As we look back at 2025, we have to acknowledge that this year was the most challenging in PA Humanities’ history. Federal funding cuts that resulted in the loss of $1.1 million tested our resilience and forced difficult decisions, but they also revealed something powerful about the strength of our community. Time and again, our partners, supporters, and neighbors across Pennsylvania – including the Mellon Foundation, Spring Point Partners, PNC Bank, and you – showed what is possible when people come together through community, storytelling, and the belief that the humanities matter.
And because of that shared belief, remarkable things still happened. Young poets found their voices in Reading. New towns stepped forward to shape their futures through PA Heart & Soul as we celebrated a milestone with our existing communities. We shared and preserved stories, conducted new research, and saw young leaders across the state branch out with curiosity, courage, and care. In a year full of uncertainty, the humanities continued to spark connection, pride, and transformation, thanks to you.
As we look ahead to 2026 and prepare for projects surrounding the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the launch of new initiatives and the continued work around our core programming, we do so with deep gratitude and optimism for what we can build together.
Your support made this year possible. And with your continued partnership in 2026, we can ensure that the humanities keep lifting up Pennsylvania’s people and communities for many years to come.
Rain Poetry
This year saw the completion of Rain Poetry Johnstown with a book release in the spring, and the further expansion of Rain Poetry as we brought the popular project to Reading. Supported by legislators from across the state and partnering with the Reading Public Library and Berks County poet laureate Adrian Perez Roman, AKA Apito, we held four workshops, hosted three installation celebrations and distributed a beautiful book to participants. The Reading project was also the first to feature a bilingual component, offering the many students in the community who experience English as a second language the opportunity to learn and create in both.
We were also honored to create a special Rain Poetry installation, designed by artist Sharnee Burnett, outside the State Library in Harrisburg featuring poems written by young people in all four of the cities where we did the project: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Johnstown and Reading. Pennsylvania First Lady Lori Shapiro was among those who joined us for the celebration.
🔗 Read what she had to say and share in the joy of the celebration here.
Finally, we launched the Rain Poetry toolkit to share what we’ve learned over the years with communities and organizations who want to launch their own versions of the project. Download it today!
PA Heart & Soul
Cheers to 10 years! For the past decade, PA Humanities’ partnership with Community Heart & Soul has shown how a simple but powerful process rooted in storytelling and resident-driven planning can change lives and transform communities. One of the highlights of our year was gathering in Harrisburg with members of our Heart & Soul communities, our partners from Community Heart & Soul in Vermont, and our state partners including DCED, DCNR and the Route 6 Alliance to celebrate 10 years of the transformative community-building process in Pennsylvania. Governor Josh Shapiro declared May 13, 2025 as Community Heart & Soul Day “in recognition of ten years of this unique partnership and the hard work of Pennsylvania municipalities.”
We also welcomed two new communities to be part of Heart & Soul beginning in 2026 – Johnsonburg and Ridgway, and Honesdale, with more to be announced in the coming months.
Voices of History
We launched Voice of History, our statewide effort to collect and celebrate the stories, family histories, struggles and triumphs of Black Pennsylvanians in the 20th and 21st centuries, in 2024, and released the videos from Pittsburgh in 2025. These 15 stories from the Steel City highlight trailblazing women, community, family and entrepreneurship. We’re thankful again to state legislators who supported the expansion of the project and are excited to share stories collected from Erie and Scranton in 2026.
Revisit the Pittsburgh stories here:
🔗 Stories from trailblazing women
Youth-Led Humanities
Before the year was out, we were overjoyed to announce that the Youth-Led Humanities program is continuing through June of 2026 with 20 public libraries and out-of-school time organizations, with support from our partners at the Office of Commonwealth Libraries’ Statewide Library Services and Technology Act Grants. These sites, representing both rural and urban communities across the state, demonstrated a strong commitment to fostering youth leadership and engagement through the humanities in the first year of the two-year cohort. In year two, the returning Teen Advisory Council, made up of youth from participating sites, will take on special projects to make the program even more youth-centered.
Check out what some of the YLH sites did in year one:
🔗 Bratwurst and egg rolls: Cultural cooking sessions spark connection at Norristown library
🔗 Brandywine Library teens turn book discussions into real-world mental health action
Wingspan
This year saw the conclusion of the two-year Wingspan grant initiative launched in 2023 with support from Spring Point Partners as part of our 50th anniversary celebration. Wingspan supported 24 grantees from across the state with an emphasis on capacity building, including operating expenses, programming and staff development. The grant period also included the Learning Community, where grantees joined virtually to discuss topics including belonging, leadership, and how cultural work can provide space to explore and understand our changing world. We’ll be spotlighting some of our grantees during 2026 as they share the impact PA Humanities support has had on their organizations.
Let’s Rise
In 2024, thanks to generous funding from Tom Hagen, we engaged Emmy-winning filmmaker Kelly Dessoye to document our work and partnerships to help celebrate our 50th anniversary. Calling the series Let’s Rise, signifying the power of these connections to uplift Pennsylvania’s people and culture, we released the first 12 videos in 2025. Look for three more videos to be released in January, followed by a special page on our website where you’ll be able to view all of these inspirational pieces in one place. In the meantime, take a look back at:
🔗 Let’s Rise: Stories of Connecting through Culture
🔗 Let’s Rise: Stories of Pennsylvania History
🔗 Let’s Rise: Stories of Community
🔗 Let’s Rise: Stories of Youth Engagement and Education
Research
PA Humanities remains committed to participatory research that explores the role of the humanities in creating lasting change. That continued in 2025 with the release of The Discovery Project, conducted in tandem with Drexel University, inviting people to explore our research and learn more about our people-centered approach to map, network, and celebrate Pennsylvania’s humanities landscape. We also continued to track statewide post-pandemic recovery and local impact along with the threats from federal funding disruptions with our third PA CultureCheck research project, conducted with our partners Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council.
Finally, we partnered with the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance to hold a series of community conversations and a survey as part of the broader Cultural Dynamics project for cultural planning in the City of Philadelphia. Look for those results in early 2026.
Read more about our methodology: “When numbers meet narratives, a deeper understanding unfolds”
The Window Keeper
Martin Luther King Jr. Day saw the release of “The Window Keeper,” a special poem commissioned by PA Humanities and Art Philly and written by Philadelphia Poet Laureate Yolanda Wisher in honor of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The poem draws on vivid imagery and profound symbolism to connect the past to the present, and we look forward to connecting this beautiful piece to our programming surrounding the 250th in 2026. The accompanying video was created by artist Naeem Murdic, supported by PA Humanities and the generous donation by Randall Miller.
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