Humanities = Podcast Interview with Humanities Montana Staff and Democracy Project Participants
Humanities Montana interim executive director, John Knight
Amidst DOGE cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities in April and the resulting immediate loss of federal funding, Humanities Montana was forced to pause grantmaking and drastically reduce all program offerings. In June funding was restored at half the congressionally mandated amount and Humanities Montana began to rebuild.
In October, Humanities Montana launched One Book Montana, a statewide read program which had previously run from 2003-2011. This iteration focuses on the 2025 Great Reads from Great Places award winning authors Chris LaTray (“Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home”) and Janet Fox (“The Mystery of Mystic Mountain”)
Governor Greg Gianforte appointed a new Montana poet laureate: Allen Morris Jones of Bozeman.
Federation of State Humanities Councils launched the new, Humanities = podcast, which hopes to illustrate the real life impact of humanities programming across the country. The Democracy Project was featured on episode 4 titled: Empowering Teen Leaders.
Former programs director John Knight was welcomed back as interim executive director in November. Executive director Jill Baker stepped down after more than two years of exemplary service to Humanities Montana including stabilizing the organization in the wake of extreme federal funding cuts.
