The ax is poised to fall on the Kansas Humanities Council. THE HUMANITIES are among the first — perhaps second to the arts — to suffer when belts are tightened. Some say they don’t meet a need. They don’t make a difference to a state’s “bottom line,” by creating jobs. They aren’t measurable. N.B. To ensure transparency, let it be known the editor serves on the Kansas Humanities Council board of directors.
Before Congress recessed earlier this month, the House Appropriations Committee left on its desk a proposal to cut funds to the National Endowment for the Humanities by 49 percent for fiscal year 2014, which begins the first of October.
Julie Mulvihill, executive director of the state council, has a hard time sleeping these nights.
“It certainly puts us in a vulnerable position,” she said Tuesday afternoon from her Topeka office.
For the Kansas organization, a 49 percent cut in NEH funds would eliminate one-third of its total budget.
“Everything would be impacted,” if the cuts come through, said Mulvihill.
The best thing about NEH funding is it’s unrestricted, Mulvihill said, and can be applied “where we need it most — from outreach to operations.”
Of course it’s our unmeasurable depths to learn that separate us humans from our four-legged friends.
The KHC’s Speakers Bureau, for example, brings myriad lessons to communities across the state.
Not so long ago “The March of the Amazon Army” by Linda Knoll of Pittsburg told local audiences about the little-known women who fought for miners’ rights in southeast Kansas back in the 1920s. Who knew that right in our own back yard were the beginnings of the women’s rights movement?
The KHC sponsors programs about the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, life on the frontier, as well as current events. It also partners with the Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum to foster community growth.
Programs such as these enrich us as human beings.
And yes, they add resources to our communities through jobs, additional tourism and, most importantly, the growth of ideas.
When Gov. Brownback gutted the Kansas Arts Commission in 2011, he said funds from the private sector would make up the loss of state funds.
Today, the commission is a shadow of itself and because of the cuts the state also lost out on $1.2 million in federal and matching funds.
Hundreds of arts organizations, including the Bowlus Fine Arts Center, were affected. The Bowlus will also be affected if cuts to the NEH are allowed. The KHC is the primary supporter of the annual Buster Keaton Celebration.
As an industry the arts — when healthy — generate an estimated $15 million for Kansas communities.
The same can be said for humanities councils and their interaction with libraries, museums, schools, universities and civic groups.
U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Overland Park) sits on the Appropriations Committee, which holds the fate of the NEH in budget negotiations before the House.
Write him at yoder.house.gov and tell him how vital the Kansas Humanities Council is to Kansas. Tell him how a loss in funding will hit home. Tell him the humanities are central not only to preserving our culture, but to making it better.
— Susan Lynn
Humanities: a nebulous term that gives us life
