Rhode Island Council for the Humanities

the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (the Council) marked several significant accomplishments during the 2023 fiscal year, continuing to fulfill its mission to seed, support, and strengthen public history, cultural heritage, civic education, and community engagement by and for all Rhode islanders. the Council was supported through federal funds, foundation grants, individual gifts, and corporate sponsorships.the Council's standard grantmaking program awarded approximately $180,831 to 41 grant projects across the state. Through an ongoing partnership with the Rhode Island foundation and Rhode Island state Council on the arts, the ri expansion arts program (rieap) continued to offer funding and organization assistance to community-based, culturally diverse arts and cultural organization.the Council publicly launched the Rhode Island civic health index (the "index"), the first ever data-driven analysis of the state's civic health. the Council distributed over 300 print copies of the index, while the related banner exhibition received a 26,000 gate count through the multiple locations that hosted it across the state. More than 1,300 people attended index-related events hosted by the Council and community partners. the Council won the schwartz prize at the 2023 national Humanities conference for the index and related engagement events.the Council hosted 50fest: a day long celebration of its 50th anniversary. Held at the waterfire arts center, over 220 participants took part in the film festival, interactive photo studio, and reflection gathering, as well as viewed the poster exhibition of 50 years of grants.