Our 2023 impact

The filmmakers behind "My Name is Annabel" discuss the film during a panel at the 2023 Chagrin Documentary Film Festival

At Ohio Humanities, we envision an Ohio where people’s unique stories are heard, the past is linked to the present, and a better future is realized together. In 2023, we invested $488,858 in grant funding in Ohio’s stories and storytellers, sparking conversations and inspiring ideas across the state. Our 2023 Impact Report highlights the ways in which documentary film is … Read More

Ohio Humanities, Wexner Center for the Arts Announce the Recipients of 2024–25 Ohio Humanities Film Fellowships

A filmmaker films an artist in a studio

COLUMBUS, OH—Ohio Humanities and the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University are excited to share information about the second group of filmmakers and projects to receive funding through a three-year partnership to support independent filmmaking. “We are honored to continue our longstanding tradition of supporting Ohio’s stories and storytellers alongside our partners at the Wex,” says … Read More

Five takeaways from The Lincoln School Story

Dr. Carlotta Penn, second from left, answers a question during Ohio Humanities' panel at Case Western Reserve University Law School after a screening of 'The Lincoln School Story'

Thanks for joining Ohio Humanities and the Social Justice Law Center at Case Western Reserve University School of Law for a screening of The Lincoln School Story last week! We’re grateful to the Social Justice Institute, the Black Law Student Association, and the Black History Exhibit Planning Committee at CWRU for cosponsoring the program. Jenny Hamel, host of Sound of Ideas on WKSU/Ideastream … Read More

How I became a “book bartender”

A stack of books, including Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley, The Fraud by Zadie Smith, The Color Purple by Alice Walker and, on display on top, Erasure by Percival Everett, with an Ohio Humanities bookmark in the foreground

By Rebecca Brown Asmo The first time a teacher assigned a book written by a Black author to me, I was a junior in college. Before that, everything assigned to me was written and taught to me by White people. While I occasionally stumbled upon a book by a Black author in my personal time, it wasn’t until a Women’s … Read More

Ohio Holocaust and Genocide Memorial and Education Commission Announces 2024 Grant Cycle

The Holocaust Memorial on the south grounds of the Ohio Statehouse

COLUMBUS, OH—Applications for the second year of Ohio Holocaust and Genocide Memorial and Education Commission (OHGMEC) grants will be available this week to support projects and programming in communities across the state about the Holocaust and genocide. “The Commission is pleased to again offer financial support to so many institutions that are creating sustainable and engaging Holocaust and genocide resources … Read More

Stories that make our hearts beat faster

Ohio Humanities Program Officer Aaron Rovan's dog, Barbie, lays on a brown couch with a copy of Step by Step. Colored hearts overlay the image along with the Ohio Humanities logo.

This Valentine’s Day, we’re excited to highlight our love for Ohio’s stories and storytellers. Stories connect Ohioans, strengthen communities, and foster democracy. From a bilingual podcast series highlighting Central Ohio’s rich Bhutanese-Nepali community, to a documentary about our state’s longest-running lesbian bar, to a month-long festival in Cleveland celebrating the world’s first superhero, Ohio Humanities is proud to support storytellers who share … Read More

Nearly $400,000 in America 250-Ohio Grants Awarded to Ohio Communities and Organizations

Pennant with the America 250-Ohio logo reads "Fall 2023 Grant Recipient"

America 250-Ohio announces funding for 23 community-based projects as part of $1 million grants program to mark America’s 250th anniversary As Ohio prepares to celebrate and commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, America 250-Ohio, the official state commission charged with leading Ohio’s recognition of the semiquincentennial, awarded $398,240 in grants to 23 communities and organizations across 15 Ohio counties as part of the commission’s … Read More

Ohio Humanities funds narrative medicine research at Akron Children’s Hospital

Akron Children's Hospital logo

Akron Children’s received a $20,000 Ignite Grant from Ohio Humanities for the second phase of a study on the use of narrative medicine to help families who have a child in the hospital’s pediatric critical care unit (PICU). Narrative medicine uses the literary arts to help patients, families, and providers tell and listen to stories. Parents will be invited to … Read More

Ohio’s Native stories

Mound City in Chillicothe, Ohio, part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks

Celebrating Thanksgiving often means going home, but for many of our Native neighbors, the concept of home is a painful reminder of what was taken from them during campaigns of forced assimilation and removal from their homelands. Nothing we do today can reverse this painful history and its aftermath, but the humanities provide a long overdue opportunity to connect with, understand, … Read More

Ohio Humanities, Daydreamers Press release children’s book

Nonfiction picture book tells the story of a civil rights demonstration through the eyes of a real-life child activist Ohio Humanities and Daydreamers Press announce the release of Step by Step: How the Lincoln School Marchers Blazed a Trail to Justice, a new nonfiction picture book for young readers. Written by New York Times bestselling author Debbie Rigaud and Carlotta … Read More