New Hampshire Humanities: We Are Still Here!

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Dear Friends,

As we enter the start of our new fiscal year this month, I have one thing to say about New Hampshire Humanities (NHH) for 2026 and that is – we are still here!

We are still here DESPITE unprecedented changes in our relationship to the National Endowment for the Humanities which, after 50 years of successful partnership, canceled our contract in April, effectively halving their financial support of the humanities in New Hampshire for 2025.

We are still here DESPITE the reality that the UNCERTAINTY around federal planning for 2026 requires us to prepare for ZERO federal funding for the humanities in New Hampshire next year.

We are still here BECAUSE of the brave choices the NHH staff and Board of Directors made in the face of these uncertainties – building our budget for 2026 at half the budget of 2024, reducing our staff size by almost a half and reducing our programming budget by around one third. We made these choices to prepare the organization for another 50 years serving you, the people of New Hampshire, with or without the federal government.

We are still here BECAUSE the humanities – history, culture, literature, ethics, and so much more – are still vital to the strength of the communities of the Granite State. We still believe in the mission of the humanities and that we owe it to the state of New Hampshire to continue this work with or without the federal government.

We are still here BECAUSE of you – our community of partners, supporters, friends, and sponsors. Yes, we now rely more than ever before on your financial support. Thank you for believing in the cause – donating, buying tickets for our events, sponsoring our programs – but that is only the beginning. You also make the humanities possible in New Hampshire by doing the work of the humanities – attending programs, teaching the humanities, discussing ideas in your community, and participating in the dialogue that is the humanities.

Throughout last year and across the Granite State, we asked big questions about the changes in our communities. First, we brought the Smithsonian’s Crossroads: Change in Rural America exhibition to the towns of Claremont, Plymouth, and Jefferson. Then we extended our exploration of change through a partnership with the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority, bringing together in conversation six communities as they revitalized their community centers. In Nashua, Whitefield, Holderness, North Conway, Portsmouth, and Harrisville, these Community Conversations facilitated discussions about the big ideas that bring people together and the ways the communities want to work together to navigate change.  

These and other programs in 2025 taught us that our communities crave the opportunity to talk with each other. They are looking for ways to work together across differences. Those conversations DO NOT begin where we politically disagree, but were centered on what we share. By building on a shared approach to understanding, the humanities give us the tools to BOTH find common ground AND disagree.  

NHH continues the work of the humanities in the coming year as we recognize the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. We will coordinate the BIG WATCH, like a statewide read but instead of a book, libraries and other organizations will host watch parties around Ken Burn’s new documentary, The American Revolution. With NHH-trained facilitators, communities across New Hampshire will talk about what has been passed down to us from colonial history and what we want remembered about our lives in the future. Featured Humanities to Go programs will explore US@250 themes ranging from African American Soldiers and Sailors of New Hampshire During the American Revolution to How the Constitution Helps Us to Disagree. 

I’m pleased the NHH will still be here for these important discussions and hope you will join us as we consider the impact of the Declaration of Independence, examine how the Constitution has shaped our communities, and debate who we want to be as a community, state, and nation for the NEXT 250 years.

Sincerely,

Michael Haley Goldman
Executive Director