HumanitiesDC, formerly known as the Humanities Council of Washington, DC, is an American non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities based in Washington, D.C. Humanities DC was founded in 1980 to fund and produce public humanities programming in the District of Columbia. It is one of 56 state humanities councils founded in the wake of the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965.[1]
The HumanitiesDC office is located in the historic Uline Arena, 1140 3rd Street NE, 2nd Floor, Washington, DC 20002. Rebecca Lemos-Otero was hired as the new Executive Director in September 2021.[2]
Founded in 1980 as the D.C. Community Humanities Council, Humanities DC funded several high-profile documentary films including The Stone Carvers in 1984,[3] Fishing in the City in 1986, and Fine Food, Fine Pastries, Open 6 to 9 in 1989. During the 1990s, Humanities DC began producing its own public programming, to complement the public-humanities work of its grantees.
In 2005, in partnership with the DC Office of Historic Preservation, Humanities DC launched the DC Community Heritage Project, a combination of grants and programs aimed at empowering DC residents to research, disseminate, and preserve their own community histories.
In 2010, Humanities DC created the DC Digital Museum, an online repository of projects funded through its grant programs. The DC Digital Museum's collection of interpreted and primary source materials are available for download, streaming, or to borrow depending on copyright limitations.