Illinois Humanities

Education opens doors and everyone deserves a key🔑

The Odyssey Project is helping adult learners across Chicago restart their educational journeys in a supportive, community-centered space, all at no cost.

From literature to history to critical thinking, students gain up to 11 transferable college credits while building community and connection. Classes are available in both English and Spanish.

Applications are open through June 15, apply today at ilhumanities.org/odyssey

The Odyssey Project The Odyssey Project believes that education is liberatory and should be accessible to all. This free college program empowers adult learners to…

A record breaking 1,063 young people from across Illinois submitted poems to this year’s Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards.

Judging is now underway, but today we’re celebrating every student who took the step to write and submit. We’re glad you’re part of this community.

Read Program Manager of Teaching and Learning Margy LaFreniere’s reflection on this year’s awards and the history behind them. From Gwendolyn Brooks’ work with young writers decades ago to the vibrant community of poets across Illinois today.

Read more at: ilhumanities.org/news/lineage-and-legacies

We’re inspired by grantee partner Anderson Taylor, recently recognized as the world’s youngest museum curator at just only 11!

His curiosity and drive are a powerful reminder that a passion for learning can grow into something extraordinary at any age.

Read the full story at: kewaneevoice.com/guinness-names-11-year-old-cambridge-resident-worlds-youngest-museum-curator/

Guinness names 11-year-old Cambridge resident world’s youngest museum curator | Kewanee Voice Anderson Taylor of Cambridge, Ill., has officially been recognized by Guinness World Records as the youngest museum curator in the world. Now 11, Taylor was just 9 years old when he opened the Cambridge Natural History Museum on August 10, 2024. The son of John and Stephanie Taylor, he has become a....

What happens when a small town makes space for everyone’s story? In Mendota, Illinois, a community of just over 7,000 is doing exactly that, honoring its past while embracing the voices that shape its present.

Through a project supported by an Illinois Humanities grant, the Mendota Museum & Historical Society brought to life Where Our Paths Meet: Journeys to Mendota, a documentary capturing the migration stories of residents who helped transform the town’s cultural landscape.

Click the link to read the full story: ilhumanities.org/news/gps-mmhs

Illinois Humanities Grantee Partner… The Mendota Museum & Historical Society in La Salle County is preserving local history through community‑centered storytelling and public humanities…