Doing a Better Job Together
By MHC Executive Director, Geoff Giglierano

 

In recent months, MHC council members and staff have been doing a lot of work to communicate with our state and federal legislators about what the Missouri Humanities Council is and what we do, and our hopes and plans for the future. We have also been doing a good bit of listening in the course of these visits and it has been enlightening and useful to hear from the legislators and their staffs about what they think we could and should be doing. One commonly recurring theme in these discussions, not surprisingly, is their interest in the economic development potential that is inherent in much of our programming. Particularly at the state level, our legislators understand and appreciate the ways MHC is helping communities preserve and share their stories (yes, our history is a resource) with grants, consulting services and Museums on Main Street, as well as our support of heritage tourism initiatives. But they are also consistently intrigued by the emphasis that we are placing on cooperation and collaboration with other institutions and organizations throughout the state.

We at MHC have an expanding commitment to the idea that we all can do a better job of promoting and sharing the humanities through cooperative, collaborative thinking and action. There are wonderful opportunities to do just that here in Missouri, where we have an extensive public resource of humanities institutions—colleges, universities, historical societies and museums, libraries, and other cultural and educational organizations, such as the Missouri Humanities Council. Together we can be more efficient in promoting and supporting the humanities by pooling and sharing our resources and networks. But even more importantly, through collaboration, we share our ideas, skills, and our passion for the subjects that make up the humanities.

It is very exciting to be a part of this ongoing process. At MHC we are already moving forward with new and existing cooperative efforts and projects. One such project that is just beginning involves MHC working with the Missouri Writers Guild to help support the creative writing program for in-patient veterans in the VA facility at Jefferson Barracks. Other examples include partnering with the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum to support their annual teachers workshop, collaborating with the Missouri Association of Museums and Archives to organize a museum mini-conference that will take place this October in Columbia, partnering with the Missouri History Museum to facilitate presentation around the state of a traveling exhibit about Missouri and the Civil War, and our co-sponsoring the recent civility panel discussion and “Humanities Day” with The Center for the Humanities at Washington University and the Center for the Humanities at University of Missouri, St. Louis.

Another key collaborative relationship for MHC—and one that will be expanding—is our connection with The State Historical Society of Missouri. As has been previously mentioned, we are looking at how our two organizations can collaborate to maintain and expand a state-wide speaker’s bureau program. We have already been a partner with them for a number of years in supporting National History Day in Missouri, and I am proud to say that this year we took that relationship a bit further, as MHC Development Director Anna Wingron and I served as judges for the state finals, and three other staff members—Julie Douglas, Clarice Britton, and Marilyn Webster-Brown—participated as logistical volunteers at that event (we all had a great time).

These examples are just beginning. We are gradually working to develop other collaborative relationships, with institutions and groups ranging from the Missouri State Department of Natural Resources/Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites, to the Missouri Arts Council, to the Missouri Division of Tourism.

So I want to say thank you to our partners, both current and future, for your willingness to work in collaboration with MHC. Collectively, we can generate plans that will promote the humanities in Missouri and increase their availability to even more of our fellow citizens.

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