Mission Statement
Colorado Humanities' mission is to inspire the exploration of ideas and appreciation of our diverse cultural heritage. We seek to foster partnerships statewide to provide community- and K-12-based programs and resources that improve education, strengthen cultural institutions, and enrich community life. Our mission particular to High Plains Chautauqua in Greeley, the program for which we are requesting support from CenturyLink’s Matching Time Grant Program, is to consistently provide the highest quality, family-friendly history programming to be shared by people of all ages that will promote the exploration of ideas, appreciation of our cultural heritage, and civic dialog for an enriched family and community experience.
Description
We are dedicated to support humanities education for adults and children statewide. In our 43-year history, we have created more than 75 unique program initiatives. Our major objectives include developing programs that engage diverse populations, help preK-12 students--especially youth at risk--improve academic achievement, and encourage community engagement.
We forge partnerships throughout Colorado, and Greeley is our long-time programmatic hub for Weld County. In addition to High Plains Chautauqua, our programs include: Black History Live; Colorado Encyclopedia; Colorado Book Awards; Latino Heritage Live; Letters About Literature, a K-12 writing competition; Motheread/Fatheread Colorado, a literacy program; River of Words, a K-12 poetry and art competition; War Stories, a writing program for Denver combat veterans; Writers in the Schools K-12 writing workshops, and Young Chautauqua, our K-12 program of research, writing, and presentation of living history characterizations. More than 700 Weld County School District 6 students participate each academic year, and 40-50 perform at High Plains Chautauqua each August. In 2016, we joined the national Pulitzer Campfires initiative to celebrate the Pulitzer Prize Centennial by developing a special program, The American West as Living Space, a reading and discussion series about Western Pulitzer writers. Greeley resident Northern Colorado University Professor Emeritus of History Ron Edgerton edited the more than 100-page anthology of Western Pulitzer writing that we published for the series.
