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

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

Ohio Humanities and Wexner Center for the Arts announce a call for entries for the 2024 Ohio Humanities Film Fellowship

Ohio Humanities and the Wexner Center for the Arts continue their three-year partnership to support nonfiction storytelling around and about Ohio with a call for entries for the 2024 Ohio Humanities Film Fellowship. The fellowship program assists independent filmmakers working on documentaries informed by the humanities. It provides funding of up to $5000 as well as support and mentorship from … Read More

The Film Fellows

By Taylor Starek Backed by a rich history of uplifting documentary filmmaking—and energized by what’s possible—Ohio Humanities has launched a partnership with Ohio State University’s Wexner Center for the Arts to support independent filmmakers.  The three-year film fellowship will help fund as many as five filmmakers-in-residence at the Wex each year who are working on humanities-informed documentary films with a … Read More

The Storytellers: Amanda Page

Filmmakers Amanda Page and David Bernabo stand in front of a mural that reads '#Portsmouth.' Image courtesy Amanda Page

By Taylor Starek Amanda Page didn’t set out to be a filmmaker.   The 46-year-old is a Columbus-based writer and founder of Scioto Literary, a nonprofit that supports storytellers in Scioto County. She found her way to filmmaking thanks to a case of writer’s block.   She was struggling to pen an essay on her hometown of Portsmouth, located in southern Ohio, … Read More

The Storytellers: Yemi Oyediran

Filmmaker Yemi Oyediran holds on to his headset with his right hand while standing in front of a microphone, recording music for Queen City Kings

By Taylor Starek Secret American lives.   That’s what Yemi Oyediran calls the often-overlooked experiences of racial and cultural minorities. And those stories matter.   So Oyediran, the child of immigrants from Nigeria, co-founded a company to tell them. Oyediran—alongside friend and business partner JP Leong, who is Chinese American—runs AfroChine, a production company that not only partners with Cincinnati arts organizations … Read More

The Storytellers: Shawn Rech

By Taylor Starek Everyone told Shawn Rech it wouldn’t work in Cleveland. He couldn’t be a filmmaker here—he’d have to go to Hollywood.  Rech was unphased. His first project, a local TV program, focused on unsolved crimes.   “People told us we’d never have the production values,” he said. “[They said] we’d never get it on TV.”  Rech’s program not only … Read More

A Vibrant Appalachia

Ohio Humanities is a proud supporter of humanities work throughout Ohio’s Appalachian communities, where funds are in high demand and other support is much less common than in larger cities. From a walkable outdoor exhibit in an Athens park that highlights the important role the humanities have played in the region to LatinX storytelling by Southern Ohio Folklife, we are … Read More

My Ohio with poet and educator David Baker

Poet and educator David Baker has lived in Ohio for more than thirty years, and his poetry springs directly out of his life and experiences here. These poems illuminate our villages and farms—from Lake Erie to the Ohio River—our big-city gardens, small-town neighborhoods, and family life. David is also one of the country’s leading eco-poets, devoted to the natural world—the … Read More