How would you feel if someone took your child’s favorite book out of his hands?
What would you think if your local museum wasn’t important enough to keep its doors open?
If someone said, “Sorry we can’t help your community recover from a natural disaster” would you feel sad, outraged, lost?
For more than 53 years, Kentucky Humanities has helped communities across Kentucky celebrate what makes them unique and vital. We have been there for you and with you, connecting you to your neighbors, promoting your unique history, inspiring the next generation, championing what makes your town or city special.
But right now, we can’t. And we are angry about it. You should be too.
In 2022, we assisted libraries, historical societies, artisan centers, radio stations, community centers and cultural institutions in navigating a disaster like what we are experiencing right now, an historic flood. We requested and received emergency grant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and poured every dime back into places that were devastated by flood waters because it is our mission to help Kentucky communities thrive.
We wanted then, and want now, to be part of the rebuilding of Kentucky’s communities ravaged by flooding, but we can’t. Why? Because at the federal level, DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) has targeted the NEH and terminated Kentucky Humanities’ operating grant and any emergency funding sources that previously allowed us to provide aid in the commonwealth.
We are sorry, but most of all we are angry because you and us — we — are the ones looking out for Kentucky and all Kentuckians.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Together, our voices can make a difference.
When 2022 flood damaged Kentucky cultural sites, federal funding helped
Five cultural sites in Eastern Kentucky suffered significant damage in the 2022 floods:
- Appalshop, Inc.
- Hindman Settlement School
- Knott County Public Library
- Wayland Community Center/Wayland Historical Society
- The Appalachian Artisan Center/Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Co./Appalachian School of Luthiery
Kentucky Humanities requested emergency grant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to assist the above institutions in the recovery process and was able to award each of them a $20,000 disaster relief grant.
In addition, the NEH also awarded a grant to Kentucky Humanities to host a series of disaster recovery workshops to help cultural institutions throughout the state prepare for future disasters.
Kentucky Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, in partnership with the Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky Arts Council, Performing Arts Readiness, National Heritage Responders, the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation and the National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response presented a series of workshops on disaster preparedness and recovery.
Each virtual workshop focused on a different phase of the disaster prep and recovery process — readiness, response, recovery, resilience and mitigation. Workshops featured experts from across the country, as well as firsthand accounts from those impacted by natural disasters across Kentucky.
Those recordings and the materials presented are available for everyone at no cost here: https://kyhumanities.org/home/archives/disaster-recovery/.
This article is republished under a Creative Commons license from Kentucky Lantern, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter.
Bill Goodman is executive director of Kentucky Humanities.
