts on whc platforms this year, and an additional 6,300 people visited the podcast website.

Program partnership - in addition to its own programming, the whc provides financial support outside of the grant program for humanities programing by partner organizations in the state of wisconsin. This year the whc continued its partnership with wisconsin public radio and "wisconsin life" radio programming, airing radio essays that celebrate what makes wisconsin unique through the diverse stories of its people, with approximately 70,000 radio listeners per week. The whc also continued its support of the wisconsin poet laureate commission and the wisconsin poet laureate, the state's ambassador for poetry. The whc is one of six member organizations that provide financial support and representatives to serve on the poet laureate commission.

Immigrant journeys project - the travelling exhibit titled "immigrant journeys from south of the border" showcases the stories of people who have immigrated to wisconsin from colombia, honduras, mexico and uruguay, and a website dedicated to the program. In tax year 2023, the exhibit traveled to 1 location in the state of wisconsin, and over 750 people viewed the exhibit.