From the Virginia Humanities website:
Virginia Humanities is the state humanities council. We’re headquartered in Charlottesville at the University of Virginia, but we serve the entire state.
We aim to share the stories of all Virginians—or, better yet, find ways for people to share their own stories. We want Virginians to connect with their history and culture and, in doing that, we hope we’ll all get to know each other a little better.
Toward that end, in 2019 we created a new strategic plan. It unifies our work around three important themes that will connect our programs, guide our partnerships, and help us make the humanities part of the daily life of all Virginians.
Amplifying Virginia’s Stories
As we seek to celebrate and share Virginia’s stories, we also highlight and explore experiences traditionally left out of mainstream narratives.
Equity and Democracy
In all times, we must consider how our nation can strive to become a more perfect union and move toward the noble, but imperfectly expressed ideal that “all men are created equal.” Our programs encourage civic dialogue, facilitate the exchange of experiences and perspectives, and investigate ways that American democracy both advances and inhibits the equality of all people.
Cultures in Transition
Today we are all confronting economic, environmental, and technological change that at times feels unprecedented. Our programs help all Virginians understand how these major shifts in our world affect us and our future.
2020-2023 Strategic Goals
In addition to using these themes to better focus, understand, and communicate the work of Virginia Humanities, we’ve also established four major strategic goals to shape how we do our work.
- Identify and help document under-told and lesser-known stories in Virginia.
- Seek and engage Virginians outside of Virginia Humanities’ traditional and core audiences.
- Create a new organizational structure at Virginia Humanities that makes us more cohesive, responsive, and efficient across programs.
- Achieve significant increases in individual, corporate, and philanthropic contributions.