COLUMBUS, OH—Ohio Humanities and the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University are thrilled to announce a three-year partnership to support independent filmmakers-in-residence at the Wex who are working on humanities-informed documentary films. The collaboration will support up to five Ohio Humanities Film Fellows at the Wex each year. “For 50 years, Ohio Humanities has had a … Read More
The Art of Perception: Hometown Juxtaposition
By Amanda Page Portrayals in films, on TV shows, in magazines and across other media can dramatically affect how humans see themselves and each other. We asked three different Ohioans to share how media portrayals impacted their own sense of identity. Life magazine reporter Peter Meyer arrived in Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1989 to write about the extended family at 215 … Read More
The Art of Perception: Some Kind of Wonderful
By Melanie Korn Portrayals in films, on TV shows, in magazines and across other media can dramatically affect how humans see themselves and each other. We asked three different Ohioans to share how media portrayals impacted their own sense of identity. As a Gen-X kid, popular culture—Saturday morning cartoons, music videos on MTV, Atari and mixtapes—was a defining framework of … Read More
The Art of Perception: Almost Home
By Ruth Chang Portrayals in films, on TV shows, in magazines and across other media can dramatically affect how humans see themselves and each other. We asked three different Ohioans to share how media portrayals impacted their own sense of identity. “4 5 ‘00.” In a photograph, my father, my mother, my brother and I sit smiling on the concrete … Read More
Ghoulish reads
Our work often invokes serious topics or discussions, so here are our favorite spooky books–including some set in Ohio and written by authors from or with ties to Ohio–to help you enjoy the haunted humanities in celebration of All Hallows’ Eve! Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt The Haunted History of the Ohio State Reformatory by Sherri Brake House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski The … Read More
The Storytellers: Shawn Rech
By Taylor Starek Everyone told Shawn Rech it wouldn’t work in Cleveland. He couldn’t be a filmmaker here—he’d have to go to Hollywood. Rech was unphased. His first project, a local TV program, focused on unsolved crimes. “People told us we’d never have the production values,” he said. “[They said] we’d never get it on TV.” Rech’s program not only … Read More
Built on Broken Promises
Wyandots in Ohio Image courtesy of the Wyandot County Historical Society. Original painting on display at the Wyandot County Museum, Upper Sandusky, Ohio 235 years ago, the American government began experimenting with new land policies, vowing to never displace Indigenous tribes without their consent. Ohio became the testing ground—and one of the first sites of empty promises that would remove … Read More
Ohio’s Fight for School Integration
When their school district refused to desegregate after Brown v. Board of Education was decided in 1954, 55 Black women and children in a small Ohio town fought to desegregate a local elementary school by marching to the white school, demanding admission. Upon being rejected, they woke up the next morning and marched again. And again. And again. In the … Read More
A Vibrant Appalachia
Ohio Humanities is a proud supporter of humanities work throughout Ohio’s Appalachian communities, where funds are in high demand and other support is much less common than in larger cities. From a walkable outdoor exhibit in an Athens park that highlights the important role the humanities have played in the region to LatinX storytelling by Southern Ohio Folklife, we are … Read More
“The Prettiest Star” by Carter Sickels, and other queer stories
Review by Rebecca Brown Asmo In The Prettiest Star, Carter Sickels tells the story of Brian, a gay man living in 1980s New York City who, dying from AIDS and no longer able to care for himself, is forced to return to his small hometown in Ohio. Told from the perspectives of Brian himself, his younger sister Jess, and his mother … Read More