The chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities will visit Hawaiʻi for the first time next week.
Shelly Lowe, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, heads the federal grantmaking agency that supports culture, heritage, education and civic work across the United States.
“I look forward to the opportunity to meet with our partners at Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities to see their impressive work supporting cultural programs and organizations around the islands, and to hearing from Hawaiʻi nonprofits and educational institutions about the needs specific to their communities,” Lowe said in a Tuesday news release.
Lowe has also served on the 26-member National Council on the Humanities, an advisory committee to the NEH.
During her five-day stay, she will visit Hawaiʻi nonprofits and universities to learn about public humanities work on Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island. In addition, she will be lecturing at the Faculty Puwalu Research forum at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and visiting programs supported by the NEH state affiliate, Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities.
The NEH is currently extending grant funding for cultural recovery and rebuilding after the Maui wildfires. Lowe plans to meet with the Maui community to learn about their experiences and needs.
“Hawaiʻi is home to so many rich cultures with diverse and intersecting traditions, histories and heritages. This visit will help inform me and my colleagues at NEH how our federal agency can best support thriving and resilient humanities programs in Hawaiʻi,” she said.
The NEH grants support cultural institutions such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television and radio stations.
Lowe will be in Hawaiʻi from April 22 to April 26. She will return in June for the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture, which Hawaiʻi will host in June for the first time.
