What is Colorado Humanities’ Mission?

MISSION STATEMENT

The Colorado Humanities (CH) inspires the people of Colorado to
explore ideas and to appreciate our diverse cultural heritage.

Our goal is to enrich community life, improve education, and strengthen
cultural institutions by providing humanities programs that respond to local
educational and cultural needs. These programs, events and activities
include teacher institutes, lectures, first-person historical character
presentations (Chautauqua), symposia, public forums, and media (radio/video)
productions.

(The Humanities disciplines include: history, philosophy, languages,
linguistics, literature, art history, archaeology, anthropology, geography,
jurisprudence, comparative religion, ethics, and aspects of social sciences
employing historical or philosophical approaches.)

GOVERNANCE AND LEADERSHIP

As one of 56 state humanities councils affiliated with the National
Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), CH is the only statewide 501(c) (3)
.organization in Colorado exclusively dedicated to supporting the humanities.
Chair Judith Casey of Colorado Springs leads a 20-member Board of Directors,
including six governor’s appointees, comprised of individuals selected from
throughout the state for their effective leadership, scholarly expertise,
community involvement, and ethnic diversity that characterize Colorado.
Executive Director Margaret Coval heads a staff of seven.

STATEWIDE OUTREACH

Each year CH serves more than 200,000 people and 30 counties in Colorado
through all our programs, grants, and special events. Most of our programs
are offered for free, and others are available for a nominal fee.

OUR NEW PROGRAM DEPARTMENT, THE COLORADO CENTER FOR THE BOOK (CCFTB)

Founded in 1989, the CCFTB was originally part of the Colorado Department of
Education, but it became an independent nonprofit.organization in 1995. The
CCFTB is an affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book
(however it does not receive any funding from this source). In April 2004,
CCFTB merged with the Colorado Humanities (CH) and CCFTB is now a
program arm of CH, the parent.organization. The mission of CCFTB
is to encourage a love of reading and books among people of all ages through
diverse cultural activities.