Kansas-Nebraska Chautauqua

FAIN: QI-50046-07

Nebraska Humanities Council (Lincoln, NE 68508-1836)
Jane Renner Hood (Project Director: January 2007 to January 2011)
Christopher Sommerich (Project Director: January 2011 to February 2012)

Implementation of a series of public programs in 12 rural communities in Kansas and Nebraska over three years exploring critical changes in American cultural and political life in the 1930s through the lives of five historical figures.

The humanites councils of Kansas and Nebraska will offer a summer chautauqua program that will travel annually to two rural communities in each state for a three-year period with the theme, 2008-2010. The theme for the proposed chautauqua is "Bright Dreams, Hard Times: America in the Thirties." Grounded in humanities texts and methods, the Kansas-Nebraska Chautauqua will use innovative, yet proven, format and venues to engage audiences in thoughtful explorations of American culture and political life during the critial period of the 1930s. In the evenings, audiences will gather under a large chautauqua tent to hear first-person characterizations of historical figures from the era. Along with evening programs, other components include: humanities-based workshops led by scholars, a youth chautauqua camp, a film and reading series, a traveling exhibit, a Kid-Tauqua tent, and a Chautauqua Reader.