Simon Doughty ’18 Indiana Humanities – The house at 1500 N. Delaware St. in Indianapolis—a Georgian Revival house once owned by famous Hoosier author Meredith Nicholson—is now the home of Indiana Humanities. At this nonprofit state council, my work area is a long wooden desk on the second floor; my computer sits an intimate distance of just a few steps in any direction from the offices of nine other coworkers. Really, however, my work area is all over Indiana, because we are in the unique business of encouraging Hoosiers to think, read, and talk.

I am working as the grants and programs intern at Indiana Humanities. My grant work includes reading past grants, interviewing grant recipients, and writing stories about successful initiatives throughout the state.  I also review grant applications with my coworkers, enter grant information into our database, and learn about the ins and outs of grant work—from the initial federal grant that the National Endowment for the Humanities gives us (among other incredible funders like the Lilly Endowment) to the 50 to 60 annual events that occur in the small towns of Indiana as the product of those funds. What I have discovered in this work is the possibility for massive change that comes with many modest projects—a witnessing of a civic public at its best. Reviewing projects and applications has offered me a new perspective on what makes a strong application and project, and how to create a strong project from scratch. I also feel energized to see the beginnings of projects, and I will certainly keep tabs on them in subsequent years to see how they develop.

We at Indiana Humanities do not just empower others, however. As a programs intern, I have been able to bring the vision of my coworkers to life. I plan for and then work at events like our Historic Bar Crawl, staff booths at events like IndyVolved (the Indianapolis non-profit event fair; picture below) or Treasure Hunt (an Indiana Landmarks event), help with the Next Indiana Campfires (where Indiana Humanities hosts a hike in the woods before participants read good books and eat good food around a campfire), and help with field trips to the Link Observatory or the Indianapolis Zoo. (If any of these events sound interesting, visit www.indianahumanities.org.) I also work with a staff that empowers me to think of my own events (which are still under wraps). Working at Indiana Humanities allows me to explore the fertile boundary of public humanities work and to gain valuable experiences creating an event when it is still just an idea, including details like writing a press release. I am so grateful to Lilly Endowment, particularly, for making this experience a financial possibility. As someone who aspires to become a professor, this work will help me to continue bringing grant work and event planning to the academy.

One of the greatest lessons this staff has taught me is how to laugh as I work hard. Working hard in college tended to quiet my personality and sense of humor, and it made fun and work seem mutually exclusive at times. Now I wake up every morning and get excited to go to work where I can spend time in conversation with people, and I hope to take that back to school with me. We have a lot of fun, and that actually helps with productivity. For example, after the Bar Crawl, the staff returned to 416 Wabash Ave. in Indianapolis. Everyone went out onto the dance floor, and we danced to some of our favorite 70s music—ABBA included. It was fun for me because I felt a sense of community, solidarity, and accomplishment with these people that I had not felt with a group of people in a long time. Part of those feelings came from both succeeding and failing with them: when we were blown away with a number of incredibly competent and tactful volunteers, when we bought poster boards that were the wrong length and we had to cut out and glue way too much cardboard together to make it work; when we finished the first day with a snow-cone truck, and everybody came together to dance and enjoy one another’s company.

What working at Indiana Humanities has revealed to me as well is the stark under-representation of men in this field of work. I believe that men should feel encouraged to enter humanities work as I think that women should feel encouraged to enter STEM work—to balance representation of gender and sex in both fields. I hope that this connection between Wabash College and Indiana Humanities continues for that reason.