Home

Explore Section

Annual Report

You are an integral part of our success. See what you make possible.

We are pleased to present our 2016 Annual Report, covering the period November 1, 2015–October 31, 2016. During this time, we offered 1,602 events in a dozen programs to over 880,000 Marylanders! Inside you’ll find wonderful photos, striking and informative infographics, details of all the grants we awarded, many of our partner organizations, our financial statement, and a list of our generous donors.

To learn more about how we opened ears, eyes, and minds, you can view, download, or print the report.

Enjoy!

“Talking with students also helps those of us who have said little about our combat experiences because, in a sense, we feel guilty about why others died and not us/me? So, to be able to talk about it helps the veterans. The opportunity you provided to both students and veterans is wonderful and I do hope that our messages are meaningful to students.”

Standing Together: Veterans Oral History Project, veteran participant
“[The humanities] are what allow us to see the beauty of the world. I often think that humans are the only species that can reflect on how beautiful the world is, can step back and take intense delight in the sounds and colors of it all, can record not only the world but our reactions to it. The humanities matter because beauty matters.”

Maryland Humanities survey participant
“I enjoyed that this program directly related to key issues within our community […] I think this lecture could go on for hours; it’s fabulous!”

Pulitzer Panel attendee
“We were very proud to have been chosen to partner with the Maryland Humanities on this exhibit project. Small museums, such as ours…are generally not able to field programs of this scope. Maryland Humanities has truly given us an opportunity to bring a nationally recognized program to the City of Bowie and Prince Georges County and have made it easy to reach and stretch and accomplish something that we’ve never done before on this level in our small museum system. The support of Maryland Humanities both financially and professionally is invaluable to us.”

Pam Williams ~ Belair Manison, City of Bowie Museums, Bowie, MD, Host Site, Museum on Main Street
“In a test-driven educational system, we can sometimes lose sight of what is important. Allowing students time to read and discuss literature can never be underestimated. I appreciate that Letters About Literature recognizes, promotes, and fosters the importance of literature by getting students to write to authors. This contest gives students the opportunity to really think about how a piece has impacted them. I know that the authors don’t necessarily read the letters addressed to them through the contest, but my students have often sent an additional copy of their letter to the author. The euphoria and excitement that comes over the kids who are lucky enough to have the author respond is heart-warming. Just this past year, a student of mine received a personal letter, an autographed book, and other items of appreciation from the author he wrote to.”

Letters About Literature teacher
“Being a part of the group provided me with a safe area to revisit my thoughts and feelings on my experience during the war.”

Veterans Book Group participant
“Although “Fences” are down, the reverberations of our initiative are still resonating. The web of collaboration is clearly active. Many “reached across the fence.” Our community is all the stronger for it. The exhibition boasts the largest attendance of any seven week display on campus with a visitor count of over 1,050. Add to that the rich programming amounting to over 25 events which saw attendance again well over 1,000 participants. What is remarkable is the cross section of interest groups and individuals who attended from the three-county area of southern Maryland and beyond. In essence, the rich mosaic that formed attracted a broad range of people and opened a rare exchange of ideas. We witnessed epiphanies!”

Mary Braun ~ Director of the Boyden Gallery, St. Mary’s College, St. Mary’s City, MD Host Site, Museum on Main Street
“[I enjoyed the] thoughtful discussion about complex social issues that gave me hope for our future.”

Pulitzer 100 event attendee
“[In Veterans Book Group,] I considered other perspectives both of other service members and others who did not serve.”

Veterans Book Group participant
“[This panel provided] interesting insights into areas of our community that I don’t get by direct observation.”

Pulitzer Panel attendee
“[One Maryland One Book] is wonderful; enlightening, explorative, innovative, [and] educational.”

One Maryland One Book 2016 participant
“The year before last, one of my students lost her father to a heart attack at the beginning of the school year. Books were her connection to her father. The shock of the sudden passing, and the newness of having to take care of her younger siblings would not allow her to grieve, and she spent the first few months in therapy due to this. LAL enabled her to reconnect with her father on a different plane, through the framework of books they enjoyed together. Due to this, she was express her grief & allow healing to begin.”

Letters About Literature teacher
It’s different from other projects because I actually got to interact with someone and get information from something other than a history book.

Standing Together: Veterans Oral History Project, student participant
“One of my students, a boy who works 35 hours a week at McDonalds, took the time to write me a letter stating the book had changed his life.”

One Maryland One Book 2015 teacher
Humanities matter because humanity matters. The best thoughts, the highest questions, the most profound actions of courage and sacrifice are found in written accounts, art, and creative expressions throughout the ages. To study the humanities is to study oneself in a way that develops cultural literacy, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence.

Maryland Humanities survey participant

Share your feedback