NEH Advisory Council Reviews FY12 Grant Applications
December 2, 2011 –The National Council on the Humanities – the advisory body of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) – convened last month in Washington, DC. Public committee meetings were held at 9am on Thursday, November 17, followed by closed sessions to review grant applications for the first round of NEH awards in fiscal year 2012. Committees included: Challenge Grants and Federal/State Partnership, Digital Humanities, Education Programs, Preservation and Access, Public Programs, and Research Programs.
The full Council met in a plenary session on Friday, November 18. NEH Chairman Jim Leach made brief remarks, which included announcement of a possible relocation of the agency's physical operations, pending finalization of a General Services Administration (GSA) plan. GSA has instructed NEH and other occupants of the Old Post Office at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue (including the National Endowment for the Arts, and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities) to begin preparations for a move that could occur in FY 2014. Members of the public and others present also heard reports from NEH senior staff, and from Council members appointed to serve as Committee chairs for the November meeting.
Filmmaker Hugo Perez gave a presentation on his new documentary, Neither Memory Nor Magic, about Hungarian poet Miklos Radnoti, whose final poems were found (along with his body) in a mass grave at the end of World War II. The project received an NEH Chairman's Grant in 2010.
Current Council members are: Rolena Adorno, Adele Logan Alexander, Albert J. Beveridge, Allison Blakely, Constance M. Carroll, Jamsheed K. Choksy, Cathy N. Davidson, Dawn Ho Delbanco, Jane Marie (Jamie) Doggett, Paula Barker Duffy, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Gary D. Glenn, Allen Guelzo, Mary Habeck, David Michael Hertz, Marvin Krislov, Iris Cornelia Love, Robert S. Martin, Wilfred M. McClay, Ricardo J. Quinones, Carol M. Swain, Martha Wagner Weinberg, Kenneth R. Weinstein, Jay Winik.
The National Council on the Humanities is a board of 26 private citizens charged, by statute, with (1) advising the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities with respect to Endowment policies, programs, and procedures, and with (2) reviewing grant applications and making recommendations to the Chairman. National Council members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Council member bios are available on the NEH website. The next Council meeting will take place March 8-9, 2012.
[This article posted by: Jessica Irons.]