Hawaii Council for the Humanities

connecting people with ideas that broaden perspectives, enrich lives, and strengthen communities.

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Enriching LivesBroadening Perspectives

Strengthening Communities

HISTORY DAY has a new website: http://hi.nhd.org/

Next Upcoming Grant Deadline: September 15, 2009

The June 15 grant deadline has closed. The next deadline is on September 15. See our Grants page for general information. Please contact Kim Schauman, Director of Grants and Special Programs for more information at 732-5402, neighbor islands 1-800-424-1301, or via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Hawai‛i Council for the Humanities (HCH)'s mission is to connect people with ideas that broaden perspectives, enrich lives, and strengthen communities.  HCH seeks to improve the quality of life in Hawai‛i through public programs and grant opportunities which apply the humanities to our everyday lives.

Each HCH-supported project helps to build a bridge between "town and gown," between the humanities disciplines, their trained scholars, and the general public. The public gains information and perspectives from the scholars' fields of study, and scholars are able to relate their research to community concerns and interests.  This process reaffirms and demonstrates the value of humanities disciplines and the work of the scholars.

Strategically, HCH seeks to ensure that the humanities have a rigorous and relevant presence in schools; that the humanities are brought to underserved populations; and that partnerships and resources are developed and secured.  The promotion of public understanding and appreciation of the value and relevance of history, literature, philosophy, and cultural traditions is at the heart of HCH's work.

What are the humanities?

The humanities study and reveal the many aspects of culture, which consists not only of sights and sounds, but also of ideas.  Humanities areas of study examine:

  • Ideas about how we should live and conduct ourselves (philosophy, ethics and comparative religion);

  • Ideas about who we are as a people and how we have changed over time (history, archaeology and anthropology); and

  • Ideas about other lives and thoughts and their expression in different cultures (literature, languages, art history)

The humanities and the humanities scholars who study these ideas do not settle for simple answers to the complexities of the human condition. Understanding ourselves and others is vital for everyone and is a lifelong pursuit that provides exciting encounters with new ways of viewing the world, rewarding insights and empathy for the myriad ways of human existence. Such understanding is critical to how we live as families, work and do business, govern ourselves and participate in the global community.

Why should people care about humanities programs?

Of course, Islanders discuss concerns and issues regularly -- during coffee breaks, over lunch, around the dinner table. Sometimes, though, it seems that we are only engaged in the trading of personal opinions and cannot answer the "why" questions. The humanities, through their trained scholars, help us to see through the complexities, looking at the "why" questions and revealing root causes and fundamental values and beliefs.