Looking ahead to 2025

As we conclude our celebration of 50 years of PA Humanities, we are excited to build a movement that will deepen our impact across Pennsylvania in the coming year. Guided by a new strategic plan, we’ll expand some of our signature projects to new cities, engage even more young voices to help shape the future of our organization, and commemorate a decade of one of our cornerstone programs – all while continuing to inspire and connect communities through the humanities. 

Here’s a glimpse of what’s ahead:

• After its successful debut at the National Humanities Conference and other local and regional conferences, we’ll be launching the PA Humanities Discovery Project more publicly through a series of events. This statewide research initiative spotlighting the state’s cultural sector practitioners will be amplified through a collection of videos celebrating the transformative power of the humanities – watch the trailer now!
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• In anticipation of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, we are creating exciting new content, programs, and partnership opportunities.
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• Voices of History will conclude in Erie with a premier of the videos filmed there, and will move to Scranton. We’ll continue to share these stories on our website for others to view and use in educational and community-based programming to learn and discuss these powerful stories of family histories in our state.
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• We’ll share a book of poems from Rain Poetry Johnstown, and then bring the project to Reading for our first-ever bilingual iteration of Rain Poetry. Also in the works is the development of a Rain Poetry toolkit that will allow other communities to implement the project in their own towns.
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• PA Heart & Soul is turning 10! To mark the milestone we’ll invite all of our current and former Heart & Soul team members to join with the PA Department of Commerce & Economic Development, Department of Conservation & Natural Resources, Route 6 Alliance and Community Heart & Soul partners in Harrisburg to celebrate 10 years of resident-driven community engagement and the ongoing impacts of the program across the state. 
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• The new PA Humanities Youth Advisory Council will give young people the opportunity to connect with other youth from across the state, build leadership skills and impact our organization’s future.
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• Informed in part by our new strategic plan, we will be launching a new Humanities in Action grant program to support the incredible humanities work happening across the state.
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• We’ll wrap up the work of our transformational Wingspan grant program with a special two-day learning event in Philadelphia focused on sustaining and strengthening humanities work in communities.
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• Building on our past successes, we’re further expanding our advocacy work to ensure proper funding for the humanities in Pennsylvania and across the country.

The humanities hold a unique power to weave connections across Pennsylvania’s diverse communities, fostering understanding, empathy, and shared purpose. PA Humanities is filled with hope as we approach 2025, eager to build meaningful relationships and engage people through storytelling, history, cultural exploration, community engagement and more. Thank you for joining this growing movement to champion the humanities.